Response to the Times Square Challenge from WCSPegasus

Yeah, it's not New Years anymore, but I wanted to try a challenge one to see how I would make out,

So enjoy!

Oh, and if you haven't guessed, I don't own them, surprise surprise! Ha!

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"Come on! Haven't you done enough shopping?" Greg complained as Sara and Catherine dragged them into another store.

"Yeah, come on guys! We want to get to Times Square before the ball drops, you know." Nick added.

"Let the ladies shop Nick." Grissom advised, "It will make the rest of the evening much more pleasant for all of us."
"Thank you Gil." Catherine smiled.

"Okay, last store before we head to Times Square." Sara announced.

"That's what you said three stores ago, Sara." Warrick pointed out.

"We promise." Catherine added in with a smirk.

"Good." Greg sighed. "I really didn't know that women actually shopped this much… I mean everyone says it, but I really didn't believe it."

"Greg, this isn't half of what we're capable of… we've only been shopping for two and a half hours." Catherine laughed.

"Didn't you ever go shopping with your girlfriends?" Sara inquired, Greg shook his head.

"Nah, they would never let me come. They said I wouldn't be able to take it." Greg explained.

"I'd say they were right, you can't even handle minimal amounts of shopping, Greggo." Sara laughed.

"Come on! Let's just get this over with." Nick whined.

"Fine." Catherine laughed as she and Sara headed eagerly into the store, Nick, Warrick, Greg and Grissom following slowly behind.

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Forty five minutes later, the group emerged from the store, Sara and Catherine carrying more bags than they had been previous to going in.

"You guys would have been in there for another three hours if we hadn't dragged you out." Warrick laughed.

"So? We like to shop." Catherine shrugged. "And actually, I lied before when we promised to go to Times Square right after that store…"

"No more stores." Greg exclaimed, trying to sound as assertive as he could.

"No, no more stores… but can we stop at the hotel first?" Sara asked, "We need to drop off these bags, unless you'd like to carry them around Times Square for us?" She smiled sweetly.

"Fine, but we have to be quick. We do want to get to Times Square before midnight, you know." Nick pointed out.

"We'll be quick." Catherine promised.

"I'll get us a cab." Grissom suggested.

"Why a cab, Grissom? It's New Years Eve, we're in New York, let's take a horse and carriage, much more exciting." Catherine suggested.

"Yeah!" Sara exclaimed excitedly. Grissom shrugged and walked to the curb, to hail a horse and carriage. One finally stopped beside Grissom and he motioned for them to get in.

"Ladies first." Warrick smiled as he and Grissom helped Sara and Catherine, who were giggling girlishly, into the carriage. Greg and Nick got in last and they were off.

"The city is so beautiful at night, and especially on New Years." Sara observed.

"Yeah, it was a great idea to come here." Catherine nodded.

"Yeah, thanks for the time off Grissom." Greg said. Grissom just shrugged.

"Everyone needed a vacation." He shrugged.

"Just usually, vacation means a break from your co-workers." Nick joked, receiving chuckles from the group.

"Here we are." Warrick exclaimed as they unloaded the horse and carriage and paid the driver. Sara and Catherine were the last out of the carriage, but somehow the first into the hotel lobby. It was amazing.

"Wow Grissom, remind us to always let you plan the trips, alright?" Sara laughed.

"No arguments there!" Catherine agreed. Grissom just shook his head and headed to the front desk to check in.

"Wow! Check this out guys!" They heard Greg's voice coming from around the corner.

"There's a fountain in the hotel lobby?" Nick laughed. "That's crazy."

"And, not just any fountain," Warrick explained, "A champagne fountain." Greg was the most excited about his discovery of a champagne fountain, but everyone contributed to the oo's and awe's around the fountain, most of them being more sarcastic than genuine.

"So Catherine and Sara are rooming together, Warrick and Nick, and Greg and I." Grissom announced, obviously not overly pleased at having to be rooming with Greg… but he knew that Warrick and Nick were good friends, Sara and Cath were the only girls, and that left Greg and himself.

"Thanks." Catherine called over her shoulder. She had taken the room key Grissom offered her, and she and Sara were already leaving the lobby by the time Grissom gave Warrick his and Nick's key.

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"Well, Grissom certainly does know how to book hotels." Catherine sighed contently as she dropped her shopping bags on the floor by the door, kicked off her shoes, and relaxed on the bed.

"He does, but we should get ready to go to, you know." Sara pointed out.

"Okay, but do you have a copy of the itinerary, I forget it already… all that shopping." Catherine groaned, making no move from her comfortable position on the bed.

"Very funny." Sara deadpanned.

"I'm surprised there isn't one, really." Catherine laughed.

"Well, its five thirty now, we have dinner reservations at a restaurant down by Times Square at seven, and then we eat, and go watch the ball drop." Sara told Catherine.

"Okay. Well, I don't know about you, but I'm wearing something new." Catherine bounced off the bed and headed for the shopping bags, carrying all of hers over to the bed and deciding which she should empty first.

"Mightaswell." Sara shrugged, placing her own bags down on the bed. She watched as Catherine started going through her bags, making quite a mess, and then started neatly taking things from her own. She hadn't realized exactly how much she'd bought until right then. "Geeze, we really did buy a lot." Sara observed.

"Yep." Catherine nodded. She was already trying different things on. "But we'd better hurry. Guys don't understand how long it takes us to get ready for a night out."

"Tell me about it." Sara smiled. She looked through a few of her bags until she found the dress she was looking for. It was red, low cut and it fit Sara perfectly. Catherine commended her on the find in the store at the time she picked it out.

"Ooo! Can I do your makeup?" Catherine squealed, making Sara laugh. They seemed like a bunch of teenage girls, but they were in New York with their friends and co-workers, two of which each girl seemed to have a bit of a crush on, even if they wouldn't admit it, so they did want to look fabulous.

"Sure, why not." Sara shrugged, slipping the dress on.

"It does fit you perfectly, Sara." Catherine told her. Sara looked over at Catherine who had already gotten into one of her new outfits.

"And that fits you perfectly too Cath." Sara returned the compliment. Catherine had slipped into a tiny black dress, halter top style that ended mid thigh showing off her perfect legs, which were probably from her dancing days, Sara assumed.

"Thanks." Catherine smiled, pulling Sara towards a chair by the lamp in the room, a great source of light to put on makeup.

"Okay, okay." Sara walked the rest of the way to the chair on her own and sat down, and Catherine got to work.

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"Are they coming?" Grissom wondered aloud. It had been a half hour since Catherine and Sara had gone, allegedly to put their bags away, upstairs and they still hadn't returned.

"You know Catherine, and well, evidently Sara, and their shopping abilities… they probably have to change and get ready." Warrick shrugged.

"Well they'd better hurry, we have reservations." Grissom said, obviously frustrated with the situation.

"You were Mr. Patient while we were shopping." Greg pointed out.

"Shut up Greg." Nick and Warrick exclaimed in perfect unison making Greg chuckle the slightest bit.

"We have an hour to make our reservations." Grissom sighed, looking at his watch. "Someone should go see if they're coming."

"I'll do it!" Greg volunteered right away, hopping up from the chair he'd been sitting on, admiring the champagne fountain, and headed towards the elevator.

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"Okay, almost done?" Sara had spent the last fifteen minutes watching Catherine do her own hair and makeup, the fifteen minutes previous to that, Catherine had been doing Sara's hair and make up, and Sara figured the guys, well Grissom at least, would be worrying about their diner reservations.

"Almost… I just have to get my shoes on, and we'll be good." Catherine smiled, putting away her hair supplies.

"Oh, shoes!" Sara exclaimed, jumping up and heading to her bags which were still sitting neatly on her bed.

"Just wear those new ones you bought." Catherine suggested her.

"I was planning to." Sara said. Then they heard knocking at the door. "Sounds like Grissom got too impatient. We only have an hour to get to our reservations, you know."

"Only an hour, how will we manage?" Catherine replied, sarcastically. Since Sara was busy putting on her shoes, Catherine decided to answer the door. The knocking came once again. "Coming, coming." Catherine yelled, as she headed to the door. Pulling it open, she found Greg standing outside. He'd changed into something more formal, which in Greg's case was black pants, a black shirt and a tie, and he didn't look all that bad.

"Wow Cath, you look hot." Greg exclaimed honestly, taking in her appearance.

"Thanks Greg, you don't look bad yourself." Catherine laughed at Greg's honesty.

"Is Sara in there, and are you guys coming?" He inquired.

"Yeah, I'm right here, and I just had to get my shoes on." Sara called from the bed. She had her shoes on now, and she stood up, hoping that Greg would like her appearance as he did Catherine's and would be as honest about his opinion. It wasn't a secret around the lab that Greg had a bit of a crush on Sara, but it was a secret that Sara returned those feelings. She made her way to the door and Catherine let her through. Greg couldn't believe what he saw when Sara stepped into the hallway. He was speechless. Catherine, he could easily tell what he thought about her appearance, because he knew that he would never, and would never want to, have a relationship with Catherine as more than a good friend, but Sara, Sara he was in love with. It was more than just a silly lust induced crush… it was love, and he knew it. He just didn't know why Sara wouldn't give it a chance, but damn, she looked beautiful tonight, even more so than usual.

"Okay, let's go. I'm sure Grissom's getting very impatient." Catherine exclaimed. She started down the hallway, and Sara and Greg started after her. Sara was walking rather quickly to keep up with Catherine, but Greg matched her stride for stride, still trying to find his speech.

"You look absolutely stunning." He finally managed to say.

"Thanks, so do you." Sara replied, blushing. She had that silly crush on Grissom for so long, and every day, Greg reminded her of more reasons why she was so much better off being in love with him than Grissom. He would actually admit that he had feelings towards her, which Grissom never would, even if he did, which she wasn't sure of really, although she had been at one time. Wait, did she just say she was in love with Greg? That was random, she thought.

"Hey Catherine, are Sara and Greg with you? I thought you all had disappeared, we were about to send Nick after you." Grissom exclaimed as Catherine entered the lobby.

"Hey Grissom." Greg called, "I found them!"

"Cath, you look absolutely amazing tonight." Warrick whispered after he found his speech, luckily, he didn't take as long as Greg did because Catherine wasn't as patient as Sara. They started across the lobby and headed out into the cold evening air. Catherine shivered a bit when the air hit her. She had forgotten they were in New York, and not Vegas, where it was always fairly warm, even in the winter in the evenings and had only worn a light jacket. Sara was having very similar thoughts, but of course, once they climbed aboard the horse and carriage, Warrick and Greg didn't have any problems offering the women warmth from their bodies.

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"Grissom, you know, if you ever got tired of being a CSI, you could definitely become a travel agent." Nick informed Grissom with a smile.

"I take it you liked the restaurant then?" Grissom asked with a smile.

"Loved it." Catherine answered with a sigh. The food had been amazing, and Warrick had been sitting unnecessarily close to her on the carriage ride over, and at the restaurant, letting their hands touch and rest longer than necessary, just slight almost insignificant things she had picked up that could indicate Warrick felt the same way about her as she did him. Love.

"Shall we head to Times Square now?" Warrick suggested, taking hold of Catherine's hand, which made her whole body scream with happiness on the inside.

"Let's." Catherine answered. And with that, Catherine and Warrick walked ahead of the rest of the group, leaving them smiling behind them.

"Well, I'd say they just finally clued into the obvious." Greg observed with a smile, hoping he and Sara would do the same by the end of the night.

"I'd say." Sara agreed with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, well it was bound to happen." Nick shrugged. Grissom just kept walking like nothing was being said.

"So how much time is left until midnight?" Greg asked. He didn't really care that much, he didn't care about anything other than the fact he was standing closer than necessary to Sara, and she was letting him, but there was a rather awkward silence that had fallen over the four CSI's and Greg was glad to break it.

"It is," Sara started, "five to nine."

"So we've got three hours until midnight." Nick sighed, "What to do, what to do."

"It's New Years Eve Nick," Grissom sighed, "There should be lots to do."

"Are you guys coming? You're really slow!" Catherine called from somewhere up the street.

"We're coming!" Nick called back as they sped up their pace to catch up to where Catherine and Warrick had stopped, well Catherine had stopped, Warrick was out of sight.

"Where'd Warrick go?" Sara wondered out loud.

"He'll be back in a minute." Catherine informed them with a smile that screamed 'I know something you don't'.

"Okay." Greg dragged out the word.

"Catch!" They heard Warrick's voice from behind them. They turned just in time to see Warrick toss a box in their direction. Greg went to catch it, but ended up slipping on a patch of ice and falling on his butt.

"Smooth Greg, real smooth." Sara giggled, but offered a hand to help him up, which he embarrassedly accepted.

"Way to impress the ladies, Sanders." Nick snickered. Nick had also caught the box Warrick tossed, and he opened it up. "Sparklers?"

"Sparklers." Catherine smiled.

"I have a lighter too, but I thought I better not toss that." Warrick smirked.

"Good thinking." Grissom added in. Nick opened the box and handed everyone two sparklers. Warrick lit the lighter and held it to Catherine's sparkler. She screamed slightly as it lit, and nearly dropped it.

"You're scared of a sparkler?" Greg laughed.

"At least I can stand." Catherine shot back at him, making everyone else laugh, and after a minute, she smiled as well. Warrick lit up some more sparklers and soon they all had two sticks with sparks flying off the end, and were, with the exception of Grissom, skipping down the streets of New York in the direction of Time Square.

"Perfect timing." Sara observed as the sparklers burned out just as they reached the heart of the New Years celebrations. Finding a spot where they'd be able to see the ball drop, they dropped their dead sparklers in a nearby trashcan.

"Well, those sparklers were sure a great way to kill time." Catherine commended Warrick for his good idea.

"Yeah, only an hour and a half until the ball drops now." Warrick nodded, (Okay, so I know that obviously a few sparklers are NOT going to last an hour and a half, but let's play pretend.)

"So, what should we do now?" Nick wondered.

"Um, no idea." Sara sighed. "What to do with an hour and a half to kill in Times Square…"

"No shopping!" Greg cut in.

"Damn." Catherine laughed. "Killed the best idea Greg."

"No more shopping." Greg repeated, mock aggressively, which made Catherine and Sara laugh harder.

"Come on guys, there's got to be something fun we can do here right now." Warrick sighed.

"Yeah, but what?" Nick asked the original question again.

"Any suggestions Mr. Travel agent?" Sara asked Grissom with a giggle.

"Well, we could look for bugs?" He suggested, but after hearing groans from his friends added, "Just kidding." With a defensive arm gesture, followed by, "How about we browse the vendors over there?" He suggested, pointing to a small cluster of vendors not too far away.

"Isn't that shopping?" Nick asked.

"Who said Greg got to make the rules?" Sara asked as she and Catherine headed off in the direction of the vendors, the men not far behind. And the vendors kept the group, mainly Catherine, Sara and Grissom, busy for the next hour and fifteen minutes.

"We'd better get back to a spot where we can comfortably watch the ball drop." Nick suggested, getting several nods from the group. They headed back over to where they'd come from an hour and fifteen minutes before and got comfortable standing there, Sara leaning against Greg, Catherine leaning against Warrick, and made small conversation for the next fourteen minutes until the moment finally arrived. Greg was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, but not because it was almost New Years, well yes, but because it was sort of tradition to kiss someone right at the stroke of New Years, and Sara hadn't been getting mad at him for getting so close to her all evening, and it was New Years… then the final countdown started. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Sara turned towards Greg who had been staring at her the entire countdown and whispered. "Hey Sanders, it's New Years, aren't you going to kiss me?" He smiled like she'd never seen him smile before and happily leaned in for a kiss. Grissom and Nick watched smugly as Warrick and Catherine were already involved in a full make out session and Greg and Sara were happily kissing as well. Nick turned to Grissom and smiled.

"No way Nick, I am not kissing you." Grissom said.

"Glad to hear it, Grissom." Nick laughed, "Happy new years."

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A/N: And I started this this afternoon, but took a break to watch some TV and do some things, and it is now five thirty in the morning and I guess I should consider going to bed… I hope that was alright, and yes, tell me what you thought! Thanks!