Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. CBS does.
Author's Note: I initially posted this over at my livejournal. Just thought I'd share it here as well. All titles are from the song "Street Map" by Athlete.
Sara anxiously paced around her living room as she waited for Grissom to arrive. He didn't really explain what he meant by dinner, and she hated not knowing. Actually, she hated that he had to ask her out then, just when she was finally over him and has moved on. Her spirits have been high these past few weeks—she had been smiling more and sulking less. Nick had pointed out to her that she hasn't complained about anything lately. She just laughed and smacked his arm, then playfully complained about his hair.
"Cut it off, Nick."
"I like it. Girls love brushing it off my forehead." He grinned mischievously.
"Have I ever brushed it off your forehead?"
"No… and what a shame that is. Come on, you know you want to." He leaned towards her.
She wanted to alright, but doing so would just stroke his ego. And she really, really wanted him to cut it off. So she was genuinely pleased and surprised when he went to work the next day sporting a crew cut.
"Happy?"
"Very." She gave in and ruffled his hair, then caressed it all the way to the base of his neck.
She smiled, remembering how soft his hair was. It was also nice to know that her opinion mattered to him--he changed his shirt for her, and cut his hair for her. She wondered what else he would do for her.
She looked up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes to seven. Finally, the doorbell rang.
ooo
Nick absentmindedly flipped through the channels as he tried to pass time. He only got a couple of hours before shift but he couldn't bring himself to get ready for it. Try as he might, he couldn't help but think about Sara's ongoing date. He prayed that she wouldn't do anything rash and sleep with the guy. Now, where did that come from? He really shouldn't care whom she sleeps with anyways. Finally, he couldn't take the suspense anymore and picked up the phone.
"Hey…" He listened to the background, which was quiet apart from the low hum of the television. "You alone?"
She chuckled. "If you must know… yes I am."
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Aren't you home a bit early after a date?"
"Aha… well Griss still had to get ready for work so…"
Nick's breath hitched up at the mention of Grissom's name.
"Oh did you know that Lygus bugs are one of the causes of irregularly-shaped strawberries? And that they damage fruit by… by…hmmm…" Sara became silent for a while.
Nick decided to let her off the hook and laughed. "No I didn't... I don't think I have to know really, but thanks anyways."
"That's what I thought when Grissom told me… can't remember the second part though…"
"You talked about bugs on your date?"
"Well he loves bugs… it's inevitable."
"I wouldn't do that on our date… I mean bugs are like the least romantic things out there."
"I bet. You'd be talking about birds instead..."
"And bees."
She laughed heartily at that. "So what else would we talk about on our date?"
"I don't think we'd do much talking."
Another set of giggles from her. "What's up with the one-liners? You trying to impress me?"
"Is it working?"
"See… stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Stop flirting with me if you're not gonna do something about it."
Was that a dare? "You do it too, Sidle."
"Why don't you just ask me out then."
Definitely a dare.
"Nah… You're the boss's girl now." He then hung up.
