Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Expect my computer. Everything else belongs to CBS.

Summary: Post ep: "Unusual suspect"

As Sara listen to Hannah say how she's not a killer, her world collapses. She was wrong, Nick was right. She ruined his case. Now she needs to tell him. Can she? And how will he take it?

Follow the instinct

Sara remained sitting in the hallway long after Hannah and her parents left. All she could hear was her words: "I didn't kill Stacey." And Nick's words: "She didn't do it."

Suddenly she felt weak. She heard voices, she saw people, but she didn't recognize any of them. In a haze she got up and started to walk towards the locker room. In a well learned manner she gathered her things and closed her locker.

"Hey, Sara. Going home?" – she heard Nick's voice that startled her, making her drop her bag. – "Everything OK?"

She felt like he knew everything that happened. She expected him to say: I told you so. Because of you, a killer got away.

"Sara?"

"Yeah?" – she asked not looking at him, dropping down to pick her bag.

"I asked if you're going home." – he said with worry. She was literally shaking and he didn't know why. She seemed fine before.

"Yeah, I'm going home."

"Do you need me to come with you? You don't look very good."

She stopped picking her things and she started to breathe deeply. She hated that he was such a good person. He was always thinking about the others, even after she disagreed with him, he was worried about her. She felt her throat tighten and she felt her tears in her eyes. Quickly she turned away wanting to disappear.

"No, Nick, it's OK. You go home."

He felt that something was wrong, but he didn't want to push it. If he knew something about Sara, that was the fact that she needed to be alone sometimes.

"OK. But call me once you get home. I want to make sure you're alright."

His words managed to tighten her throat even more, and all she could manage was to nod. She still hasn't turned towards him; instead she waited to hear the door close.

Slowly she got up trying to compose herself. She still needed to walk by some familiar faces, and she wanted to do that without any questions.

Nick said hello to a few people he saw and got out of the building. The weather was getting warmer and he took a deep breath before walking to his car. He was pretty tired, and disappointed that the jury pronounced the kid innocent. But, he knew that the case was a hard one from the start. He started the engine, but didn't drove away. He was still worried about Sara, and he wanted to see her before he left. He had no idea what happened, but he got the feeling that she was pretty shaken up.

"I hope she doesn't blame herself. She followed her instinct. That's what we have to do."

He adjusted his mirror and waited for Sara to get out. A few minutes passed and still nothing. He was about to get out of the car and back into the building when he saw her. She was wearing her sun glasses and her walk was slow. Tired. She entered her car, and left in a hurry.

He sighed and decided to go home as well.

"She promised to call. Maybe she'll tell me what's wrong."

Nick entered his apartment, heading first toward his machine. No messages. He got a beer out of the fridge and settled himself in front of a TV, with his cell phone next to him. He didn't know why, but he wanted to hear from Sara. He was worried, but there was something more. Something he didn't want to address.

The case, the work, everything got to him, and soon he fell asleep in front of a TV. He and Sara got the night off since they worked on this case almost 3 days in a row without a break. TV continued to flash pictures across the screen as Nick slept peacefully.

Sara drove herself home not even thinking about the route she was taking. It was all in instinct. She entered her apartment, dropping the bag on the floor. All she wanted to do was sleep, hoping that sleep will make this all a bad dream.

"Nick…I promised to call him. I just can't hear his voice now." – she thought looking at her phone. She knew he was worried, but hearing his voice would make her feel even guiltier. So , she decided to write him a text message. Knowing that he was as tired as she was, she knew that he was asleep, and she knew that the text message won't wake him up. And if he's awake, it will give him peace of mind.

"Only if I could find the peace of mind." – she thought as she wrote him a message.

Clicking send, she sat back on her couch, looking at her room. Everything looked the same, and still she felt like the room was suffocating her. She got up, and decided to go to sleep.

Not even removing her clothes, she dropped on the bed and fell asleep in a few minutes.

Breathing heavily, she slept...

Sara was walking through the high school looking at the blood marks on the floor. She was following them to the shower rooms. Warrick's niece was there.

"Did I help the dead girl?"

The music from her mp3 player was getting louder as have the question: Did I help the dead girl?

Sara looked at the little girl who was looking at her with judgment.
"Did YOU help the dead girl? Did you help Stacey?"

Sara turned towards Warrick looking with confused look on her face.

"It's kind of hard to sabotage something you can't even reach."

Turning again she was face to face with Hodges who was looking at her, repeating:

"Biology, chemistry, physics."

She ran out of the shower rooms running into Nick, who grabbed her for her elbow.

"It was your fault. I told you so."

She managed to free herself and she ran towards the exit, Nick's words still echoing through the hallways:

"I told you so. I told you so. I told you so…"

Sara gasped. She sat up looking at her surroundings. She was in her bed. It was a dream. Suddenly she couldn't take it anymore. She started to cry, shaking without any control. After a few minutes she managed to calm down. She looked at her clock, and saw that she slept only a few hours. She got out of her bed and headed towards the kitchen for some water. On the way she glanced toward her phone. No messages.

"He is already asleep."

She poured some water into a glass and took a sip. The feel of cold water in her dry mouth gave her a feeling of satisfaction. She leaned on the door frame sipping slowly, taking the sensation in.

Her eyes found her cell phone again and in that instant she knew what she needed to do.

She sat on the couch and opened her pone. Slowly, like she was using it the first time, she dialed #2. As she was waiting for him to pick up, she thought about that. The lab was #1. Why was he #2…..

"Hello?" – Nick answered, his voice hoarse from the sleeping.

Sara gripped the phone tightly, but she couldn't say anything. She knew that he knows who called him. All he has to do was to look at the screen.

"Sara? Are you there?"

She gulped.

"Yeah, I'm here." – her voice sounded so strange to her in the quietness of her room.

"Is everything OK? Don't tell me you just got home?" – his voice was fill with worry as he glanced toward the clock.

"No. No. I got home hours ago. I just fell asleep."

"So, what woke you up?" – he asked.

"A dream."

"What kind of dream?"

"I…." – she tried to frome a sentence, but even the thoughts in her head were a mess. She didn't know how to sort them out.

"Do you want me to come over?" – he asked getting himself up.

"You don't need to.."

"I'm coming over." – he said grabbing the jacket from the couch. – "I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"OK." – she said and hung up. She knew that there was no way to stop him. She already heard the door close behind him. And truthfully, she knew that she couldn't admit to him over the phone what happened.

Nick entered his car rubbing his eyes with his hand. He was beyond tired, but he knew that he had to go see Sara. His stomach informed him that he hasn't eaten anything in a while, so he decided to grab them some breakfast. He took his phone out and dialed #2.

"Hello?"

"Sar, I was thinking about getting us some breakfast. What are you in the mood for?" – he noticed how her voice got more heavy, and he knew that something was seriously wrong.

"Anything is fine. I don't think I'll be able to eat anyway."

"How about some fruit? You need to eat something." – he knew that she even ate less then him in the past few days.

"Fruit is fine."

"OK, I'll be there soon."

As he closed the phone, he glanced at the number 2. Why was she #2…?

He drove towards the supermarket, and in record time he picked some fruit that he knew she liked and some bagels for him, and soon he was back on his way.

Parking his car behind hers he got out, and headed up. He knocked on her door, but no answer. He knocked again. Still nothing.

"Maybe she fell asleep…" – he wondered.

Suddenly the door opened and he saw Sara breathing heavily, covered in her bathrobe.

"I was in the shower. You got here quickly."

He entered the door and placed the food on the table.

"Yeah. Well, I was worried."

She simply nodded.

"I'm going to go and change."

After a minute she came back and sat on the couch, next to him. While watching her, he took an orange from the bag.

"Here, you need to at least eat this." She took the orange from his hands, but she simply played with it as she looked at him getting himself a bagel. He knew that she was watching him, but he said nothing. He took a bite before leaning back on the couch.

"So…?"

She glanced up and met his eyes.

"Hannah didn't kill Stacey."

"What?" – he placed the bagel on the table, and sat up. – "What are you talking about? You were so sure that she's the one behind all this. That's why the DA…"

"Nick…" – she begged for him to stop. He looked at her and noticed the tears in her eyes.

"Tell me what happened."

"She…I was wrong. She told me she didn't do it. That Marlon was the killer."

Nick didn't know what to say. On one hand he wanted to yell, on another he just wanted to hug her and comfort her. It wasn't her fault.

Instead he took her hand in between of his.

"Sara. Look at me."

"It's my fault. You and Ecklie, both knew that he was guilty. And there I was playing the smart one. You know, she told me that I can identify with her, because I was smart as a kid, but you know what? I'm stupid."

"You're not stupid, Sara. You don't know that she was telling you the truth. Maybe she did kill Stacey, and she was just playing with you." – his mind was trying to rationalize things, Although he was convinced that Marlon was the killer, he always left room for some doubt.

"I don't think she did. She knows that the evidence will free her. And Marlon was already pronounced not guilty. We can't prosecute him again." – she started to rant and Nick just squeezed her hand.

"Stop it. You cannot blame yourself for this. The jury made the decision. We can only do so much."

"I didn't do anything, Nick! I wanted to be right! And I'm never right! Not with Cassie, not with Hannah!" – she was getting mad at herself.

"That case has nothing to do with this one, Sara. And you weren't wrong then either. We saved her in the end."

"No, Nick. You saved her. I was just there for the ride."

"Exactly."

She looked up meeting his eyes. He reached and grabbed her other hand too.

"Sara, you were there for me. I was there for you. We challenged each other. That's what we do. We got to the truth together."

She was looking at him wondering how he can be that way. Twice she messed with his case.

"Without me that kid would be in prison. And Stacey's parents would get some peace. I didn't help her."

Nick didn't know what to say. Somehow he knew that there was nothing he can say.

"Sara, I had my doubts too. In the end we just had to pick one. Our instincts were different."

"I'm not good at this..." – she sighed.

"What are you talking about? You're a great CSI…"

"I mean with instincts." – she stopped him. – "I suck at that."

He nodded knowing that she doesn't mean only on this case anymore. She was always the one who leaned on science. But he noticed that she changed over the years.

"We all suck at instincts, Sara. Sometimes we are right, sometimes we're not. What is important is that we follow them. I'm not mad at you because you disagreed with me. I'm not mad because you followed your instinct. You cannot be wrong with that."

"You're not mad?" – she increased the grip on his hand.

"No, honey, I'm not."

She felt her cheeks blush, and suddenly she felt very uncomfortable. She let go of his hands and grabbed the orange again. He noticed her change and he smiled. He knew that she's not that good with intimacy, no matter what kind.

"So, what should I do?" - she brought him from his thoughts.

"About what?"

"Hannah. Should I say what she told me?" – she was still thinking about that, but in a way Nick was right. It was possible that she lied again.

"No. We're going from the beginning again. It doesn't matter what she told you. We already know that we can't believe anything she says. You need to forget this."

"Maybe I should remove myself from the case…" – she wondered.

"No. You and I are doing this." – he kept saying that he will do this too, so she raised her eyebrow.

"You and I?"

"Yeah. Remember; we challenge each other?" – he smiled and she caught herself smiling back.

"You know, I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to work with me again."

He was obviously surprised by her statement, because his eyes widened.

"Why wouldn't I wanna work with you? I love working with you!" – he exclaimed causing Sara to chuckle.

"You know, Nick, I never knew that you wanted to spend your time with me. Who knew?" – she joked not noticing Nick's silence. – "You know, you can see me outside of work too."

"I might take you up on that." – he quietly said looking away from her grabbing the bagel from the desk.

"Yeah?" – she asked looking at him. The way he was looking away from her convinced her that he meant it.

"Yeah." – he said still not looking at her. He almost looked like he was embarrassed and that made Sara smile. The tension got even bigger as she continued to peel off her orange. They both sat in silence wondering how did they get here.

Nick glanced towards her direction noticing how she was eating an orange and how juice was dripping from her chin. He chuckled and that caused Sara to look up.

"What?"

"Nothing. You're just…" – he motioned towards her chin, and she wiped it off not getting everything.

"Yeah, I never know how to eat these things. That's why I drink orange juice instead."

"I can tell. You still have some on your face. Here." – he reached and gently wiped off the remaining of the juice. – "It's sticky."

"Yeah…" – she managed to muster still surprised from his action, He looked away again and Sara was thinking about something he said.

"Hey, Nick?"

"Yeah?" – he looked at her again.

"Remember how you said that it was a good thing that I followed my instincts?" – he just nodded. – "Well, does that apply to every aspect of life?"

He was somewhat confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Well.." – she got closer and his eyes widened. – "if I wanted to do something…you know, personally, should I do it?"

She glanced toward his lips and back to his eyes. Something in his eyes was telling her that it would be more then OK, but she wanted to be sure this time.

"You mean like, ask someone out?" – he whispered also glancing toward her lips.

"Something like that…but not quite." – she moved even closer feeling his breath on her lips.

"You mean like, kissing someone?" – he reached and placed his hand behind her neck bringing her even closer.

"Yeah…" – she whispered sending another shiver through Nick's body.

"I think you should go with your instinct." – he managed to say before he felt her soft lips on his. The exchange was slow at first, but as he felt her open her mouth all barriers disappeared. Their tongues met and they began kissing frantically. Soon, Sara was on her back, and Nick was on top of her, gently caressing her through her shirt. When her shirt rose a bit and his hand met the bare flesh of her body, Sara whimpered. His touch was so soft, but it was enough to drive her crazy. She moaned against his mouth and Nick backed away a bit. They were looking at each other with surprise. No one could've imagined what it would be like. Two friends kissing like that. They really challenged each other. Without words, Sara moved and Nick sat back, letting her get up. He thought that he crossed the line, that all she wanted was a kiss, some comfort.

He looked up and saw her staring at him. She offered him her hand. Feeling as if his arm was moving on it's own, he accepted it, and she pulled him up. Slowly she started to walk toward her bedroom, and Nick realized where she was taking him. He stopped, and she turned around.

"Are you sure?" – he gently asked caressing her face.

"I'm following my instincts." – she smiled and continued to led him toward her room.

THE END

A/N: OK, so I wrote this in an hour, so don't bite if it sucks. I just got the idea after watching the ep. :D
Let me know what you think!