Once Sara had settled herself back on the couch, leaning casually against Nick with her legs tucked beneath her and the candy bowl balancing between both their bodies, he resumed the film.
"God, I hope we never have to process a scene like this," she winced and forced her eyes off of the screen. Normally, people in their profession, or related jobs, have a rough time finding movies to frighten them. After all, being faced with real life horror stories for at least eight hours a day, five days a week, leaves very little for writers to think up that can overtake Nick and Sara's strengthened nerves; especially since these two tend to spend as close to twenty-four/seven as they're allowed in that lab, up to their elbows in true crime, blood and gore. However, occasionally there comes along a very abnormal mind or advanced plot that still manages to scare the bejesus out of them. Most of the time these movies come in the form of sci-fi or supernatural stories, simply because it's the only subject that they're not overexposed to. However, this time it's just the sheer twisted plot of the serial killer in Saw that has Sara hiding her eyes behind a pillow.
"I don't think we would have let him get this far though," Nick reassured her, smiling to himself at how uncharacteristically vulnerable she seemed. "We'd have got him at that fat guy in the cage. No way someone could set up all that razor wire without leaving a partial print, snagging his clothing for trace, or slicing a finger on some edge…" He scoffed superiorly.
"Yea, I dunno what's wrong with these fictional investigators…" Sara spoke sarcastically, looking up at him with a broad smirk. "Lazy is what they are!" She was about to add more when she caught sight of the screen again and gasped as Adam found that creepy puppet in his apartment. She laid the side of her head on Nick's chest so that her ear was right over his heart and pulled the pillow up against the other side of her head so that it would block out the sounds from the movie and her peripheral view of it. She listened contently to the soothing sound of Nick's heartbeat, which she noted was irregularly fast -- presumably from fright. Sara flinched as she heard the puppet's maniacal laughter taper off and the human metronome that is Nick's heart was interrupted by his chuckle at her reaction: "It's just a doll, Sara!"
She moved the pillow so that she could smack him in the face with it. Nick caught it after it made contact and they wrestled for control for a minute, until Sara was distracted by the creaking of a door from the television set. "Nick, give it!" Suddenly she switched sides; now instead of struggling to force the pillow at his smug face, she was trying to rip it out of his grasp to smother her own in it again. Nick just smiled wider and laughed again. He had seen this movie so many times that he knew every part by heart and he knew that she was not going to be a fan of the next part!
Sara glanced nervously over at the movie, unable to help herself. As soon as she did a bright flash went off and something jumped out of the darkness. Sara wasn't entirely sure what was going on at that point but she knew she didn't like it. She yelped and jumped despite the desire to appear brave in front of her friend. In the process she smacked half of her forehead off of Nick's jaw. That certainly stopped his laughter. "Sonnuva," he growled through clenched teeth, rubbing the underside of his jaw while eyeing Sara accusingly. He neither sounded nor looked angry, simply in pain.
"Shit; Nick, I'm sorry!" they both dropped the fight for the pillow and Sara shifted her position so that she was crouched on the couch cushion on the balls of her feet. One of her knees rested on his thigh while the other leaned lightly against his side. She reached her hands up to cup his face; one gently prodded the tender area at the edge of his jaw where they had collided and the other hand, with a mind of its own, zoomed over to stoke the cheek on the other side of his face. "Stop squirming."
"It hurts," he protested. "I always knew you were thick headed, Sar, but damn!" He winced as she touched a spot a tad too roughly, "Ahh! Easy Sidle, I was kidding!"
She withdrew her hand immediately. "That was an accident," she defended. "…though you did deserve it…" She spoke the second part a lot softer, but their proximity ensured that Nick caught it anyway. He looked indignant and Sara just shook her head and smiled, "Don't look at me like that; karma hurt you that time."
"But you hurt me the first time," he reminded quickly with puppy-dog eyes.
She laughed at him. "Are you fishing for sympathy?" He nodded, trying his best to look pathetic and smother the smile on his mouth by jutting the bottom lip out in a sad pout. "Probably should have been nicer to me then, huh?" she started to turn away from him, a satisfied smirk passing her lips as Nick dropped all pretences of actually being hurt. As she was about to shift from her feet on the cushion to her bottom, Nick deftly reached over and pulled her off balance so she fell halfway into his lap.
"Sara, Sara, Sara," he clucked softly as he shook his head. He wrapped an arm around her to keep her put.
"What, what, what?" she mocked back with a slightly bashful grin.
"Where's the TLC? You were supposed to turn all warm and fuzzy and fuss over me…" She quirked an eyebrow but said nothing. "Ya know… like maternal instincts?"
"Oh," Sara exclaimed and shifted back so that she could watch his entire reaction. She cleared her throat and started her coddling: "Aww, did 'ittle bitty Nicky hurt himself?" A large embarrassed grin spread over Nick's face as he rolled his eyes. "Did baby get a boo-boo?"
"Yes he did," he interrupted laughing. He pointed to the part of his jaw that had started swelling somewhat, "Right there; where big bad Sara punched me."
"I didn't pun--"
"Fine, head-butted me," he corrected before she finished her protest. He shrugged, "Different word, same sound. The bottom line is that you nearly broke my jaw."
She scoffed, "Easy there Mr. Hyperbole -- nearly broke your jaw! Hardly! I maybe bruised it. However, as of right now, there appears to be no damage at all… except to your image, which will henceforth be as a whiny child."
"I'm not being whiny," he deepened his voice to make sure no whine crept in. "I'm being… protective. Yeah, that's right. I have to be careful with this face; I won't be able to get the ladies if you beat me up all the time."
"Good," she replied without thinking.
Nick tilted his head in an adorably inquisitive manner, brows raise and smug smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "So you did this on purpose… to stop me from getting dates?" he teased.
"No. I, uh, what I meant was that, ahhh, that it's good because… well you know, your ego is big enough already and, ummm, getting more girls will only inflate your head more and I don't think the world could stand an even cockier Nick Stokes…" she scrambled to dig herself out of her hole.
"Mmmm-hmmm," he nodded, clearly amused. "You want me."
"Shut up or I'll hit you again," she muttered, turning away from him to look at the movie again but not getting off of his lap.
"Head-butt," he corrected with a smirk as he too returned to the film.
The silence between them lasted for about two minutes, during which time Sara realized she had completely lost track of the plot. She winced as yet another gruesome scene popped up; she reached beside her and grabbed the abandoned pillow to hug to her chest. "It's really your own fault you know," she said as she noticed that Nick's free hand had come up to lightly rub his injured jaw again.
He laughed and looked down at her, dropping his hand away from his face. "And how do you figure that?"
"You took away my pillow."
"You took away your own pillow! You hit me with it, remember?"
She carefully ignored that part, "You grabbed and wouldn't give it back. Thus, it's your fault I smacked into you because it's your fault I had to watch the scene. And, you know, I hit my head too. You didn't even ask about whether I was hurt!" She skilfully shifted the blame.
He felt guilty and proud at her smooth turn-about. Before she had the chance to protest he had swept his hand up over the edge of her hair line, discovering a small bump and frowning. "Oh, I'm sorry. You do have a bit of a bruise here… does it hurt?" She loved the concern clearly heard in his voice.
She giggled through her response. "No. I'm not made of glass. I can take a hit without whining about it."
"What exactly are you implying, Sidle?"
"Nothing at all, 'ittle bitty Nicky," she cooed the last part.
"In my defence, your head really could be a battering ram," he huffed.
She continued in her baby-voice, "Want me to kiss it better?"
Nick knew that she had meant it as another jab, but he decided not to pass up the opportunity. A certain scene from the Indiana Jones trilogy, some of his favourite movies, flashed through his mind and he hoped she hadn't seen them. "Yes. I think that that's the least you could do," he replied with a big grin and tilted his face slightly towards the ceiling so that she would have better access to his injury.
A bit of a panicked look crossed her face as he lifted his face, indicating that he was really expecting her to do it. 'Well, what was the harm in a friendly kiss? It was kind of like a kiss on the cheek… it wouldn't mean anything, right?' her thoughts betrayed her. With some hesitation, she rose up off his lap for a second to place a chaste kiss on his jaw, being careful not to apply too much pressure lest she hurt him. She felt the blood swim instantly to her cheeks and try to avoid his eyes as he lowered his chin again. "Did it work?" she asked looking beyond his shoulder at one of the empty bowls abandoned on a table.
"Feels much better," his grin even wider than before, pleased and amused by her embarrassment.
"Good," she attempted to switch her attention back to the movie just so she could calm down again but Nick had other plans.
"Hang on. If I recall, you hit me more than once today…" Sara started to protest but Nick didn't let her. "I believe there's a reason my arm's sore, oh right! You punched it when you came in." Sara rolled her eyes and leaned across his lap to his other arm and kissed the fabric over his bicep. This time she hadn't hesitated because it seemed like a much simpler task after kissing so close to his mouth.
"There, now you can't complain anymore, because I've healed you," she rolled her eyes.
He chuckled deeply, "Now who's the egotistical one?"
"You were the one who said it was working," she shrugged.
"And you're still not off the hook. I remember another brutal attack involving a pillow…" he was excited at how well tonight's events developed his plan.
She sighed resignedly, knowing that since she could hardly back out now after humouring him already. "All right. Where did I hit you, your nose?" She shifted her position she that she was higher, her feet on the couch just beside his thigh and her knees bent beneath her in his lap. She placed her hands on her own thighs for balance. He nodded slightly, locking eyes with her just before she swooped forward to give some attention to the tip of his nose.
"And my forehead," his voice wavered a little but Sara didn't comment on it. She reached out and held on to either side of his face to bend his head slightly downward as she pressed her lips against his forehead.
She didn't release his faces as she pulled back and met his stare again. "Anywhere else?" she asked, a little ashamed at the hope in her tone.
"I got a corner in my eye," he pointed with his index finger at the "injured" eye. This time his smile had fallen short of a grin. It was just a faint upturn at the corner of his mouth now, giving him a more serious look as he noticed the increased tension in the air. His eyes fluttered shut as she closed the distance between them once again. She lingered there a moment longer than she had the others, feeling more confident when his eyes were closed. When her lips left his eyelids, he immediately opened his eyes and locked with her gaze again. His face now completely serious and his stomach felt like it was housing a million frantic, headless chickens. He wordlessly pointed to his lips. He watched as a million different emotions raced through Sara's eyes, ranging from mild panic to a thinly veiled desire to confusion. He held his breath as he could see the cogs spinning through her mind, trying to decide whether or not to cross that carefully defined line between "friendship" and something more.
A/N: An extra long chapter for the extra long delay between updates. There may be one or two more chapters on the way, yet to be written, but it should take me as long as it took me for this one… let me know if ya like it.