Author: Joyce
Title: The Consequences of Flirting
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own them.
Note: Sorry for the late update! Life got in the way, as always, but I never forgot about this story. Thank you for all the responses so far and for reviewing "The Underdog" like you have. We're really excited about that. And lastly, sorry Tini, the rating is still K. Like I said, I can't do smut. Shoot me:)
Helping a friend
Sara was on her way to Hodges, needing the results from the fiber-analysis she had given him when she noticed a lone figure in the break room. Looking at her watch she decided that Hodges could wait a while longer and she headed towards the room.
"Hey, Nick" she greeted her friend upon entering and he looked up with a tired smile on his face.
"Sara," was his reply and he stopped, looking away from her.
"How are you?" she asked him in a friendly tone and Nick shrugged.
"Griss thinks I should see a shrink," he mumbled, laughing a little. "I don't need a shrink, Sar," he told her with venom and she reached out to him, grabbing his hand and holding it.
"You need help, Nicky," she whispered and he looked at her, a hint of tears in his eyes.
"I know," he admitted, nodding to emphasize his point. "And I will get help, I have you and Warrick and..."
She silenced him with a squeeze in his hand.
"You need the kinda help we can't give you," she stated simply.
He averted his eyes to the ground, not wanting to see or hear her before he looked up.
"I don't need a shrink," he said stubbornly. "All I need is you guys and then I'll be fine."
Sighting, Sara sat down, letting go of his hand in the progress.
"He can't, Nick," she told him and Nick raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" he questioned and she smiled a little.
"Warrick," she clarified, "I know he wants to be there for you and I know that you count on him to help you but...he can't."
"I said I needed you guys," Nick said frustrated. "Not just Warrick, I mean the whole team."
"Right," Sara mumbled, a thoughtful look on her face. "Then why was he the first one you called when you broke down?"
"He's my best friend," he answered and Sara stood up again, stepping into his personal space, forcing him to look at her.
"And you rely on him to make things better," she told him softly and he was silent for a while before he nodded.
"Is that a crime?" he asked her, on the brink of getting angry and she shook her head.
"No, Nicky, it's not," she said, smiling while thinking about the subject of their conversation. "But..." she continued, "This is something you have to do without him because he can't be objective. Not when it concerns what happened to you."
"You underestimate him," Nick told her. The anger gone, replaced by confidence in his best friend.
"I would never underestimate him," Sara whispered and in that moment Nick knew without a shadow of a doubt that she loved his best friend, plain and simple. "He feels guilty, Nicky," she continued, "No matter what we tell him, he still thinks that it should have been him in that box."
"What has that got to do with anything?" her friend asked her. A look on his face that told her he was losing his patience.
"You need someone who is completely there for you," Sara clarified, emphasizing on the last word. "Warrick can't do that, I couldn't do it either because every time I think about what happened to you..." She paused, brushing some tears away. "I know we didn't feel what you felt and that we couldn't begin to imagine what you went trough but that day...it was one of the worst days in our lives. We still got our own demons to fight, Nicky. And no matter how much we want to help you, we can't. He can't. Emotionally we're to involved."
"I still don't want to see a shrink," he said, shaking his head and sitting down.
"I did," Sara told him calmly and he looked up, surprised. "You did?" he asked her and she nodded.
"Yeah," she said. "My life was a mess, I was drinking on the job and Grissom told me to take a leave of absence and go see a psychiatrist."
"Wow," Nick mumbled beside her. "We never knew," he whispered before he turned in his seat and hugged her. "I'm sorry, Sara," she heard him say and she smiled, still amazed by the fact that Nick always cared for other people, no matter what was happening in his own life.
"Don't be," she told him while pulling back. "Because you know what? The shrink I had to see, he actually helped me. He looked at my life with no personal attachments and he helped me figure out what was wrong with it."
"But what if he can't help me?" Nick asked, a scared look on his face and Sara knew that this was his real fear. He was scared to death that he was never going to get past his problems.
"Give it a shot, Nicky," she advised him. "I didn't want to go either. Nobody does but sometimes the people in your life can't help you. No matter how much they want to."
"I'll think about it," he promised her and she smiled, holding him again. "You do that," she replied.
"Am I interrupting something here?" a deep voice asked behind them and they pulled apart, looking into amused green eyes.
"Stokes, you should feel ashamed of yourself, feeling up a co-worker up in the break room while being on the job. That could get you fired, you know," Warrick said with a straight face, trying to look as stern as possible but failing miserably.
Nick laughed, getting up and winking at Sara.
"C'mon, Rick! Look at her," he said to his friend, standing besides Warrick and pointing at the only female in the room. "You would touch her too if you could."
"Yeah," Warrick drawled, nodding slowly. "I would touch her too," he admitted, his voice a little husky and Sara blushed.
"Right," Nick said, trying to hide his smile. "I should go, I left poor Greg alone with a decomp and I think he's about ready to puke."
Warrick laughed, picturing Greggo all alone while trying to keep his food inside.
"You're a bad, bad man," he told his friend with a grin on his face and Nick just nodded, not even trying to deny it.
"Thanks, Sara," he then said and she smiled at him. "Anytime, Nick.You know that."
"Yeah, I know," was the last thing Nick told her before he rushed out of the room to put Greg out of his misery.
"Should I be jealous?" Warrick asked her once they were alone and she pretended to think about it.
"He is a very good hugger," she answered, a dreamy look on her face.
"I'm a good hugger too," she heard him huff and she shook her head.
"No, you're not" she told him and he narrowed his eyes. "Are you questioning my hugging skills, Sidle?"
She nodded, stepping closer and putting her arms around him, in the middle of the break room.
"You see," she whispered in his ear, "Hugging should feel safe, comfortable and whenever you touch me..."
"What happens when I touch you?" he asked her, his eyes darkening.
"It's not safe," she whispered, kissing him shortly. "It's not comfortable," she mumbled while trailing a path of kisses from his lips to his ear. "Every time you touch me, I'm on fire," she finally admitted before she captured his lips in a hungry kiss and he responded my pulling her closer to his body, losing all concept of time.
When she released him they were both panting and she smiled.
"You see," she told him with a sultry smile. "You're the worst hugger in the world."
Winking at him one last time she left the break room, leaving him to catch his breath.
"I can live with that," he said with a proud smirk on his face.
Tbc...
