Title: Lemon Drops
Author: DarkDreamer56
Archive: If you want it, ask please!
Rating: T
Pairing: N/S Friendship
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, just like to play with them. Don't own the song either, if I did, the lyrics would have been burned before they were ever unleashed on the public.
Spoilers: through Gum Drops

A/N: This is another post Gum Drops fic. Basically, I was just looking for some closure between Nick and Sara for all of the stuff that we didn't get to see on screen. I apologize in advance if anyone gets that inane song stuck in their head, really I do. This is dedicated to Claire, Julie, Kate, Anushka, Jacinda, Astralis, Shimmy, M2S, and all of my other favorite Snickers writers. Also, seeing as I didn't get the chance to post this before last's nights ep, this fic takes place pre Daddy's Little Girl.

Sara was stranded on a boat in the middle of Lake Mead, a strong wind blowing, nothing to be seen for miles along the choppy water. A loud voice was singing a song that she recalled one of her coworker's daughters from San Francisco singing at the top of her lungs throughout the lab. The little girl had been cute, but Sara remembered more than one migraine appearing shortly after the little girl came to visit.

If all the rain drops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be…

Suddenly, she heard the sound of someone stomping their feet behind her, and she turned around as she felt the boat begin to sway back and forth before she realized two things; the first was that she had fallen asleep on the couch, and the second was that there was someone knocking rather loudly at her door.

Yawning widely, she pulled herself up off of the couch. Her track pants and tee shirt were rumpled and she didn't have to look in the mirror to know she was sporting a serious case of bed head, but when she glanced through the peephole she couldn't help but smile.

"Hey Nick," she greeted her friend as she opened her door. Nick stood in the hall with a smile and two Starbucks cups.

"Running a little late?" he teased, handing her one of the cups. Sara gave him a quizzical look and then unsuccessfully suppressed another yawn. "For work?" Nick added, following her into the apartment. "I have to drop off something for Warrick, so I figured I'd stop by and see if you wanted a ride in."

Sara inhaled deeply, loving the smell of her caramel macchiato almost as much as the taste. She took a sip and sighed in satisfaction before she answered. "You seem to have forgotten that I'm off tonight too."

Sara tried not to smile as a sheepish expression crossed Nick's face. "I'm sorry Sara, I woke you up, didn't I?"

"No, it's okay. I didn't mean to fall asleep. Besides, you brought me coffee." Sara inhaled deeply again as she settled back onto the couch.

"Well, I figured I owe you a couple," Nick replied, taking a sip of his own coffee. Sara took a minute to study him; even through the sleepy haze she was emerging from, Sara could tell that Nick had stopped by for more than to just offer coffee and a ride to work. But she was glad that he had stopped by.

"Well, since we've both got the night off, you want to stick around for awhile?" Sara tried to hide the smile as she noticed the hopeful expression on Nick's face.

"No hot date tonight?" he teased, finally sitting down next to her on the couch.

"I'll take you over laundry and grocery shopping any day," she shot back with a grin, happy to see Nick chuckle at their playful banter. His laughter had become something of a rare commodity since his abduction, and Sara had missed it more than she realized. "We can order a pizza, unless you really need to give Warrick…well, whatever it is you have to return." Sara had a sneaking suspicion it was an excuse to drop by, rather than something he really needed to do.

"Nah, he can wait another day for his video game."

Sara took a few more sips of her coffee, enjoying the chance to sit and allow herself to wake up. It wasn't often that she got the chance to sit leisurely on her couch. She also took the time to watch Nick out of the corner of her eye. He had finished off his coffee and was now flipping idly through the television channels. He looked slightly anxious, but Sara knew better than to press him right away.

Sara set her cup down and stretched her arms over her head, enjoying the popping sensations it produced. "Well, I guess I should go put in some laundry, you want to order the pizza?"

Nick nodded as Sara retreated into her room and quickly separated a few loads into piles, before throwing a dark load into an empty basket. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she threw her hair up into a messy ponytail.

"It'll be about an hour," Nick called as Sara carried the laundry basket out into the living room.

"Okay, just give me a couple minutes to get this load started. Pick out a movie?"

Nick nodded, hitting the guide button on Sara's remote, scanning through the options while Sara lugged her laundry basket over to the small alcove near her kitchen, where she had her own washer and dryer combination.

"You know, you'd have more room if you didn't have those in here," Nick commented as Sara sat next to him on the couch.

"Yeah, but then I'd have to go to the Laundromat," Sara replied, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"I forgot, Ms. Nonoxynal 9," Nick teased, "it's all the hair, isn't it?"

"You never know what people had in there before you…" Sara shuddered for a moment, and then continued, "So, did you find anything good to watch?"

Nick grinned and gestured towards the television, where Ocean's 11 was just starting. "Meet your approval?"

"George Clooney? You bet." Sara smiled and settled in, grabbing a pillow from the side of the couch to set in her lap. Sara split her attention between the movie and Nick, knowing that there was something up, but not exactly sure what. She rose twice to change her loads of laundry, and the second time, her intercom buzzed, signaling the arrival of their pizza.

By the time she finished unloading the dryer and switching the loads, Nick had already gotten the pizza and grabbed plates and napkins from the kitchen.

"Mmm." Sara sighed in satisfaction as she took a cheesy bite of pizza.

"That good, huh?" Nick mumbled through his own mouthful of pizza.

Sara just grinned and took another bite. Soon, they had finished off most of the pizza, and Nick was draining the last of the only consumable thing from Sara's fridge; a jug of iced tea. When the ending credits began to roll, Sara jumped up to switch out the final load, wondering if Nick would want to stay awhile longer; she welcomed his company, it had been awhile since the two of them had hung out on their own, and she figured that if something was on his mind, it would come out eventually.

When Sara returned, lugging a laundry basket to be folded, Nick had already cleared away the pizza box and dishes, and was scrolling through the channel guide.

Sara bit back a smile and settled onto the couch cross-legged, setting the basket between them on the couch and beginning to sort out pairs of socks. "Wanna make it a double feature?"

Nick grinned sheepishly. "Don't mind me hangin around?" Sara shook her head and continued to fold pajama pants after throwing a handful of socks at him. Nick chuckled, settled on an episode of Forensic Files, and finished pairing up the socks before eyeing the semi-full basket. "Anything in there I shouldn't see?" he asked.

"I think it's safe," Sara answered, fairly certain that most of her underwear had made it into the basket sitting at the foot of her bed.

"You mean, I can't tell Greg that I sorted through your underwear?" he teased, reaching into the basket.

"Depends on whether or not you want to be processing all of my decomps from now on," she shot back.

"Still, the look on his face is almost worth it. Hey! I said almost," Nick complained when Sara reached over the basket to smack him.

The two finished folding soon after that and Sara placed the neatly folded laundry back into the basket before setting in on the floor next to the couch. She settled back into the couch. Nick seemed pretty absorbed in the episode they were watching, but Sara could feel her attention wandering, seeing as she already knew how the case turned out.

"You're good at it, you know?" You're better at it than the rest, at least." Nick spoke quietly, still staring at the television screen in front of them.

Sara wasn't exactly sure what Nick was referring to. Seeing the confused expression on her face when he finally looked over at her, Nick clarified.

"After Peter Locke's interrogation, you could have called me on it, right there in front of everyone. God knows Catherine's done it to you. But you didn't."

He looked at her for a long moment and then turned his gaze back to the television.

"It's what you needed," Sara replied simply, wondering exactly where Nick was going with this.

"But you knew that. Catherine or Warrick, they would have made me talk about it, and Grissom would have just reprimanded me and figured out later what was really going on…Greg wouldn't have wanted to say anything. But you called me on it, and then we went back to work."

"For once, my social ineptness worked in someone's favor," Sara joked weakly, trying to force a laugh. This wasn't exactly what she had had in mind when she thought that something was on Nick's mind. She began to toy nervously with the edge of the pillow now lying between her and Nick, until Nick stilled them gently, laying his hand over hers.

"Sara, I'm serious. I don't think I would have gotten through the McBride case without you."

She shook her head sadly, feeling tears forming behind her eyes as she stared at her lap. "I kept telling you not to expect to find her alive. I was trying…"

Sara was sure that if she looked up at Nick, all of the tears she had been holding back would start to roll down her cheeks. She was right, but she couldn't help but look up at him. She needed him to know that she had just been trying to protect him; that she knew how attached he had become to the little girl, and that she had tried to limit the fallout from what she expected the outcome to be. She wanted him to know how terrified she was that something would happen to him again, how scared she had been when he had gone missing; all of the things that she had been feeling for months, but had never said aloud. Looking up into his eyes though, she realized that though she had never spoken the words, Nick already knew everything she wanted to say.

"I know what you were trying to do Sar, and whether or not I wanted to hear it at the time, I needed to. You were just lookin out for me." He laced their fingers together and squeezed her hand. "You've been doin that a lot…coffee, sandwiches, askin me what part of the case I want to work…"

Sara shook her head, sniffling slightly. "Nick, it's nothing…that's just a bunch of stupid little stuff…"

"That helps me get out of bed every mornin, Sar," Nick interrupted gently. "That stuff matters."

His drawl had thickened, and Sara couldn't help but notice the slight hitch in his voice at the end. It crumbled what little of the wall was left that had contained her emotions about Nick's ordeal for the past several months. It was too much, to hear what Nick was saying.

"I just don't want you to get hurt anymore," she admitted, tears streaming down her face as he gripped her hand. "I was so scared….I wanted to believe that we'd find you, and you'd be okay, but I was still so scared…" As she made the confession, Sara realized that she was now the one gripping Nick's hand. She felt his weight shift as he slid closer to her on the couch, her elbow resting on the inside of his arm until he released her hand and placed his arm around her, pulling her towards him.

Sara continued on, unable to stop the stream of thoughts; things that she had been thinking for months, but had never had the nerve to say aloud. It seemed that Nick wasn't the only one that had some things to get off of his chest. "Ecklie split everyone up, and we weren't really talking anymore…and then you were just gone. Nobody slept, or stopped looking for anything we could use to find you, and all I could think about was what if I never got the chance…"

"Hey, hey it's okay. I'm here, I'm not goin anywhere," Nick murmured as Sara broke off, unable to control her voice. He sounded near tears himself, but he placed his hand against her head, stroking her hair with his thumb as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she sniffled a few minutes later, when she finally got her voice back under control, "I mean, you come over wanting to talk…that's why you came over, right? And I end up just getting your shirt all wet…" Sara tried to disentangle herself from Nick's side, wiping at her eyes, but Nick held her firmly in place.

"Hey, I think we were due for somethin like this, don't you? I mean, we've never really talked about it. Sure, you listened to me when I needed to talk about stuff, but I know what happened affected everybody." Nick cleared his throat loudly. "Not that I'm anything special, but I know if it had been one of you guys, I would have been…"

Sara cut him off gently. "Hey, you are special, and don't you ever think otherwise. And I guess…I've never really been good at talking about stuff like this." Sara had wanted Nick to know how she felt, but she had never been sure how to bring it up; he had been dealing with so much, and she didn't want to add to his burden by telling him how scared she had been. It wasn't until that day that Sara realized Nick probably needed to hear how hard they had worked to find him, how scared they had all been when he went missing.

Nick rubbed her side as Sara rested her head against his shoulder. "There's something else I wanted to say Sara. I had some time to think about it…I mean, when I was down there, there wasn't much else to do." He laughed nervously, tightening his hold around Sara's shoulder. "Let's face it Sar, even without Walter Gordon, last year sucked. Ecklie split us up, and then you got suspended, and that thing at Desert State…I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." Nick cast his eyes downward, rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand. "I don't know, maybe I got caught up in all of the shift rivalry crap, or maybe I just thought you didn't need me anymore…"

"Nick, it's okay." Sara wasn't sure she was ready to go through another emotional bout with Nick so soon after the first.

Nick's voice was a bit shaky, yet forceful. "No Sara, it's not. I was worried about you, I knew there was more to what was going on than you just going off on Catherine, but I didn't do a damn thing about it. You…you've been there for me, and I couldn't even call to see how you were doin…"

"Hey," Sara admonished gently, reaching over with her free hand to grasp his. "We all took a lot of stuff for granted, but that's done now. There's nothing to worry about, the team's back together."

It had hurt when the team had been split up, and Sara was no longer working with Nick and Warrick. And it had been even worse once she was suspended, and hadn't heard a word from either of them, especially when she had been working a swing shift case in the first place. Their relationships had slowly been devolving from friends, close friends in fact, to merely coworkers, and their lack of acknowledgement only served to further Sara's belief that things were irreversibly changed. But then Nick had gone missing, and suddenly everyone woke up and realized what was slipping away from them; even Catherine and Sara had been getting along as of late.

Nick was quiet for a moment, and Sara hoped that her message was setting in. She hated seeing him so upset. She was relieved to find that he seemed a little calmer when he finally replied. "It's still a little unsettling, you know? It's like, any minute, someone can change their mind and break us all up again. Sar…I don't think I can go through that again." His voice was small, causing Sara to sniffle once more, but at least he didn't seem as upset as before, and thankfully, he had dropped the other issue; that was definitely not something Sara was ready to talk about just yet.

"Won't happen," Sara answered firmly. Nick gave her a questioning look. "Between the six of us, there is no way they'd ever find the body, or any evidence either. Even Ecklie's not stupid enough to try that again." Sara cracked a smile, relieved to watch Nick do the same.

"Yeah, Greg has surpassed Ecklie's skills as a CSI, huh?" Nick chuckled. "And I hear that had something to do with you." She felt him squeeze her hand before she let him release it, but he still made no move to remove his arm from around her shoulder.

Sara shrugged. "We worked together a lot. It was nice to work with someone with so much enthusiasm, who's not jaded yet. God knows I needed that last year. And I guess teaching him distracted me…I really missed you and Warrick," she admitted quietly.

Nick sighed. "I missed you to Sar…I'm still real sorry…"

"Hey, what did I say before?" Sara turned her head towards him, looking up and quirking an eyebrow. "The past is the past. It's over, done. Though, if you still feel bad about it, I will let you take me out to dinner the next night we have off."

Nick grinned; that full wattage Nick Stokes smile that Sara had missed nearly as much as his laughter. "I don't know, I think dinner and dancin might absolve my guilt a little bit better."

Even Sara was surprised at the giggle that escaped her lips. "Sure, if you think your toes can handle it."

Nick chuckled and rubbed her shoulder. "I think the chance to see you in a skirt outweighs any pain you can bring on."

"Who said anything about a skirt?" Sara barbed back, grinning.

They settled into a comfortable silence, slowly turning their attention back to the television, which was now showing a new episode of Forensic Files. Sara was glad that they had finally gotten some things out in the open, but their conversation had left her emotionally exhausted, and she was pretty sure that Nick felt the same way. So Sara was content to lay her head back against Nick's shoulder and become absorbed in the episode she had never seen, content in the knowledge that her friend, and their friendship, were going to be alright.

FIN.

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