Once again, I do not own CSI in any way shape of form but I'm certainly not minding borrowing all the characters for my story...Enjoy
The first thing that Catherine and Gil noticed was the grand entrance that Sophia made as she came through the ballroom doorway, sapphire blue dress flowing like a cloud around her. The second was how familiar the captain of the ship seemed to be with her as the slightly paunchy older man blatantly wrapped his arm around her in an all too personal embrace. She didn't seem to mind as he leaned in kissing first her left then right side of her face and whispering something that made her laugh. Sophia seemed both comfortable and content in his embrace as he maneuvered her around to introduce her to some of the crew. "Strange" Gil looked at Cath, "not the kind of person I would have thought Sophia would have been interested in" he directed Catherine toward the bar for yet another cocktail. "Seems odd that she seems to know him so well, you'd think royalty had entered the way the crew is fawning over her" they kept a watchful eye on the group across the floor. "Well, she certainly does seem to know him" he thanked the bartender for his drink, tossed a single into the tip jar and started to walk toward the doorway that Sophia had just come in to get some fresh air.
"Hey, what's up with her?" Greg joined both Gil and Catherine as they neared the door. "What do you mean Greg" Grissom turned giving him one of his usual puzzled looks "Sophia, she looks like she just joined a family reunion" he quickly realized that he was striking out with ladies tonight, first Sara and now Sophia had her arms around the neck of someone that could have been her father, or uncle at the very least. "Ya know, that's exactly what I was thinking" Warrick had shown up out of nowhere.
Nick and Sara took a break from the dance floor and quietly walked arm and arm toward the outside deck "Let's go upstairs" he suddenly reminded her of a school boy on prom night "We can be alone" his eyebrows wiggling as he broke into a smile then he gently yanked her arm toward the stairway "Don't you think they'll miss us?" she couldn't explain the sudden appearance of nerves as her stomach dealt with something more than butterflies. "The hell with them!" he chuckled "a few more drinks and they won't even notice the person standing next to them" he waited for her response. "Maybe we should tell them where we are just in case they …" but she didn't get a chance to finish as Nick bent down, grabbed her around the waist and flipped her over his shoulder. "Not tonight Sara, no one needs to bother us for awhile" he laughed to himself as he began to ascend the stairway leading to the second deck. "Nick! Nicholas Stokes you put me down right now!" she slapped half heartedly at his back and shoulders while kicking her feet "Put me down you…you Neanderthal!" she started laughing with him. He wasn't going to be dissuaded this time. It had taken five years and several unfortunate instances of almost losing his life for him to realize that he wasn't going to waste another opportunity to tell Sara how much he loved, 'I love her' he thought, there, plain and simple was the sum of all the feelings he'd been holding inside, he was in love with her, he had been for a long time and decided tonight would be when he finally told her.
When he got to the second floor, he gently sat her down on the railing, stood close to her while placing a hand on each side of her hip to steady her. "Stokes, just what the hell are you doing?" she didn't know if she should be angry or if this was some kind of joke but she was going to find out. "I'm kissing the prettiest girl at the dance" he reached up, took her face in his hands and kissed her first ever so lightly, just a brush of lips against lips then more demanding, his tongue demanding permission to seek the warmth moist cavern of her mouth. He let her go and she had to steady herself by putting her arms around his neck "You're insane Nick, you're mad!" she smiled "Yeah Sar, I'm mad, I'm madly in love with you…." He saw the stunned look on her face as her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh Nick" she looked at him, "Nicky…." She saw him close his eyes and waited "Say it again Sar…say my name" he loved the way is flowed off her lips, the breathy sound as she whispered his name "Nick" she sighed and he wondered if he had blown it. "How can you love me?" she waited for his eyes to open and when they did, she was surprised again how dark they were. "How can I not?" he took her hands in his and brought them to his lips "I've known it since the first time you flirted with me" she looked stunned "I didn't" she shot him a look "I did not flirt with you Stokes!" her voice grew a little louder "Yeah you did, in fact I had to tell you to stop" he kissed the back of her hand and then placed a more thorough kiss in her palms. "But you couldn't help yourself…I understand that" he knew that he was pushing the right buttons as she coughed and cleared her throat "As I remember it Nicholas Stokes, you flirted with anything with breasts" she was laughing as she said it and was rewarded with a shocked look from Nick "Excuse me?" he shook his head "I resent that?" he smiled back loving the gentle banter "I love you Sara Sidle, I have for a long time, it just took me forever to be able to tell you that, but if you still have a thing…" She shut him up with a kiss "I'm only going to say this one time Nick Stokes…yes there was a time I was in love with Gil Grissom but that was the past" he looked up, tears just barely hanging there "And now?" he was afraid of the answer. "I'm not in love with Gil" she looked at him, knowing what he wanted her to say but she was afraid. "But you're not in love with me either, are you?" he stepped back looking disappointed "Nick wait…" she held onto his shoulders "I love you Nick, honestly I do…." He shook his head "But not like" he didn't know how to phrase it "Not like boyfriend or girlfriend?" he pulled back from her. "I'm just afraid Nick, that's all" she wanted him to understand that until now, no one had ever loved her back...all the effort had been one sided and many times, what she mistook for love was an infatuation or fear of being alone and wound up with her getting hurt. "I won't hurt you Sar, never" he looked into her eyes. "I'm not like the others" he wanted her to believe him "I..." but he didn't get a chance to finish when something seemed to bob in the water about 20 - 35 yards from the paddle boat.
Something in the water caught his eye but because of the darkness, he didn't know if he was imagining things or if there really was something out there….he shook his head and Sara started to turn but he stopped her, blinked a few more times and leaned in as if to kiss her "What in the hell?" he whispered keeping her from turning around suddenly "Sara, don't turn around, wrap your arms around me and slide off the banister" she thought he was joking but something about his stance or the tone of his voice told her to do as she was told "What's going on?" she straightened her spine and slid down to stand between him and the railing and for the briefest of moments, they both realized that Nick really did have feelings for her but now was not the time to explore them further "When I spin you around like we're dancing, laugh like you're having a good time, I'm going to pull you back into my arms, look over my shoulder and tell me what you see?" He stepped back, took her hand and true to his word, spun her first away and then back toward him, turning so that he now had his back to the darkness of the water and she was facing outward "Nick…I don't" but when she stopped he knew that it had not been his imagination "I see something about 35 yards out" she nuzzled against him "actually, there's two of whatever is out there side by side" she moved him around and laughed turning him around again "Okay, got it" he smiled at her then turned slightly to the right and stopped once more "20 yard to the right…two more" he danced her around singing loud enough that if anyone was paying them any attention, they would think it was nothing more than some couple enjoying the evening. "It was Christmas in Las Vegas" he turned her again "Nick, there's more of them 20 yards further still" she was starting to get that bad feeling again!