Disclaimer: Don't own them.
A/N: For anyone disappointed with the who at the end of the chapter, please see author's notes at the end.
Evenings like this made Nick glad that the crew was back together. He had missed working with Sara so much when they were split, but what surprised him was how much he enjoyed working with Greg. He enjoyed sitting in the back seat of the Denali, his arms and legs stretched out, listening to Greg and Sara's back and forth banter. He didn't remember ever hearing Sara laugh so much. It wasn't like Sara was laughing like an idiot, but Greg's stream of conciousness verbage would be punctuated here and there by Sara's giggle, or by a comment like, "Greg, please" which would sound like she was offended, but then Nick would look at her face and she would be smiling from ear to ear. Greg, Nick realized, had been very good for Sara. He had a brief pang of jealousy. What if there were more to this than met the eye? Sara and Greg had been together a lot, and sometimes that led to something more. It wouldn't be the first or last time that co-workers became lovers.
But this new Nick blew the jealousy off. He would never steal a lover from one of his friends, but if they were being covert, he couldn't be expected to know. And if he were rebuffed, then he would deal with it, and go on. He had proved to himself one thing, at least – he was a survivor. And no broken heart was going to do him in if being buried alive couldn't.
He was sitting in the middle of the Denali's bench seat, and every time he looked up, he could see Sara's face. He looked up at her, caught her eye and gave her a wink and a big smile. She smiled back and gave him a look that was hard to read before returning her eyes to the road. Greg continued his unabated talk, but Nick knew that Sara was thinking along the same lines as he was; this was good, the three of them together. If Warrick were with them, it could have been even better, but with the task Nick had set himself, he really didn't need War's smirking, know-it-all presence.
They arrived at the Lucky Strike Motel, and Nick couldn't think of a worse dive. Not everybody in Vegas struck it rich, and though the Strip could be glamorous, the underside of Vegas was more like this little no-tell motel. A place where you could get pimped, get high and get by with no one to see or tell who you were.
And a good place to kill two people with no one to know better.
"This is where I would choose to leave two bodies. Whatcha bet we have no valid ID on the person who last rented the room?" Greg volunteered, echoing Nick's thoughts.
"You're probably right Greggo. That's why we have to follow the evidence," Nick said, throwing heavy emphasis on the last part. Sara gave him a withering look, and Greg snickered.
"Thanks, Gil," Sara said caustically, but her eyes were gentle. Nick smiled.
"Well, I am point on this, so I have to keep the young pup in line," Nick said, giving Greg a friendly nudge on the shoulder.
"You're way late on that," Greg said as the trio walked up to the taped off motel room. "Sara's always on top of that."
"I'm on top of a lot of things," Sara said quietly, looking archly at her companions. By this time they had come to the crime scene, and neither man could say anything in return because of the deputy at the door. Greg leaned in and whispered to Nick.
"Close your mouth, man. You'll let flies in like that, Papa Olaf always said."
"Did Papa Olaf ever get a girl like Sara to say something like that," Nick replied.
"Papa did a lot of things," Greg said, nodding his head up and down. Nick gave him a bemused look. They stepped under the crime scene tape to see Det. Curtis inside.
"Been waiting on you guys for a while," Sofia was saying, accusingly, to Sara, who was already inside.
"But I am so worth the wait," Nick offered as he came in the door. Sofia lightened up upon seeing Nick and Greg. She even smirked a little at Nick's comment.
"Nick. Greg," she said as a greeting. But she and Sara weren't standing at an impasse for now, so Nick figured his ice breaker had worked. After Sofia gave them the details and walked out, Sara gave Nick a look.
"Takes a lot of guts, flirting over a DB," she said. "Two DB's, point of fact. A guy I once knew told me that." Nick smiled, remembering the night he and Sara had met Hank the Skank, as Nick thought of him.
"Yeah, so I guess I've got a double load," Nick said, puffing up his chest. Sara twisted her lips. He knew that it meant she was trying not to smile.
"Um, are we going to start processing the scene, or are you two going to do this all night?" Greg asked, a little taken aback by Sara and Nick's interactions. Nick recognized it as envy.
"Oh, Greggo, you're not the only one that has ridden shotgun to Sara's driving," Nick said. "But, since you mentioned it, process away. You take the perimeter, and Sara and I will process inside."
As Greg walked out the door, Nick stopped him.
"Make sure the deputy is within eyesight at all times, Greg. When it gets to the point you are out of his line of sight, you come get me or Sara," Nick warned, his voice now deadly serious. Greg frowned a little.
"Of course, Nick."
Nick watched Greg go out the door and wondered if he had sounded as paranoid as he felt just then.
"If you want to go with him, I can start by myself. Or vice versa," Sara said. Nick turned to see her looking at him with concern. It was a look he had gotten from her a lot, though with Sara, it was always a nice type of concern. It wasn't pandering or condescending, and she always said it in a tone of voice that made him feel as if he were having the most normal reactions in the world. Which is what his counselor had told him, but Sara could do more with one look than the counselor seemed to be able to do with a host of sessions.
"It'll be quicker if two process inside," he said. She nodded her head in quick assent and they began to work, Nick fighting the urge to check on Greg's process.
Nick and Sara had always had an easy kind of rhythm when they worked. Nick was grateful that the work was keeping his mind occupied. Instead of wanting to run check on Greg every couple of minutes, it was every 10 minutes. Finally, after about an hour of processing, Sara stood up straight and stretched.
"Go check on him," she said in a tone that was on the edge of being exasperated.
"Am I that easy to read?" Nick asked.
"Yes," was Sara's resounding answer. "Actually, I would like to check on him too." She gave Nick a smile and they moved towards the motel room door.
"Rock, paper, scissors on who gets to help G?" Nick asked. Sara shook her head at his suggestion, but held her hand and fist out in preparation.
Nick came up with paper. Sara was waggling her fingers in a downward motion.
"Water," she said, smiling mischievously. "It erodes rock, rusts scissors, and dissolves paper. I win."
"That's not an option," Nick protested, but Sara just gave him a backwards glance and grin as she walked out into the night air to help Greg. "You cheat!" Nick said under his breath, but he smiled at how Sara could surprise him after working together so long.
The end of shift saw the trio still working at the crime scene, thought they were close to the end. They had taken only one break, and Nick could feel the fatigue weighing down on him. The three were riding back to the lab to log in evidence and finish their paperwork. The mood was more somber than at the beginning of shift; Greg's loggorhea had subsided and now the younger man was more subdued, though his and Sara's conversation was light hearted and even now, punctuated by Sara's smooth giggles. Nick found himself smiling, and he was thankful for that. The scene was brutal, and he knew that posting the body tomorrow would be grueling as well.
"Let's get a drink, after paperwork is finished," he suggested as they pulled into the parking lot. Nick could see Cath and Warrick walking together across the asphalt. He sometimes wondered how Warrick could reconcile his flirtatious nature with Catherine to his marriage to Tina. Nick pushed that thought aside. Whether Warrick flirted or not was really not his business, and furthermore, it was pulling his focus away from the task at hand: drinks with Sara and Greg.
"I could go for that, as long as we get something really good to eat, too," Greg said. They both turned to Sara expectantly.
"I guess. But you will both have to help with the paperwork," she warned. Then she smiled, and Nick saw the smile reflected in Greg's face. Once again, he wondered what might have been going on with the two.
Nick was having a good time. The restaurant was small, and more of a bar and grill than anything. Given it was Vegas, people all around were eating anything from pancakes to ribeyes.
Sara had picked it and it seemed like her - warm and eclectic, but the outside had belied the atmospheric inside. And of course, they seemed to have more vegetarian choices than normal.
Nick loved that the place had a jukebox instead of canned music. Greg had worn himself out by making a play list that would end up costing him ten bucks to cover. When Greg went to make his selections, Nick saw his chance.
"So, Sara, how are things these days?" he asked. Sara gave a little shrug of her shoulders.
"Good, I guess." She took a pull of her beer, but she was looking questioningly at Nick. It wasn't like they hadn't been working together this year.
"You seeing anybody?" he said, trying for casual. He thought he pulled it off, but Sara was smiling at him knowingly.
"Maybe," she said, with a wide smile that said she was.
"Serious, or casual?"
"Casual. We're just having fun," Sara said. She was now looking at him directly. "Why do you ask?" she said in a manner that made Nick's heart speed up a little.
"I was wondering if you would want to go out and have some fun with me," Nick said, coolly. Then he delivered his best smile. His smile widened at Sara's blushing cheeks and grin. She looked down at her beer.
"Why now?" she asked. "After all these years?"
"I'm tired of waiting for the right time," Nick said. He reached out and took her fingers in his hand. "I'm a little different these days. I'm tired of playing it safe with you. Let's go out. If it's too weird, we won't again," Nick said. When Sara looked up at him with her twisted lipped anti-smile, Nick's confidence surged. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he finished.
At that moment, Greg's bebopping form came back into Nick's line of sight. He gave Sara's fingers a light squeeze, then picked up his beer.
"What's going on here? You two look like you're up to something," Greg asked suspiciously, his song momentarily forgotten. Nick almost laughed at Sara's response.
"We're just having fun," she said, looking at Nick and smiling a sweet smile.
Before long, it was time to settle up tabs. They still had to work tomorrow. When Nick and Sara both reached for the bill and their hands touch, Nick looked up and grinned. Sara's cheeks seemed to have pinked up. Funny how he kept having that effect on her.
He couldn't separate her from Greg as they were leaving, so he had picked up his cell to call her when he got a block from the restaurant. To his surprise, it rang. The caller ID showed Sara's name.
"Sara," he said as he answered the phone.
"Are you serious about going on a date?" she asked. He liked that her tone was confidant and on the verge of being challenging.
"As a heart attack, darlin'", Nick drawled. He smiled as he heard Sara snort derisively on the other end of the line. "In fact, when's your next night off?"
"I already have plans," Sara said and Nick frowned for a moment.
"Casual fun guy?" he asked. The old Nick would have been a little jealous, possibly crestfallen. Not tonight. "What about this?" he countered. "We'll meet for lunch the day after tomorrow; walk around some of the casino shops and come into work. No pressure. If we want to go out again after that, you can pencil me into your busy schedule."
"You make it sound so easy," Sara said. He could picture her smile on the other end of the line.
"Darlin, when it comes to you, I could make everything easy," he said, laying the accent on thickly. He was rewarded with the rich sound of Sara's laughter.
"See you at work, darlin," she returned. Nick smiled the rest of the way home.
A/N: To all of you who voted G, I have an alternate version of this story in the works. Please look for it next week sometime. You could stick around and read the third chapter of this one if you wanted too.