Title: Seven Minutes In Heaven
Author: Diabolikal Rapture / Britt
Summary: Nick and Sara find themselves locked in a closet together and they aren't allowed out until they sort themselves out. NSR.
Disclaimer: Don't own it. And also don't own any of the board games mentioned.
A/N: Inspiration for this fic came from my kid sister of all people,who knew this whole closet thing survived this long? I was going to have this between Greg and Sara but felt like writing some Snickers love. Never written NSR, but I've gotta start somewhere. I'm still working on being able to actually write romantic themed fics. Hope y'all like it. Please review / Britt
Seven Minutes In Heaven
The CSI's sat around Catherine's lounge room as they all relaxed in each other's company. It'd been too long since they'd all spent time with each other outside of work. It only figured that Grissom suddenly couldn't make it. It was nice to be around each other and not be concerned with work, although that topic seemed to have a common place in conversation.
They all sat in silence now as they all wondered about what to say next. They'd all had a little to drink, "some had had more than enough," Catherine thought as she glanced over at Greg who had appeared to have fallen asleep.
"So..." Sara began, hoping someone else would continue on.
Warrick cleared his throat as he sat forward. They needed something to do. Catherine began to thought about what they could do next after spending a few hours catching up with each other, something which they often couldn't do at work.
"Poker?" Catherine asked, trying to think of something she had in the house.
Warrick was surprised by her. Sometimes she just seemed to read his mind. But other times...well that was another story. They all shook their heads. They lived in Vegas, card games just weren't as fun as they used to be anymore, but not including strip poker. Catherine considered suggesting it but thought better of it. She knew the boys were good at the game, and she didn't exactly feel like finding herself in her lounge room naked in front of her colleagues...she wasn't drunk enough for that yet.
"How about a board game? Board games are fun..." Greg trailed off as he sunk back into the chair.
Catherine shrugged...she didn't really feel like playing board games.
"C'mon, board games are fun...everyone loves board games. Maybe you don't have board games..." Greg began to ramble.
"You're kidding right? I've got a kid, of course I've got board games." Catherine said as she pointed over to the closet at the opposite end of the room.
Greg grinned as he stood, desperately struggling to balance himself. He begin to tip over.
"How about you sit down, and I'll get the board game?" Sara said as she caught him by the arm and helped him sit back down. She spun on her heels as she faced her friends, "what board game am I getting again?"
They all waited for Greg to reply, but he seemed to be off in another land.
"We've gotta play Clue." Catherine said with a grin. Warrick chuckled. It was the perfect game for them all, and the perfect game to help one of them get an ego boost. He was certain that was Cath's motive behind choosing it.
"Okay," Sara made her way across the room and swung the door open. She scanned the stacks and stacks of board games as she struggled to locate Clue. She'd never played many board games in her childhood, and she couldn't remember what the box looked like.
"Let me help you with that," Nick said as he opened the door wider and stood at her side.
Catherine watched from her seat across the room as a plan began to devise itself within her mind. Warrick observed her. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head, and he knew what she was up to. She turned to him and gestured over to Sara and Nick before leaning in to whisper in his ear.
"I can't see a damn thing," Nick said as he stepped into the large closet and switched on the light.
Sara followed him into the closed as they continued their search for Clue. She was beginning to doubt that Catherine even owned it, but with all the board games in that closet, that seemed highly unlikely.
"There," he said as he pointed up to a box on a shelf just above their heads. It'd practically been staring them in the face. Sara reached up and slid it off the shelf and into her hands. Before they could turn to leave the closet the door swung shut and the sound of the door locking quickly sounded afterwards.
Sara tried the door knob, locked. Nick banged his fists against the wood.
"C'mon, let us out Catherine! Warrick? C'mon man!"
"Hey I'm staying out of this," Warrick called out as he watched from a distance.
"Let yourselves out." Catherine replied from the other side.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Sara asked, looking around the suddenly smaller closet for another way out.
"You two figure things out. You do that, you get out. You don't, you stay there until you do." She replied as she turned away from the door and returned to her seat. She smiled, feeling pretty smug with herself.
"Ain't that a little harsh? They'll probably rip each other apart in there."
"At least then they'd be acknowledging each other and not ignoring themselves." Catherine said.
Everyone noticed the thing between Nick and Sara, the attraction, the chemistry. Everyone except themselves. They both just need a little push, or to be tricked into a closet and then locked inside. She'd done the same thing before with Grissom, she'd pushed him to tell Sara, but he'd passed up chance after chance. Now it was Nick's opportunity to tell her. She just hoped he didn't follow in their boss's footsteps.
The seconds ticked by and Sara realized that their efforts were a lost cause. She sank down to the ground and leant back against the shelving. Nick took note as his closet buddy gave up the fight, and followed suit, letting his fists fall to his sides. He sighed as he sat down opposite Sara, noticing now just how much smaller the closet became when you were locked inside it. He looked down at Clue, the board game that had led to this...that, and his gentlemanly ways. If he'd just remained seated they'd both be outside playing the stupid game and becoming more and more drunk as the hours passed. But instead they were stuck. He sighed, he could think of worse people to be stuck with.
"Who uses a candlestick as a murder weapon anyway? I know I've never seen it." Nick snorted as he looked through the game of Clue.
"You haven't? I have..."
"And let me guess...his name was Colonel Mustard?"
"No, it was Professor Plum." She said with a big goofy grin.
Nick nodded, " and where did it take place? The library?"
"No, a tiny little closet. He was locked in with one of the other guests and couldn't take it any longer." They both laughed, grateful that the sound of their laughter filled the emptiness of the closet. Sara sighed. She couldn't believe the lengths they'd go to just to avoid any kind of conversation that might involve something other than fictional characters. She put Clue back on the shelf.
"At least we can't say that we didn't have anything to help us pass the time," Nick observed as he passed his gaze across the dozens of board games.
"Yeah, you got that right." She looked up at Monopoly. She used to play it with her brother. Neither of them would win because the game was never finished, they'd always end up fighting before either of them could go bankrupt. She hadn't played that game again, not after...
Nick watched her face. Her smiled faded into sadness, and he wondered what she was thinking about. Maybe he should distract her. "Hmm, how about this?" He suggested as he pulled down Battleship. "I'll let you sink my battleship," Nick said with a cheesy grin.
"Yeah, I bet you would." She replied.
He pushed the game back into its original position. "There's gotta be something we can do."
"Yeah, we could talk about the reason why we're locked in here..." She thought to herself, glad that over the years she'd managed to teach herself to think before she spoke, although she did occasionally forget.
"Y'know, this situation we find ourselves in reminds me of that game..." He stared up at the roof as he struggled to recall what he was remembering. "Seven minutes in heaven!" He exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically.
"Oh God..." Sara remembered it. She'd hated it.
Nick began to wonder why the creator of the game restricted it to just seven minutes. Depending on what you were planning...seven minutes really wasn't that long. "Did you ever play seven minutes in heaven?"
"What do you think?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow.
"I think...you were the one girl that all the boys wished they'd be lucky enough to get stuck with in a closet for seven minutes." He said, knowing that if he'd known her during his childhood, hands down she'd be the one he'd wished for.
She smiled, but she shook her head. She always managed to make herself scarce whenever the idea of the game was brought up. It just wasn't her ideal situation to find herself with the boy she liked. Well this isn't exactly an entirely bad situation…She looked up at Nick and found his eyes focused on her. She blushed and looked away.
A strange silence fell over the two, both at a loss for something to say. Nick looked down at his watch. They'd been inside the closet for well over seven minutes. He looked around the closet aimlessly, hoping to find something to spark up conversation once more. But he knew what he wanted to say, the only problem was finding the courage to actually say it. He struggled over what to do, whether to say what he was thinking or let his actions do the talking. The way he suddenly saw it, it was now or never. He decided to do what kids always did when they were in a situation such as this.
"Sara…"
She looked up at him, feeling a sudden pang in her stomach. She found herself holding her breath, hoping that the butterflies that flitted around in her stomach wouldn't escape into the air. She knew what was coming, and suddenly she couldn't handle it.
Nick watched her, waited for his thoughts to be set out in the perfect way, ready to be blurted out as quickly as possible. His mind knew better than to wait. He reached forward and tucked her hair behind her ear before drawing her in for their first tender kiss. Words didn't seem necessary anymore.
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Sunlight shone in through the windows and filled the room. Catherine stirred and soon opened her eyes, confused by her surroundings. Details from the night before began to return as she watched Warrick sleeping beside her. She moved her gaze to the movement in the other chair where Greg lay.
"Owww..." Greg mumbled to himself as his hangover made itself known.
She continued to look around the room, finding nothing but empty chairs and an empty floor. She frowned, wondering where the other two had gone, until it suddenly hit her.
"Oh shit..." Catherine leapt from her chair and quickly crossed the room.
She searched her pocket for the key and unlocked the door, preparing for the verbal attack that was imminent. She put her hands up, ready to defend herself from their abuse, but there was no need. She tilted her head and smiled as she looked down at them, both sleeping peacefully. Sara laid against his chest, her head rising and falling in synch with his breathing. She closed the door again, this time leaving it unlocked. Looked like her job here was done.
I have the sudden urge to play Clue, of fit the CSI's into Clue somehow...I hate it when that happens, lmao. I'd like a closet buddy of my own...and I wouldn't mind if he just happened to be George. Thoughts, comments, criticisms, all are welcome. Thanks for reading.