A/N: Okay I guess I'd better carry on writing then, most of this IS written on the tube and for those of you who have ever been stuck on any underground let alone the London Underground, you'll know that you see a LOT of weirdos, so I have that to thank for my loopy state of mind :).
I also have 4 hours of sleep in two days to thank for that to so please if you notice any inconsistencies etc LET ME KNOW! I gotta get myself a proof reader!
Thank you SO much for reviewing you guys all ROCK! You're bloody awesome! Oh and final note (I promise) I'm sorry if things sound a bit too English, I'm trying to 'Americanise' myself lol!
Enjoy!
Temptation Waits
Chapter 2
So that was it, the beginning of our 'saga', the epic...
Actually this was the beginning of nearly 3 weeks of torment.
She really doesn't realize how sexy she is. She doesn't. She has no idea about the effect she has on me, well okay so I hope she had a fair idea I'd just spent ages in a hole with her whilst she practically sat on my waiting erection.
I actually thought she'd forgotten the whole sorry incident, I mean it's not like she mentioned it again and the following day when we came into work and were getting our next case, everything was fine, peachy. Of course she still got me horny but hey she didn't look like she wanted to run a mile when she saw me and that had to be a good thing right?
Right?
"Good work on the arson yesterday guys." Grissom said appreciatively in Nick's then Sara's direction. Sara nodded staring down at the floor, Nick just smiled back, his eyes flickering over to Sara briefly. "So we've got a hit and run outside the Hilton, Cath can you take that?" Catherine smiled and took the paper standing up.
"I'm there, later guys!"
Nick sighed and leaned his chin on his fist staring down the hallway after Catherine, "Warrick I think you can take this one, bones uncovered in a sand pit in the park two blocks away."
"Ooh, nasty!" He said tacking the slip then reaching for his coffee.
"What about me?"
Nick honed in on the voice and looked over to the younger spiky haired male, he'd failed to notice Greg sat in the corner. "You're with me Greg, I'll explain in a minute." Grissom said, Greg followed with a nod then looked back down at whatever it was he was fiddling with.
"What Nicky and Sara get?" Warrick asked.
"They get a body in the desert."
"Oh man good luck guys it's hot out there!" Warrick said placing his empty cup in the sink and walking off.
Yeah I know huh? Out of a possible 5 people I get put with Sara again but I was determined to put yesterday behind me and went into this full of optimism and with an open mind.
It was the quietest drive of my life.
Detective Vega was stood waiting for us along with a few officers and as we started processing the area and the body we still hadn't said a single word to each other. I mean I guess that's not too bad, at least we weren't arguing or anything.
Jeese what am I saying? It was dreadful.
You know when you're little and you knock that priceless vase over and your mom just stares at you, you know you're in for it right? Or when your girlfriend comes out of the changing room with the usual: Does this make me look fat? Of course being men we have to look, the fact that we even look is wrong then you get this look in return and you know you're not getting any for the next week.
It was like that.
That creepy feeling that pretty soon they are gonna snap at you or in the case of your girlfriend; grab you balls and leave you paralysed for a week.
When I heard her voice, I was actually waiting for her to grab my balls.
Okay so maybe I was wishful thinking but I was waiting for her to say something. You know; how could I ruin our friendship? What was wrong with me?
"Did you know Catherine and Rick went out last night?"
Okay that? I was not expecting.
"Oh?"
"Yeah they went out for dinner." She said looking closely at something before tweezering it and putting it in an evidence bag sealing it and signing it.
"Oh."
That was pretty much the whole conversation, a weird one and short to say the least but nevertheless it was a conversation. By the time we were done and back in the Tahoe, we still hadn't made much headway on talking, we were hot, drenched in sweat and tired.
And Sara had honestly never looked so sexy to me.
I swear, and it was NOT helping me or my situation. I was supposed to be putting it out of my mind but of course she had to end up taking her CSI body vest off to reveal that she was wearing a tank top that made me want to take her somewhere private and do something nasty to her and to top it all, she then proceeded to tie her hair up in the messiest, sexiest bun ever.
I had to send a mental kick to Grissom, how could he do this to me? Two days in a row. I now had to drive back to CSI, getting hotter by the minute with Sara sat beside me, all these bits of hair falling down over her face and this tank top on which just put all these images in my head...
"Is there something wrong Nick?" Sara asked staring over at him.
"Pardon me?" He asked glancing at the road then back at Sara.
She frowned, "You keep staring at me."
"I do?" He asked staring at her again.
"You do, you're doing it now."
"Oh right." He looked away and then back again. "I can't say that I am."
She nodded, "Again, road Nick." She said pointing as a car overtook them on the long desert road. Nick gripped the steering wheel harder and focused on the road. "Is this because of yesterday?"
He had to look over again, only a quick glance this time. "Yesterday?"
"Yeah..."
She took her eyes off the road herself and looked over at him this time, he was doing his best to ignore her and started fiddling with the radio. They were quiet for a while as Nick flicked around the stations before speaking up, "You know I could very well say the same for you."
"Huh?" She asked.
"You're staring."
He found it hard to hide the smirk as she flushed red and looked away. "You brought it up." He laughed.
"And now I'm dropping it,"
A few minutes went by before he heard her sigh and look back over, "And I wasn't staring, I was waiting for an answer."
He nodded and turned the air-con up another notch. "Sure you were, but you were staring whilst you waited for it."
"God Nick I swear sometimes..."
"Sometimes what?"
"Would you just answer me?"
He frowned, "About what?"
"Why you ignored me the whole way down here." She said exasperatedly,
Nick sent a glance over in her direction, "I didn't ignore you, I was being quiet, there's a difference and anyway you talk about me ignoring you? Well you haven't so much as looked at me since ye..." He went quiet and put his eyes back on the road. Well his eyes went halfway down her chest then back on the road.
"So it was about yesterday?"
"I didn't say that."
"Yes you did."
A silence descended on the car again and Nick could see out of the corner of his eye that Sara had the smallest of smiles playing on her lips. He sighed and pulled the car over.
"What... Nick what are you playing at?"
"What is it? Just tell me okay? Is it me? It is right?"
She raised her eyebrows, "Which one did you want me to answer first?"
He looked aggravated. "Look I'm sorry I had a reaction to you practically groping my crotch okay? You hardly helped matters by doing that... thing."
She burst out laughing, "Groping your crotch? Thing? Nick please just start the car so we can get back." He paused staring at her before letting out a frustrated sigh and started the engine up again. After a few seconds Sara's voice spoke up once more, "What thing exactly?" She teased.
"Sara..." He warned.
"I just wondered." She said holding her hands up.
For the whole way home she had this tinysmirkon her face, it was surprising to say the least, I mean Sara is probably the shyest person I know; you tell her she looks nice and she looks ready to curl up and die.
Yet stick her in a car in an embarrassing situation and apparently that all goes out the window.
As I drove I made a silent plan of action, which probably gave me the look of a constipated Emu but I had to concentrate, distraction was not working well for me and she was starting to get very distracting.
No, I needed a plan so I could avoid her long enough for me to get over this 'thing' I was fast developing. I mean it's not like I was embarrassed, I really couldn't care but what was kind of getting to me was that I wanted her more than I cared to say and she was... well she had this whole Grissom thing going on still I was sure and let's just say that I was not her type. It would just be easier on me if I avoided her.
This was my plan: get through the shift as quickly and quietly as possible.
Okay that was a crap plan but I figured as long as I could busy myself I could probably get away with not even talking to her.
And hey the bad plan always worked the best in the movies.
As plans go it turns out that it was the worst one I'd ever constructed.
And my life is no movie.
"So you're avoiding me now?"
Nick gave an audible sigh and leaned his hand against the shelf of his open locker, "No Sara I was trying to get a hold of the deceased guy's family."
He could sense she was moving closer and went about changing his shirt as was his previous plan, Sara appeared at his side leaning on one of the lockers, a frown etched across her brow, "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." He pulled the dirty shirt off and threw it to the back of his locker before reaching for the new one.
"Yesterday." She began here eyes travelling very briefly over his chest, an action which Nick failed to miss.
"What about it Sara?" He asked.
"What was that all about?"
"You know what curiosity did to the cat?
"Nick that's not funny... Nick we nearly... I..."
Sighing, he put the shirt down turning to her, "Sara you ever think that you're too serious?"
"Me?" She spluttered. "How can you say I'm too serious?"
Nick shrugged, "Simple really... you think too much and you do have a tendency to over analyse things."
"I do not over analyse." She fought back.
"Sure you do, yesterday was just... a reaction, and you practically grabbed my crotch"
She crossed her arms, "Nick I did not grab your crotch."
"I said practically." He said in defence.
"And I was concussed." She added through gritted teeth.
"You still nearly..."
"Whatever, so that's all it was? The fact that we nearly kissed was just that?"
He frowned not entirely sure what she was getting at, "What are you getting at?"
"God never mind."
Having completely forgotten about changing his shirt, Nick turned to face Sara frowning slightly and unsure what to say. "What were you..." He pressed.
"Nothing I just wondered." She pushed herself away from the lockers but stopped as he moved to stand in front of her,
"So did I." He retorted matter-of-factly.
She leaned back onto the lockers seeing as she couldn't go anywhere else; Nick having blocked her way, well a shirtless Nick having blocked her way. "I just wondered, I mean you're a man god knows you can't control even the simplest of hand movements let alone your brain and other parts of your anatomy..." She cut herself off and shook her head, "Nick I need to get back to Hodges."
Nick leaned further into her, leaning one arm against the locker near her head, "See now that hurts that you think I have no control and that you'd rather get back to Hodges than continue this oh so wonderful conversation."
She slid out from under him trying desperately not to think about how good his chest looked and how much she wanted to touch it, and stepped over the bench shaking her head, "I never said you have no control, I just meant men in general." She walked over to the door opening it, before the door closed on her she turned back hearing Nick's voice as he pulled his clean shirt on and walked after her,
"Just so that you know? I meant what I said."
She frowned, "About what?"
"You do over analyse things..."
Okay I know I was lying there and being kind of mean but I had to throw her off the 'scent' andthere was no way I was about to tell her what was really going on. I mean I can imagine the conversation now;
"Hey the real reason that I got hard and nearly kissed you is because I've been dreaming about you for months and wishing I was hitting the sack with you every night instead of going home to my empty cold bed."
"What? Nick you're insane, get away from me I never want to see you again."
Whilst I admit that that was slightly over exaggerating, I feel I could safely predict that the conversation would go something like that although in my head she'd swoon and fall into my arms and then we'd well... yeah, you know like in the movies, but hey I'd already realised once today that my life was no movie.
"God damn it." Nick rifled around in his pockets for his keys he was sure that he had put them in his pocket but now as he stood at his car door it appeared that he hadn't. He sighed and put his kit down before opening it, he had managed to get most of his stuff out before a pair of black boots came to a stop right next to him, he followed the legs upwards but instantly knew who they belonged to. Sighing, Nick stuffed everything back into his kit.
"Looking for these?" Sara held his keys out to him smiling slightly.
With yet another sigh, Nick pushed himself up, "Where were they?"
"The break room table."
He nodded holding his hand out, "Thanks Sar." He nodded, taking them and walking round the Tahoe opening the back up and throwing his kit in before walking back round to where Sara was stood. "You heading home?" He asked.
"Yeah." They both stood in silence for a few seconds before she spoke up again, "I don't over analyse everything."
Nick paused, "Sara I didn't mean everything I just meant sometimes, it was a simple comment..."
"One that I didn't expect from one of my best friends."
That shocked him. Well not shocked him as such, "I'm one of your best friends?"
She frowned then shrugged, "I... I'll see you tomorrow Nick."
He automatically reached out and grabbed her arm, "Sara wait I didn't mean to..." As she turned back to face him, his hand was still on her arm which he snatched back quickly and let his gaze fall to his car keys.
There was a silence between them before Sara spoke up again;
"Why won't you look at me any more?"
He frowned and stared up at her chin, "Earlier you accused me of staring."
"Yeah you stare but not at me." She said simply, "And you won't touch me or..."
"Touch you?" He asked.
Jesus this was really not the time to be discussing this.
"You refuse to look me in the eye and... is everything okay?"
"No." He shook his head, "I mean yes, Sara everything is fine."
She motioned towards him, "Nick you're doing it now, I mean you've been cold for weeks and then yesterday, when you... well I just... I'm confused. And no before you say it, this is not me over analysing."
Okay we are probably all in agreement that this could have gone one of two ways and if it wasn't for the words that she was about to utter, I would probably have brushed it off, told her she was being absurd and that there was nothing wrong but as it happens she had to say it...
"Did I do something wrong?"
"No I..." Nick looked up at her then scratched his head. "I..."
"What?"
"I like you."
Yeah I know, a man in his thirties and I still sound like I belong in high school. I mean jeese... I like you? You have my utter permission to laugh at me. I really wouldn't blame you.
In my defence though I had to say something, I mean she thought she'd done something wrong, I just really wish I'd worded it differently.
So, we both just stood there for an eternity, during which neither of us spoke or moved or did anything other than stare at each other.
"I need to get home Sara."
"Oh, okay..." She nodded seeming to understand.
Nick pulled open the car door and stepped in "I'll see you later." He said quietly.
"Nick..." She blurted silently cursing herself for sounding too desperate.
He turned to face her again, "Yeah?"
"Nothing, I'll see you tonight."
As it turned out I wouldn't see her that night because she had the night off, and Wednesday was my night off so I guess I timed it just right because by the time I got back to work on the Thursday night everything would be forgotten and Sara and I would be able to work together without fear of any repercussions.
Of course life never runs that smoothly.
"Hey Nicky!"
Nick looked up seeing Catherine and Warrick walk into the locker room. "Hey guys, what's up?"
Catherine sighed and opened her locked throwing a few things inside before checking her lipstick in the small mirror, "Nothing much."
Nick glanced at them both before shaking his head, "Let me take a wild guess..."
"Wild would be about right Nicky." Catherine smirked slamming her locker door closed, "I'll see you guys in break room." As the door swung shut Nick looked at Warrick who was scratching his chin in an attempt to hide the cocky smirk on his lips.
"How do you do it man?" Nick griped.
"I dunno what you mean, so Nicky how was your day off?"
His friend shook his head, "Don't change the damn subject I mean jeese Rick you think we're stupid?"
Warrick laugh and Nick couldn't help but crack one himself, as they did the door pushed open again and Sara walked in immediately stopping upon hearing them laughing. If Nick knew Sara as well as he thought he did she was probably wondering if they'd been laughing at her. "Hey Sidle!" Warrick grinned hooking his arm round her shoulders and giving her a hug.
She smiled at them both, "Hey,"
Her eyes flickered briefly at Nick and he couldn't help but stare at her she was wearing small sparkly stud earrings, not something she usually wore, they brought his attention to her neck off of which hung a necklace with a small tear-drop shaped clear stone. He couldn't stop the frown that graced his face as he then noticed her eyes had a pale shade of pink on them with eye-liner and mascara framing them. If it were at all possible she looked more beautiful than ever but he couldn't help the nagging voice in the back of his mind that was wondering why she was 'dressed up.'
What if she had a date?
As she lent down towards the bench sitting down, she shrugged off her jacket and dumped her things down on the bench next to her.
"You still thinking about last night?" Warrick asked her seriously.
"Nah." She lied.
"Sara you know we did what we could..."
"Warrick I'm fine." She said forcing a laugh.
He nodded, "I'ma go catch up with Greggo I'll catch you guys in a bit."
The door once more swung closed leaving Sara sat on the bench staring down at her hands, she grabbed her bag and busied herself with looking around inside it. "What happened last night?" Nick asked her staring at her eyes as she looked down at her jeans. "Sara?"
"Oh nothing." She said, "Just a shitty night, long shift." She stood up and opened her locker pushing her bag inside and retrieving the things she needed. She jumped slightly feeling the pressure of Nick's hand on her arm.
"Please don't be weird with me." He asked. She froze and he watched as her shoulders sagged slightly, "Sara?"
"I-I'm not." She insisted.
There was a short silence before she sighed and sat back down on the bench slamming her locker closed. Nick knelt down on front of her frowning: "What happened yesterday?"
She shook her head, "You know what I'm like."
"A case?"
A nod.
Biting her lip she shook her head again, "God I feel so bad Nick and it's ridiculous I mean I'm supposed to be over this shit already, there's newbies out there who don't even feel this."
"Just because cases get to you doesn't mean..."
"This guy beat his wife up so bad Nick, I know it was him, there... there were torture marks..." She stopped for a second and played with her fingers, "God knows how long he'd been doing it for, I was with her when she woke up and she looked at me and I said I was there to help her and that was it the machine started beeping nurses rushed in... 2 minutes later she was dead... it was awful Nick, and we couldn't get anything solid... I..." Nick reached up and touched her cheek and pulled her forwards hugging her, rubbing her back gently.
"Hey it's okay Sara."
She leaned her head on Nick's shoulder letting out a long sigh, not really crying just staring at the wall feeling angry at herself that she still let cases affect her. As she pulled away she was frowning, "Calm down okay? You can't help that, Warrick was right you did what you could." He told her gently tracing a thumb across her cheek.
Sara nodded an angry tear falling over her cheek; "I know but god!"
"Hey stop that, don't be angry at yourself." He said tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ears, "Plus if you keep this up..." he began wiping the tear away then resting his hand on her thigh, "You'll mess your make-up up."
At this she laughed slightly rolling her eyes, "Like anyone would notice anyway."
"I would." He said.
Her eyes fell on him again and they both seemed to realise at the same time that one of Nick's hands was on her thigh, the other on her face. Nick cleared his throat, "All I meant is that you know how could they not notice, you look completely different." Sara nodded her cheeks pinking ever so slightly, "So what's it... you know... do you have a date tonight?" He asked moving his hand to rest on the bench.
"No..." Her face looked more puzzled than her voice sounded. "Why?"
"Well you look well... nice..."
She laughed, "Thanks Nick so usually I look bad?"
"No I just meant..."
"Relax Nick it's fine." She said slapping his arm lightly. "It's my way of cheering myself up I guess." He nodded staring at her eyes again, quietness descending on the room "You haven't done that in a while." She told him softly.
"Done what?"
"Actually looked at me."
I knew what she'd just said was true, I had been avoiding looking her in the eye, when it started I had no idea but one day I found that it was much easier if I just didn't look. I just simply couldn't face it knowing that every time I did look at her, I'd stare past them and want to be in there, wrapped up in her, touching her. Of course it never occurred to me that she'd even notice or that it would bother her.
I guess it did.
"I really thought I'd done something wrong." She continued quietly looking down at her hands for what Nick thought must have been the 10th time in five minutes.
"I'm sorry if I made you feel... uncomfortable the other night." Nick told her. Sara watched his lips move as he spoke then focussed again on his eyes; licking her lips and unconsciously moving forwards on the bench.
"You didn't." She replied assuringly.
He nodded in return and shook his head, "I know I've been a bit of an ass..."
"Yeah you have." She nodded playfully hitting his chest again; out of nerves or purely wanting to touch him she wasn't sure.
As she hit him he caught her hand up and she slipped forwards slightly, her face much too close to his.
In fact if he leaned forwards he could almost...
Sara practically fell off the bench as an ear splitting bang came from the doorway and the door flew open;
"YO DUDES!"
"Sanders." Nick griped having stood up and pretended to be looking for something in his locker, Greg walked in and threw something i his locker before turning back towards the door, "You guys might wanna hurry up Grissom didn't look too happy." The door swung a few times before eventually falling still.
Nick busied himself with his locker for a minute until he was sure Greg was gone then turned round, "Sara you think maybe..."
He was staring at an empty bench.
