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 was driving along the strip when she saw the billboard of movie classics. She grinned and grabbed her phone to call Nick. He would love to hear about this. Then she stopped, realizing they weren't on speaking terms for the time being. She sighed and tossed the phone to the side.
"Casablanca. You're kidding me, right?" Sara looked at the disk Nick handed to her. It was his day off so he asked her if they could do something before she goes to work. She opted for a movie at his place because she wasn't in the mood to go out that night.
"No I'm serious. It's a classic war movie."
"It's a romantic classic war movie."
"You don't like it?" He pouted at her.
"It's not that… you sure you're not gay?" She smiled at him teasingly.
"Actually… why don't you come here and find out for yourself?"
"Meaning?"
"Come here Sidle." He grabbed her and they both fell on the couch, with Sara on his lap. Nick held her head and brought it closer. She closed her eyes and then…felt him kiss the top of her nose. She opened her eyes feeling a bit disappointed, and then laughed it off instead. "You just kissed me like you would your niece."
"How would you like me to kiss you then?"
"Like… uh." She swallowed hard and changed the subject. "I'm all for sappiness once in a while." She stood back up, walked over to the tv, and loaded the disk into the player.
"You liked it, admit it." Nick was grinning at her.
"Fine. Just shut up… I love how this starts."
ooo
Nick sat on his kitchen drinking beer as he watched his football team get their asses kicked. "Yeah I know how you feel," he muttered. Now that he knew what he's supposed to do, he was still trying to figure out exactly how to do it. He figured he have to talk to her first and apologize. Then what? Just ask her out? Maybe he should do something big and romantic to impress her. That's what he was finding so hard to do all of a sudden—be creative. "Crap…"
His doorbell rang. Warrick probably took pity on him and decided to join him instead of taking his wife to yet another dinner. With eyes still on the tv, he stood and walked backwards towards the door. Seeing the other team scored another touchdown, he completely turned and jogged a bit to answer the door.
"Hey…" Sara looked at him warily.
Nick looked down at the pizza box she was balancing on one hand and the bunch of DVDs on the other. He was surprised, for he thought she was still mad at him for earlier. He completely opened the door and watched her as she got in and went straight to the kitchen. She put the stuff down on the counter, then turned and leaned her back on it. He just stared at her like a fool, not able to think of something to say. He really should've come up with his speech for her already.
"I just thought we could still keep doing this…" Sara was talking about their somewhat ritual of getting together on his day offs. Actually, it was only last week when they realized that they've been doing it regularly.
Nick cleared his throat. "Of course." He walked to her and gently touched her arm. "Sara," he started.
"I was thinking about earlier, and for the life of me couldn't think of anything I did wrong… So I thought maybe it wasn't about me, you know?" Sara interrupted him when it took too long for him to speak.
"I'm sorry. You're right, it's my problem."
"Thought so… Okay spill." She smiled at him encouragingly.
"I … can't." What could he say? That he's so afraid of losing her to another guy and takes it out on her? That he just realized she meant more to him than anyone else in his life? He could, if only the million thoughts running through his mind could find their way to his mouth.
"Since when can you not talk to me?" Her eyes told him how hurt she was. "What's going on?"
He stepped closer, and thought of ways on how to tell her. "Close your eyes Sara."
"Stop playing games, Nick."
"I'm not. Just… please."
She still wouldn't do it, so he brought one hand up and ran it gently over her eyes. "One minute, that's all I'm asking," he whispered, and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't open her eyes. Tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear, he reflected on how beautiful she looked with just a plain shirt and jeans on.
Nick held her neck lightly with one hand, and leaned in to tenderly nip at her lower lip. He slid his tongue over it urging her lips to part for him. He groaned when they did, and pulled her closer as he brought the kiss deeper. Her fingers tangled in his hair as she slanted her mouth with him, kissing him back just as passionately. After a while Nick slowly pulled back a bit, gasping for air, and proceeded to nibble down her neck. For the first time ever, he was afraid to look in her eyes. It was enough for him to hear her moan, and to feel her clinging to him.
He thought he heard a phone rang, but ignored it as he ran one hand down her spine, and kissed his way up back to her lips.
"Nick…" Her voice was husky. She ran her hands down his neck to his arms, and squeezed them lightly until he looked up. Sara pulled out her cellphone from her pocket and answered it without breaking her gaze on him. "Sidle."
Nick reluctantly stepped away from her. It was only then when he noticed that he was trembling a bit.
"Yes… I'll be right there." Sara hung up and bit on her lip. "I need to go…"
He couldn't read her expression at that point. He merely nodded and gave way, and watched her as she went out the door. At the click of the door, he let out a long breath and grinned. He just kissed Sara Sidle, and she kissed him back.
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