A/N: I really should have been studying for my midterm tomorrow... but I didn't feel like it. So what better way to blow off school work than by writing a new story? I dedicate this to all of you fighting in the war against Sandles, lol. And I'm almost finished another fic, which I'm excited about... Anyway, as I said, I just popped this out today with very little forethought so if there are any mistakes please kindly take note of them and let me know so I can fix 'em later. Thanks. Hope you like it. I really have to study now...

"Flush," Warrick spoke as he finally allowed the grin to register on his face. Tina bit her lower lip as she watched her husband lay down his cards. She had been kicked out of the game herself about half an hour ago, but at least she had outlasted the other two nurses here tonight. Over the span of four hours, the game had dwindled from its initial seven players down to the remaining three… unless Warrick lost this hand. Then it'd be down to two.

An even larger grin broke out across Nick's face, "Full house." He slowly set his cards down on the table in front of him. Warrick cursed.

"It's okay, baby." Tina cooed, wrapping her arms around Warrick's neck and placing herself in his lap. She kissed his neck and snuggled closer as Nick began to rake the pot towards himself, ignoring Warrick's grumblings.

"Not so fast, cowboy," Sara put a hand on top of his eager ones. She looked over at his cards and laid down her own. "Full house," she dropped hers down beside him, "but I believe the men of the house," she pointed to her kings, "mean I win." She smirked as Nick withdrew his arms pouting. She swept all the chips to her section of the table and systematically stacked them as Nick collected the cards.

"Sara, go all in this hand!" Greg cheered from the sidelines.

"That kind of attitude is why you were out within five minutes," Sara replied without looking up from her chips.

"No, this kind of attitude is a result of being out within the first five minutes. I'm bored. And you guys are almost even with the chips. One of you has to go all in or we'll be here all night!" he whined.

"Greg, there's about $200 between them," Mandy, a friend of Tina's, calculated. "They're not just going to throw it away because you're bored."

"I guess you're right… Maybe they will if we're all bored." Greg glanced around the room, "Tina, Jeff, you guys are bored too right?" The only replies he got were in the form of rolling eyes.

"Anyway, you bought back in twice. You've only been sitting out for an hour," Nick argued as he shuffled the cards one last time before beginning to deal. "And now, you have some company…"

"Who are also bored," Greg replied. Nick glanced up at the other four sitting out of the game, fairly confident that they would be able to wait another half hour for the game to end.

"Just sit tight. We won't be too long; I know Sara's tell," he winked at her.

"If that were true I wouldn't still be in," she laughed at his childish attempt at intimidation.

"Maybe I just like your company," Nick replied, applying his poker face as he picked up his pair of cards.

"That's the understatement of the century," Greg muttered as he went off in search of a good DVD. Warrick and Tina tried to hide their laughter but didn't do a very good job of it; even Mandy and Jeff, who had only met Sara and Nick once before, chuckled a little at their expense. Nick felt a blush rise on the back of his neck and slowly spread to his face. He stared determinedly at his cards, willing the colour to fade. Sara watched his reaction with interest, but decided not to comment on it. She turned back to study her cards with a faint smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Okay," Warrick sighed over an hour later. "We're going to call it a night." Sara and Nick still had the pot divided almost evenly between them and it didn't seem like that'd change any time soon. Neither was willing to raise the stakes by much and they were awful at calling each other's bluffs. Usually one folded right after the flop simply out of fear of losing what they had. He had noted earlier in the night, only to Tina, that the way they played poker was an excellent metaphor for their relationship. Always hiding their hands, afraid of giving too much away…

"Yeah," Nick and Sara stood up from their game and walked over to the couple. Nick shook hands with Warrick, "Thanks for coming." He walked over to Tina and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "And for sticking around so long. Hope you guys weren't as bored as Greg," he laughed.

"Not at all," Tina assured with a smile. "I'm glad I got the night off; this was fun. Oh, and thanks for inviting Jeff and Mandy. They would have stayed later but they both have to work tomorrow… err, today I guess."

"You don't need to cover for them," Nick winked. "Greg left a lot sooner than they did and he didn't have an excuse… well, besides ADD." Sara slapped Nick's shoulder as she passed to give Tina a hug goodbye.

"See you next later," Sara spoke, turning to Warrick to give him a hug as well. "And thanks for your money," she grinned as she pulled away.

"Next time you're goin' down, Sidle," Warrick growled good-naturedly as he helped his wife into her jacket. "Nick, you'd better win. She's getting too cocky."

"Bring it on," Sara laughed and followed them as they ambled down the hall to the entrance of Nick's home.

"Oh, we already cleaned up the kitchen for you." Tina informed Nick as Warrick guided her towards the door.

"Thank you," Nick sounded pleased and surprised. "You are now officially invited to all of these gatherings," he laughed. They exchanged their goodbyes once more, and he closed the door behind them. "All right," he rubbed his hands together and turned back to his last guest, "You ready to lose?"

"Nope," she grinned as she sauntered back to the table ahead of him, "but I don't have to be. I'm not going to lose."

"Bold statements from the person in second," Nick assessed the amount of chips in front of each of their seats.

"Barely. And this hand will fix that," she shuffled the cards expertly.

Six hands later the chips were actually split 50-50. Sara had indeed pulled ahead… but obviously it didn't last for long. "This is ridiculous," Sara laughed humourlessly. "Want to just each take a hundred bucks and call it a night?"

"No!" Nick replied a little too quickly; Sara couldn't help but smile. "I mean, if you want to forfeit, I get it all," he back peddled. Both of them knew that Sara wouldn't just give up $100.

"We're going to be here all night," Sara whined.

Nick shrugged, "If that's what it takes to resolve this, so be it." He knew he was being stupid but he didn't want Sara to leave yet, and he didn't know how else to ask her to stay without exposing himself.

Sara, on the other hand, was getting a little tired of these games and lame excuses. She wanted to stay, but she didn't want to play poker anymore. She decided to up the ante, literally. "Fine. But no more of these dumb little pots."

"Yeah, like you were taking a lot of risks," Nick laughed as he handed Sara the cards she couldn't reach. "You can't just blame me for how long we're taking. It takes two to play, Sara, and if you keep folding before I get the chance to raise then of course the stakes won't change." There was something defensive in his tone that made Sara pause in mid-shuffle. She looked at him and tilted her head, inquisitively.

"So… if I stay a little longer… err, stay in a little longer…"

"It'll be worth it," Nick promised solemnly. Sara nodded, a small smile appearing at the implications. She finished shuffling and dealt out their hands. Sara had drawn two diamonds: a ten and a six. Nick didn't even look at his cards; he tossed in $10 worth of chips.

"Nick," Sara scoffed, "At least look at your cards." He nodded and lifted the edges of each card to see what they were. Wordlessly he threw in another ten dollars. "I know what you're doing and I won't let you throw the game," Sara said staring at him.

"Okay, so the first ten was just to make it a big pot and make you happy… but really why would I want to throw the game after I made a big deal about you quitting?"

"So that you can lose, without really losing… And you get to make a point," Sara replied matter-of-factly.

He looked at her with a faint smile. "And what point am I making?" He honestly couldn't think of what point throwing away his money would make besides that he didn't want it. He was just taking her advice and taking some risks.

"I don't know. That you won't be rushed into anything? That if you push things too quickly they don't mean as much as they would if you let them unfold at their own pace?" she guessed, disappointment clearly heard.

"Wow, I almost wish I was making a point; those are pretty good," Nick laughed. "You're always over-thinking things. I promise I'm not trying to lose."

"Fine," Sara called his raise and then revealed the flop. They were all low cards. There was a five of hearts, an eight of spades and a seven of diamonds. This gave Sara an open-ended chance at a straight. She was trying to decide whether or not to stay in when out of the corner of her eye she noticed Nick reach unhesitatingly towards his chips and toss in another ten dollars. "Nick," she said exasperatedly, "I'm not going to let you throw this game!" She folded her cards and started pushing them towards him. He placed his hand on top of hers to stop the movement.

"You said you'd stop folding," he pointed out.

"You said you weren't trying to lose," she shot back.

"I'm not. I'm just finally getting in the game." Sara looked at him doubtfully and then scanned over the cards in the river. No way was there anything there that could make him this sure of himself; they weren't suited and there wasn't even a face card.

"You barely even glanced at your cards," she argued. "And there's no way you have a good enough hand to bet that much." She slid her cards further towards him.

"If you don't think so, then call my bluff," he challenged. She paused for a minute and they just stared at each other. Finally she pulled her cards back.

"Fine, but if you don't even end up with a pair, I'm going home. With half the pot." She threw the appropriate amount of chips into the pot. She discarded the top card on the deck and then dealt another card to the river; it added an eight of diamonds. Now she had a chance at a flush as well as the open-ended straight draw.

Nick consulted his two cards and glanced back at the river. He looked over at Sara, who was waiting for him to call or raise. "If I go all in are you going to leave?"

She looked really annoyed with him. "Nick, if you're just messing with me…"

"I'm not," he assured quickly. "There's too much at risk here." He seemed sincere enough but Sara still wasn't sure. "Look, I'm tired of these dumb little pots too. I'm not throwing the game, I'm not making a point, and I'm definitely not messing with you. I just… I have a chance to get it all and I'm going to take it before I chicken out again." After another minute of silent staring, Nick sat back in his chair defeated. "I want to raise, but if it's going to make you leave, I won't. So…" He tapped the table in front of him twice. "I call. You?" he asked miserably.

"Call." Sara said stubbornly, not daring to raise after she wouldn't let him. She discarded and dealt out the last cards: the river got an ace of diamonds. She looked over at Nick, careful not to betray her hand. Nick simply knocked on the table again. Sara looked at him; he was staring in the direction of the river, refusing to meet her eyes. One of his hands absently picked up a stack of chips and let them fall to the table remaining neatly stacked. He repeated the gesture as he waited for her move. He was clearly upset. "Maybe we should just split the pot and call it a night," she finally suggested.

"If that's what you want," he nodded half-heartedly, dropping the chips he was playing with and sat up properly in his seat.

"I don't…" she admitted, "I just feel like… like I've ruined this. First I demand that you up the ante and then I make you feel bad for doing it. I feel like… like…"

He looked over at her, and shook his head with a sad smile. "Don't worry about it. It's just poker right?" He knocked over his pile of winnings and stood up.

"Is it?" she asked before she could stop herself.

A little smirk pulled at one side of his mouth. "Yeah, Sar. Well now I feel bad if we're tying and you didn't even know what game we were playing," he forced a small laugh. "Warrick and the others should feel awful that you beat them." He looked down at her, hoping she wouldn't make him admit that he'd been trying to gamble more than money tonight.

"So have I just been over-thinking things again?" Her eyes pleaded with him to confirm that there was more going on between them. Nick sat back down in his chair. "You're just upset that you didn't get your chance… for the cash? Because some of the things that we said tonight…"

Nick looked down at his hands. "I don't care about the money," he admitted quietly, "If I did, I wouldn't be gambling…"

Sara nodded. "So you're upset because…?" She needed to hear him say it.

"You didn't trust me," he glanced over at her. "I told you I wasn't playing to lose. I was just… finally going to make this stupid game worth something." He stuck to his poker analogy. She nodded again. "I'm not mad at you," he clarified. "I can't be mad at you for something you don't feel… I just… I thought I saw my chance. I thought you wanted me to take it." He looked back at his hands.

Sara stood up suddenly and knocked over her chips too. Nick glanced up at her as she shoved them all to the centre of the table. "I'm sorry. I do want you to risk it, but I was afraid you were doing it for the wrong reasons… or something... I was afraid this was just poker or that you were trying to make a point or bluf-- Can we drop the metaphor?" Nick nodded. "We've been dancing around each other for so long that I was afraid I was just getting my hopes up, reading too much into this." She looked over to the table, "I'm all in if you are."

He quickly pushed all of his chips into the centre of the table so they mixed with hers. "I'm all in," Nick unnecessarily confirmed.

"Let's see what you've got, then." She had barely finished the sentence when Nick was out of his seat and crashing his lips on hers.

He wrapped one arm around her waist, drawing him flush against him and placed the other on the edge of her face. His thumb was caressing her cheek and his fingers were lost in the hair behind her ears. Sara's eyes fluttered shut as her hands floated up his torso, one gripping his bicep and the other resting just below his collar bone. Nick bushed his lips across hers for another few seconds before pulling back just to make sure she was okay with this. He was only apart long enough to see a smile gracing her face before he swooped back in. He traced her bottom lip with his tongue and he was delighted when Sara not only opened her mouth to him, but moaned her encouragement. His hand moved from her face to around her torso and she slid her arms to circle around his neck.

After God-knows-how-long the pair pulled back and rested their foreheads together. "I meant let's see your cards," Sara laughed.

"Oh," he leaned in and gave her another chaste kiss. "You're supposed to show first." He kissed her again, clearly developing an addiction. She laughed and pushed away from him to reach over and flip her cards.

"Uhh," Sara had to study the cards to remember what she had. "Flush," she exclaimed as she saw it again. She blushed, a little embarrassed that Nick's kiss had seemed to short-circuit her brain.

He quickly reached over and flipped over his cards to reveal the remaining eights. "Four of a kind," he grinned and moved back over towards her. "I win," he mumbled as his lips found hers again.

The End.