Taking the Initiative (Snickers)

Hey guys! I am so sorry for taking so long to update…I had a Statistics test to study for this week, and I had been tired out from the ball I went to on Sunday. But enough of my excuses…thank you all so much for the lovely reviews! And I agree, cofi_shot, they do need to do it now...but of course, they don't want to just yet ;)
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Chapter 3

Nick leaned back against the booth at the dinner, proudly surveying the three empty plates that sat on the table in front of him. Across the table, Sara eyed her own tiny plate of her half-eaten vegetable omelet and compared it with Nick’s. “I am vaguely reminded of the time you devoured those five In ‘n’ Out double, animal style burgers like you had been exiled in Zimbabwe for the last ten years,” Sara commented.

“Hey, at least you didn’t have to pay for it.”

“Yeah, because I won the bet,” Sara said smugly.

“Of course, you always do…,” Nick chuckled at her expression, thinking, “You always win the bet…the cases…my heart-” Nick’s eyes went wide as he was surprised by his last thought, immediately pushing it to the farthest depths of his mind.

“What’s wrong, Nick? Did you forget something?”

“Uh, yeah, I uh…I forgot to…feed my fish!” Nick stammered, cursing his wit for taking a vacation on the worst day.

With a look of skepticism on her face, Sara said, “You have fish?”

“Yeah…I named it after you!”

“Uh huh…. Just to let you know, Stokes, I don’t fall for that Texan charm,” Sara said as she picked up the check and started to take money out of her wallet.

“Hey, you never know…and what are you doing? We agreed that I’m picking up the tab today,” Nick objected as he reached across the table and tried to grab the check out of Sara’s hand.

“I never agreed,” Sara said, keeping the check out of his reach, with a smirk. “Stop trying to be a gentleman. Like I said, I’m not that easily charmed.” She placed her half of the bill on the table and proceeded to walk out of the restaurant.

“Yeah, I’ve noticed…” grumbled Nick as he followed Sara out to the car.

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For the next three months, Nick and Sara continued to spend time with each other, by themselves or with the others at the lab although when Greg tagged along, Nick tended to get annoyed more often than he usually does.

“So Sara, you and me, sappy movie, dark theater, seats in the back, isn’t this a great date?” Greg said excitedly.

“This isn’t a date, Greg…” Sara replied, casting Greg a suspicious look out of the corner of her eyes.

“No, but who says it can’t turn out to be something more, hm?” conspired Greg as he not so inconspicuously slid his arm across Sara’s shoulders.

“Hey, Romeo, cool it…we’re trying to watch a movie. I didn’t pay ten dollars to see you try to seduce Sara,” Nick snapped, and just as Greg opened his mouth to say something, Nick interrupted, “And could you move your arm…it’s poking my shoulder.”

“Fine…don’t need to get your panties in a bunch. Ruining Romeo’s game…” Greg mumbled surly as he moved his arm back to his side.

However, he had noticed that Catherine and Grissom didn’t join them as often as the rest of the team, something Sara had started to pick up on too. Since the two of them had grown much closer over the past few months, Nick wasn’t surprised when Sara brought up her suspicions on Grissom and Catherine’s absences, and their implications, with him.

“Why do you think they never hang out with us anymore? I mean, they used to at least join us for breakfast, but now, we see less and less of them. Do you think there’s something going on between the two of them?” Sara asked, clearly frustrated with the way the older CSI’s seemed to be hiding something.

“Well, they are best friends and after the break up of the team last year, I’m sure they’ve just been catching up a lot. Anyway, why do you care? I thought you were over Grissom.”

“I am, it’s just-,” Sara hesitated, “old habits die hard?” She sighed, adding, “Sorry, I’m sure you’re right…that it’s nothing. Anyway, what movie did you rent this week?”

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A few days later, the team was discussing the current case in the break room, and try as she might, Sara couldn’t get past the doubts that Grissom and Catherine’s friendship was just a platonic one.

“So the blue fiber we found in the vic’s hair matched the one lodged in the gun that was registered to the vic’s brother, but he claimed he hadn’t seen her in a week because he’d been busy organizing his firm’s networking party. He didn’t have a solid alibi, but I did some digging around, and I found a pair of blue gloves in the vic’s husband’s car, stashed in the door compartment on the driver’s side. Printed the car, only found one set of prints in it – the husband’s,” Catherine said, smiling slightly. Sara noted that Catherine hardly made eye contact with anyone else in the room besides Grissom while she talked about the case.

“Great thinking, Cath. Might have to take you out to coffee for saving all of us from a double shift,” Grissom said, reciprocating the smile, holding Catherine’s gaze for a second too long.

“Hey, how come you never take me out for coffee when I solve a case?” Greg asked indignantly.

“Man, have you ever solved a case single-handedly?” Warrick said with a laugh.

“Well, maybe if I worked solo…”

“Yeah, don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon, Greggo,” Nick said, clapping Greg on his back, but not without seeing the glares Sara was sending across the table to Catherine.

“Okay, case is solved, shift is over, let’s go!” Catherine said, trying to clear everyone out of the room. As everyone got up from their seats and walked out of the room, Grissom walked back into his office, and they could all hear Catherine say, “Hey, you coming, Gil?”

“No, you go ahead. I have to finish up this paperwork. But I’ll see you at dinner tonight at Andre’s?”

This response stopped all the younger CSI’s in their tracks and they turned around slowly to stare questioningly at their supervisor. They all knew that Andre’s was one of the most upscale restaurants in Vegas, and no one went there if it was not for a special occasion, unless they are rich, and Grissom is not one to splurge on gastronomic indulgences.

Realizing what he had said, Grissom peered around his office door and stammered, “Uh, you know, to um, meet with the mayor to discuss the budget increase he’s proposing for the lab.”

“At Andre’s??” Greg exclaimed incredulously.

“Doesn’t hurt to suck up to the guy who’s financing the lab, Greg,” Catherine replied smoothly, guiding the rest of the CSI’s toward the locker room.

“Wow, what do you guys thing that was all about?” Warrick asked the younger CSI’s when they were out of Catherine’s earshot in the locker room.

“I think those two are getting more action than I am,” Greg said, closing his locker.

“Greg, everyone gets more action than you do,” Nick said with a chuckle. “But hey, they could be telling the truth…maybe they are just taking the mayor out to dinner.”

“Yeah, well, whatever’s going on, it’s none of my business. See ya, guys,” Warrick said as he and Greg left the room.

After staying quiet through this whole exchange, Sara finally burst out, “See, even Greg thinks there’s something going on! Come on, Nick, how do you not see it?”

“Sara, like Warrick said, it’s none of our business, even if there is something going on between them. And you should stop sending death glares to Catherine before anyone else notices.” Nick said, trying to comfort Sara while also trying to stop himself from feeling let down that Sara was still getting riled up about Grissom.

“…you saw?” Sara said sheepishly.

“Yeah, and maybe you wouldn’t get so angry and preoccupied with this Grissom and Catherine thing if you just stared at me more instead of Catherine,” Nick said as he flashed her a smile.

“You’re right,” sighed Sara letting the corners of her mouth curl up slightly. “Let’s go.”

As they walked out of the locker room, neither noticed the board placed near the entrance of the room that warned them of the slippery floor that had just been mopped. When Sara pulled open the door, her feet flew from under her and her bag went flying. Nick instinctively reached out his arms and grabbed her waist, steadying her footing while pulling her closer to him at the same time.

The two of them, frozen by the closeness that Sara’s accident had resulted in, could only think of the sudden desire to close the small distance between them with a kiss they both had been resisting to giving into. They searched each other’s faces for a sign of the other’s feelings, for the longing they had both been suppressing.

All of a sudden, the door flew open with a surprised Greg nearly trampling over them as he tried to get to his locker.
 
awwwwwwww... so cute! greggo has the best timing, huh?

update soon! go snickers!

Elanor.
 
A/N: Hi all! Thank you for all the great reviews...I am so sorry for taking so long to update, but this new chapter is much longer and we're finally getting somewhere with these two! (There's also some Grillows action mixed in for those of you Gil/Cath shippers! :D )

Chapter 4

Nick and Sara whipped their heads around and saw Greg, breaking their intense gazes, and stood frozen in front of the unwelcome intruder for a second, giving Greg flustered looks. Then, Nick immediately dropped his arms from Sara’s waist while Sara sprang away from him and proceeded to pick up the fallen contents of her bag from when she had slipped.

“Sara, you’re cheating on me? With this Texan?? ” Greg gasped in mock surprise before heading to his locker again. “What were you guys doing?”

“I wasn’t cheating on y- Greg, we’re not even going out!” Sara exclaimed as she avoided making eye contact with Greg and continued fumbling with her bag even though she had already put everything back inside.

“Yeah, yeah. Stop ignoring the question.”

Sara looked up, saying matter-of-factly, “I slipped on the wet floor and Nick caught me. Simple as that.”

“Uh huh…that simple, huh?” Greg eyed Sara skeptically and shut his locker. “Would something that simple make your face look so red?”

“What did you come back in here for anyway, man?” Nick said, after finally having found his voice again, trying to shift the focus away from Sara, as she now looked sick from the fear of what Greg might be thinking.

“Needed my mints,” Greg said, shaking the box in his hand. Winking, he continued, “Got a date tonight with the DNA girl.”

“Wendy??” Sara choked out. “And you accused me of cheating on you.”

“Well, you might as well have been, seeing the way you two were looking at each other. See ya!” Greg said, leaving the room a second time, not catching Sara’s face turn even redder.

Now with just the two of them again, Nick cleared his throat and said, “The crazy things that kid thinks up. If he’d only put that imagination to good use.”

“Yeah, I mean really, ‘looks we were giving each other.’ Doesn’t even know what he’s talking about,” Sara said, shaking her head and trying to laugh off Greg’s comments and the intimate situation the two were in earlier.

Nick smiled and held the door open for Sara as they walked out of the locker room. Both of them were trying to mask what had happened earlier as a simple accident, but the disguise could not fool their hearts as they knew deep down inside that more was felt in that incident than the fear of falling on the floor, the fear of falling for each other.

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For the next month and a half, Nick and Sara dodged each other in the locker room and avoided making eye contact when they couldn’t, both wary of what the other felt after the slipping incident. While on cases together, they would talk strictly of business, trying to keep the awkwardness between them to a minimum and also trying to steer clear of needing to discuss what exactly had happened that day.

Since they had started to spend less and less time with each other, Sara spent more and more time alone after getting off shift and on her days off. However, she knew that the more time she spent thinking about her confused state about Nick would make things even worse between them and they might eventually stop talking, so she began to think about her relationship with Grissom.

“Grissom has seemed happier lately, and I’ve gotten a few smiles out of him. More than usual anyway. Maybe he’s finally figured out what to do about…this. Maybe if I give him one more chance, he’ll realize he should finally take it,” Sara would think. Every day, she would attempt to build up her confidence to take the initiative, knowing she didn’t have much to lose since she had brought the topic up with him before. But days passed and Sara could not bring herself to spit out the question. She thought that it was only her nerves, the possibility that what she had been yearning for for years will finally be hers. However, she didn’t know that it was also because her feelings for Nick tugged her confidence back, not letting her make a mistake with the wrong man. One day, a month and a half later, however, her mind won over her heart and she decided to take the initiative.

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Warrick, Nick, and Greg were sitting around the break room table and Sara was already getting her second cup of coffee when Warrick finally said after checking his watch for the third time, “Where are they? Gris and Cath are never this late.”

“Speak of the devils…” Nick muttered as both Grissom and Catherine entered the break room just then with their hair and clothes a bit more disheveled than they should have been, even if they were running late.

“So what, you two giving each other rides to work now? Grissom drove too slowly?” Greg pestered good-naturedly.

“Actually, Gil- ” Catherine started.

However, Grissom cut her off, saying, “We’ll get to that in a bit. First, here are the assignments. Nick and Warrick, you’re out in Henderson with a missing persons. Sara, you’re with Cath at the Monte Carlo with a DB. And I’m stuck with you, Greg. We’re taking a trip to Reno.”

“Hey, you say it like it’s a bad thing,” Greg said a hurt tone. “So what was it that Catherine was so eager to explain to us before you cut her off? I can’t take the suspense!”

Gil cast a sideways glance at Catherine, which she returned with a questioning look, like she wanted his approval before she disclosed the news. Gil gave a slight nod, and despite looking a bit apprehensive of the reactions of the rest of the CSI’s, they could all see a smile threatening to creep across their supervisor’s face.

Catherine cleared her throat and announced, “Well, we’ve been discussing when we should let you all know about this, and please don’t hate us for not telling you sooner. At least not me anyway because I sure didn’t want to keep it a secret.” At this, Catherine glared at Gil for a second. “We finally decided this morning that we’d let it out. Um, so are you guys busy next month, on the sixteenth?”

“Catherine, for the love of God, tell us what is so important on the sixteenth!!” Greg exploded as he was already on the edge of his seat, his anticipation getting the better of him.

Gil sighed and gave in, finally breaking a smile and saying, “Catherine and I are getting married. December sixteenth at the Bellagio. We’ll give you guys the invitations later.”

Sara choked on her coffee and almost dropped her cup while Nick sat there stunned with his mouth open, staring at them like he was expecting either one of them to burst out in laughter and confess it was all a joke.

“Well, Bellagio, huh? Beats my drive-through wedding!” Warrick laughed. “Congrats, guys! I can’t say I’m too surprised though.”

“The Bellagio??” Greg asked, with wide eyes. “Did you guys decide on that when we were processing the scene during the Hutchen’s case four and a half months ago??”

Smiles were all around the room with congratulations and hugs excitedly given to the newly engaged couple. However, although Sara joined in on the celebration, she felt slightly disheartened at the fact that she really had no chance with Grissom anymore.

“Who’s up for a bit of bubbly before we hit the cases?” Brass came in, brandishing a bottle of champagne.

“Wait, he knew, but we didn’t?” Nick asked. “Well, now, that’s not fair.”

“Hey, I’m the best man. I need extra preparation time, you know!”

Sara grabbed a class of champagne a bit too eagerly and both Catherine and Nick noticed.

“All right, guys. Finish up that glass and we can all continue celebrating later. We’ve got bad guys to catch!” Catherine said, walking over to Sara, who already finished her glass, and took it out of her hand.

“You’re just trying to rush us to finish our cases so that you and Grissom and go back home and- ”

“Greg…” Grissom warned.

“Oh, you’re in for a long shift. Sanders isn’t going to let processing the scene get in the way of teasing you. Good luck, Gris,” Warrick said, patting Grissom on the back as he filed out of the room with the others while Grissom groaned.

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“Hey, Sara…you okay?” Catherine asked her co-worker who was processing the hotel room alongside her.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Sara answered as she busied herself with trying to find trace on the bed sheets.

“Sara, I know you’ve…had feelings for Grissom before, or even now…I don’t know. And I just…” Catherine sighed and looked down from what she was doing before looking back up at Sara’s face, which was covered with an expressionless mask. “I don’t want there to be any hard feelings over this. I have argued with Grissom more than once about telling you guys, especially you. I know we’re not all that close, and we definitely clashed a bit when you first came here, but you’re my friend, Sara, and I don’t want this to…make things uncomfortable at work…or have you secretly hurting inside.”

Sara, surprised by how much Catherine cared about her feelings, paused her examination of the sheets and responded, “I was a bit shocked before, yes. And I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed when you guys made the announcement. But I have never seen Grissom so happy before…he never smiled like that when he was around me. And you’d be good for him, you know? You’d make sure he has fun. Me? If he were with me, our dates would consist of alternatively listening to the police scanner and reading forensics journals. Oh, and maybe for fun, we’d discuss his bugs and even take them out to race each other!”

Catherine smiled as she saw Sara start to grin. “You can have fun too, Sara. Find a guy you can have fun with…someone who can make you smile without your realizing that you are. Who do you have fun with, Sara? I’m sure there’s someone,” Catherine said knowingly, thinking of the way her mood always lightens when Nick is in her presence. Catherine could see Sara mulling this thought over in her head and teased, “Remember, you’re going to need a date to the wedding. Otherwise, I’m not letting you go. Oh, and before I forget, would you like to be my maid-of-honor?”

Feeling like a weight had finally been lifted off her heart and grinning for the first time out of true happiness, Sara nodded enthusiastically and asked, “So how long has this been going on?”

“Oh, we’ve been hiding this from all of you for about nine months. And Gil proposed a month and a half ago…remember Andre’s?”

Sara nodded, finally understanding why the two had been so vague about the dinner at the restaurant. “Nine months?? How bad of CSI’s are we?” she laughed, “So the Bellagio, huh? And the wedding’s in a month? How did you manage that?”

“Sam Braun…I was surprised Gil took him up on his offer to pay for everything and use his connections to book us a date at the hotel. I think Gil didn’t want to waste anymore time than we already have in finally getting married.”

“Well, what can I say? You two are a lucky couple. Love was right in front of you.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t be talking,” Cath said, receiving a confused look from Sara. Deciding to let her figure out her feelings for herself, Catherine just continued with where she had left off, scraping blood from the carpet for evidence.

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“Hey, guys, done with your case already?” Sara said to Warrick and Nick, as she walked into the break room to ease her mind from the case for a bit.

“Yup, the husband wasn’t too cautious about where he left his DNA, and he felt so guilty, he straight up confessed to everything,” Warrick said with a pleased look on his face.

“Don’t look so smug, Warrick. So, Catherine gave me the wedding invitation earlier. It said, ‘You and your guest…’ Are you bringing Tina?” Sara asked nonchalantly as she poured herself some coffee.

“Yup, and I think Greg is planning on bringing Wendy. They’re getting pretty serious,so I hear. What about you? Who are you thinking of bringing?”

“I- well- ”

“Hey, Warrick, I need you for a sec. You got the forms you filled out for your last case?” Catherine called from the hallway.

“Yeah, sure, let me get them,” Warrick shouted back. “Sorry, guys, catch you later.”

As Warrick exited the room, Sara promptly turned to Nick and asked, “Hey, Nick, want to be my date for the wedding?”

Nick hesitated and his mouth was trying to form words that couldn’t seem to make it past his lips. Sara felt her heart fall again for the second time that day as her smile faltered a bit and the pride she felt earlier for finally being able to take the initiative, albeit it was with a different man than she had originally intended, to ask Nick to be her date with the possibility of taking their relationship past friendship deflated like a punctured balloon.

“Sara, I…um…”
 
read and reviewed, dude this is so good, i swear if nicky says no or already had a date ima gonna slap him silly lol
 
Dang! A cliffhanger!
I feel sorry for Sara coz Nicky's going with me...LOL :p
 
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