Catherine approached Sara with a bit of trepidation as she entered the locker room just before shift. She had offered to help Nick and Sara with their wedding plans, but even with her connections, Valentine's Day in Vegas at this late date was booked solid and she had no intention of asking Sam Braun for anything; it was bad enough that she felt he thought he had strings tied to her. "Hey, Sara."
Sara glanced up and couldn't hide the satisfied smile on her face; despite postponing the wedding and getting hardly any sleep, she was feeling very, very good. "Hey, Cath."
"How are the wedding plans going?" Catherine thought she'd ease into the subject and try and break the news gently. She wondered to herself if Sara had somehow managed to snag some open facility given the smile on her face, but as she took a second look, the corners of her mouth twitched up; she knew exactly what that kind of smile was from.
"We're going to postpone it actually." Sara looked rather relaxed for someone who less than 24 hours ago was firm about the date to the point that she'd worked herself up into a virtual tizzy.
"Oh?" Catherine looked at her curiously; this was definitely not something that she'd expected, but then again it would give Nick and Sara that much more time and maybe she'd be able to help after all.
"Well, absolutely every place I called was booked." Sara rolled her eyes slightly, now feeling a bit cheesy that she'd wanted to get married on Valentine's Day to begin with. "And Nick's parents wouldn't have been able to make it on such short notice." Sara continued as Catherine quirked an eyebrow at her. "His dad said that there were several cases on the docket and he needed to be there for them...I suppose that's the price you pay with a justice in the family." Sara smirk turned into a smile at the idea that she was really going to be a part of a family and they all seemed to be excited about her becoming a Stokes too.
Catherine had to admit to herself that there seemed to be a transformation in Sara over the last couple of months; she never would have expected to see her light up quite like this. "So have you set another date then?"
Sara shook her head. "No, not yet." She let out a soft laugh. "Nick's still trying to get in touch with the people he's already told to tell them we're not getting married next week, and there were still a few people that he was trying to get a hold of to tell them that we were even engaged."
Just then the man in question burst in the locker room with a huge grin on his face. "Ok, so I told my parents that we were going to wait and my mom came up with a great idea." For the first time Nick noticed Catherine and he offered a smile in her direction as she smiled in amusement at him.
Sara sincerely hoped that Nick's mom's idea wasn't having this wedding in Texas, because the last thing she wanted on top of planning a wedding was having virtually no control over it. She liked the members of Nick's family that she'd met so far, but she was sure that she didn't know any of them well enough to plan it for her. "Oh?"
Nick noticed the expression on her face and realized that as much as he thought it was a good idea for his mom and sisters to help her, this was something that Sara really wanted to do on her own. "Well, my parents belong to a country club in Dallas and they have a reciprocating agreement with several of the country clubs here in Vegas...she just thought if she made a few phone calls we might be able to book the wedding at one of them, but if you'd rather have it somewhere else..." His words trailed off as he waited for her response.
Sara felt relief and then a smile spread across her face as she realized that no one wanted to take over; at least yet, and truth be told, she could use the help. "No, I think that's a great idea...I guess we just need to find a date."
"Well I've been thinking about that and I think I may have a solution." Nick had a boyish grin on his face.
"Ok." Sara was curious what he had up his sleeve. Catherine had quietly disappeared as the pair continued to talk.
"When does the lease on your apartment end?" The idea had occurred to him when they were driving in to work that morning in separate vehicles because he had needed to swing by his house on the way in to get a change of clothes. If they were getting married they didn't need two places to live and since he owned his townhouse, it just made sense for Sara to move in with him as soon as her lease was up.
"The end of March I think, or maybe the first of April." She silently hoped that Nick wouldn't push for April Fools Day, she considered herself flexible, but she had to draw the line somewhere.
"Perfect." Nick's smile widened into a grin; he'd thought that it would be ending soon given that he'd helped her move into that apartment the year before and it had been right after the NCAA basketball playoffs had wrapped up. "How about the 18th of March then? It's a Saturday and it should give us enough time to get your stuff moved over and the apartment cleaned out before the end of the month."
"March 18th." Sara mulled over the date in her mind, glad for the fact that St. Patrick's Day wasn't on Saturday and simply smiled at Nick. "That sounds good...I guess as long as we can get the wedding booked for that date."
Nick interrupted. "I actually took the liberty and suggested that mom look into that...she just called back...and they have the date available at Red Rock Country Club in Summerlin." He really hoped that she thought it was a good idea; he had been there a time or two when his dad had visited and taken him out for a round of golf. The way the reddish hills served as a backdrop made him think that Sara would love it.
Sara's brows arched in surprise and she felt a flutter in her stomach. "Summerlin?" She'd never imagined that she'd get married, let alone in the exclusive area of Summerlin. She knew the area well; despite the affluence of its residents the CSIs had been called out there more times than one might think.
Nick mistook her surprise for hesitation. "But if you don't want to, we don't have to. I told her that I'd have to ask you about it and that you'd probably want to take a look at the grounds where we'd have the wedding..."
Sara cut him off. "No, it's perfect, Nick, really." She smiled at him and then stepped towards him and softly kissed him for a brief moment before grinning at him and closing her locker. "I just never imagined that I would get married at a country club in Summerlin that's all.
"Me either." He'd always assumed he'd be getting married at home in Texas to someone that one of his sisters had managed to set him up with, but to get married here to Sara was so much better than anything he could imagine.
Panic hit Sara all of a sudden and it was reflected in her voice. "I need to get a dress." She had been so consumed with finding a place to have the wedding that she had completely forgotten about all of the other details. She didn't really consider herself a candidate for 'What Not To Wear', but she didn't see herself as a fashion guru either and a wedding dress was almost too much to think about because all eyes were going to be on her come March 18th.
Nick resisted the urge to laugh at her and instead pulled her into a quick hug and whispered in her ear. "I'm pretty sure that Catherine would be happy to help you with that."
