Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them. As always, I wouldn't mind having coffee with George and Jorja.
Author's Note: This idea may have been done before, but I thought I'd put my own spin on it. And I must admit that it came from an interview with George Eads where he mentioned that he and Jorja have a pact that if they're both still single when their 45, they'd 'consummate' their relationship. So it got me thinking about Nick and Sara.
Sara felt like and idiot for even suggesting the idea and judging from the way coffee was nearly snorted out of his nose, she was fairly certain that Nick agreed. Now here they were; an awkward silence enveloping them and no graceful way to crawl under the table or bolt for the door.
As the sounds from the bustling coffee shop registered in Nick's ears with a whoosh, he realized that he probably ought to say something. His mouth was engaged before he could really process what was coming out of it. "Huh?"
The disbelief on Nick's face caused Sara's stomach to sink further into the floor. Why she had ever thought this was a good idea, she wasn't sure. Somehow saying the words out loud had allowed her to realize just how ludicrous her suggestion had been. Sara moved to stand up, her face a bit stricken. "I should go."
Nick reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her back into the seat next to him. "Now hold up there for a minute. You drop something like this in my lap and you don't even give me a chance to respond?"
Sara regarded him a bit warily as she nervously nibbled her lower lip.
Nick tried to smile, but it came out as a sort of lopsided smirk. "When you said you had something important you wanted to talk to me about, this wasn't what I had in mind." He cleared his throat and lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I'm still sort of stuck back at the part where you said you wanted to have sex with me."
The fact that he hadn't gone running out of the coffee shop finally started to sink into Sara's mind, but she was still preparing herself for rejection.
Nick gave Sara's hand a squeeze and his drawl seemed to be thicker than normal. "How long have you been thinking about this, Sar?" His head was still spinning with the proposition that she'd just made to him. It wasn't that he didn't find Sara attractive; he was extremely attracted to her; it was just the fact that when the time came for him to experience fatherhood, he'd envisioned the whole package; love, marriage, and the baby carriage. Having his coworker ask if he'd be willing to father a child with her wasn't exactly what he had in mind.
"I should have known this was a bad idea." Sara let out a groan, referring to the Almighty in the process. She'd thought long and hard about the kind of man that she wanted for the father of her children, uh, child that is, and every road just led back to Nick. Unfortunately, she didn't think that he'd ever be willing to date her; she didn't think she was his type. So somehow in her mind she'd managed to reason that since they were friends, Nick seemed to love sex, and she wanted a baby; he would be happy to help her out and would be able to have some guilt free sex in the process. Somewhere in all of her mussing, logic had never kicked in that he might not see it that way.
"Bad idea?" Again the words were out of his mouth before he realized how they sounded. It was a good thing he was still holding onto her hand or he was sure she'd just bolt for the door. "I'm not really interested in being just a sperm donor, Sar."
"I feel sick." And she did. Sick from exposing herself like that, sick from propositioning her friend like that, and sick from an overwhelming sense that Nick didn't think she was good enough for him.
From the look on her face, Nick wondered if Sara wasn't going to throw up right there, and he wasn't going to take a chance. "You wanna get some air?" He also thought that it might be wiser to have the rest of this conversation somewhere other than the middle of a busy Starbucks.
"I should go." She stood up and headed for the door wanting to get out of the building and away from Nick as quickly as possible so she could shrivel up and die from embarrassment in peace.
Nick let her go, scooping up their coffee cups and dumping them in the trash before sauntering out to the parking lot secure in the knowledge that Sara wasn't going to get too far. He found her standing next to his Denali gulping fresh air.
She had a sheepish smile on her face as she saw Nick dangling his keys. "I forgot...you drove."
Nick smiled back at her. "Sar, why don't we go somewhere and talk about this?" He wasn't outright rejecting her idea, but he had a counteroffer of his own and he reasoned that if she was bold enough to ask him to father her child, he could be bold enough to lay his own cards out on the table.
Sara started to ramble. "Look, I'm really sorry I brought this up...I made a mistake...you can't really ask your friend to help knock you up and then act like everything's normal." Right at that moment, she would have been content to have the ground swallow her up.
Nick unlocked the passenger door and nodded towards the inside of the vehicle. "Why don't you just get in and we'll go somewhere else and talk." He smirked. "Somewhere we don't have to compete with the sound of non-fat hazelnut lattes."
Sara let out a groan as she climbed into the SUV and steeled herself for what was coming next. She stared down at the hem of her shirt, playing at it with her fingertips, and wondered how she could have been so stupid.
Nick glanced at her as he slid behind the wheel. "Hey, I'd just like to point something out."
"What? That I'm the most relationally inept person you've ever known?" Sara's tone was self-depreciating and she couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes.
Nick chuckled in spite of himself. "No, actually, I believe that honor is reserved for Grissom." He knew that comment would get a rise out of her and he wasn't disappointed as she snorted out a laugh.
"Ok, then I must come in a close second." She braved a glance at him, surprised to see him smiling and to find that it looked genuine.
"You're too hard on yourself." Nick headed towards Sara's apartment, hopeful that if she was in familiar territory she'd be more comfortable talking. "No, what I wanted to say was that I'm extremely flattered that you'd even think about wanting me...to...uh, well..." Nick's grin showed a little embarrassment as he paused for a moment. "Do you mind if I ask you why you feel like you need to do it this way? I mean don't you want to fall in love with someone and have a family?" He just couldn't fathom why Sara thought she had to go out and shop for a father.
"Well..." Her voice was tentative at first. "I'm not getting any younger...I really don't think I have a great track record when it comes to men...and as for falling in love...I'm not sure it's ever going to happen." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I shouldn't have brought this up...I'm sorry; this makes things pretty awkward."