Extra Curricular

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"We sorta had a little side project today." MandyNick. Post-Lab Rats

…

"Mandy?"

She vaguely registered the gentle vibration of his voice, choosing to snuggle against his side, tightening her grip on the front of his tee shirt. He shifted beneath her, nudging her, an attempt to wake her.

"Mandy." Nick Stokes slid down on the sheets, just enough to touch his nose to hers. She crinkled her brow, protesting his rousing, but she didn't bother to fight off an amused smile as he wedged his knee between her thighs and pulled her frame against his. Quietly she groaned, laying an arm along his shoulder and curling into him instinctively. She feigned slumber, but he pressed his lips against hers affectionately, tilting into her, making her kiss him back.

"Mmpht."

"Amanda." Avoiding him proved to be moot, as his grip tightened on the small of her back, and she sighed, finally opening her eyes. Even through dark provided by the blackout curtains, she easily identified his need for communication. It amused her, mostly, when he looked at her like that, with the brown of his eyes darkened and an apprehensive set in his jaw. She let her gaze sleepily realign with his shortened hair, running her hand through the inch and a half or so of length companionably before catching his eye and holding it.

"Nicholas." He kissed her again, rolling her over on to her back and pushing away her leg easily, settling a significant portion of his weight against her center, grinding into her hips with a slow, dull pressure. She chuckled softly, he tried so hard to be the sex-seeking Neanderthal that most men became in the dead of night, but his kisses, even as they turned to her neck, her jaw, her collarbone, displayed his avid desire for affection and love. She arched up into him instinctively, feeling the muscles in his shoulders tense under her fingertips. "What's on your mind, dude?"

He slumped against her, limp, and she shifted, keeping his body flush against hers with a winding calf around the back of his thigh. Mandy could feel Nick smiling into her skin, and she fixed him with a warm expression as he pulled back, propping himself up on his elbows on either side of the mattress by her head.

"Nick?"

"Is Hodges okay?" Her laughter was a welcome sound against his ears, even as she rolled her eyes, and relaxed into the bedding beneath him, thoughts of the dirtier nature abruptly chased away at the mention of her neurotic fellow lab tech.

"Are we really talking about David Hodges in bed?"

"What? He seemed off his game during shift. I told him about Iowa, and he didn't even bite." Nick rolled off her, propping his head up on his palm, pulling her thigh over with him, laying his free hand along the round of her bottom as she draped her leg over his hip comfortably. "What's going on with him?"

Mandy Webster lay still beside him for a few moments, slinging an arm over her eyes, biting her lip at the feel of his fingers delicately touching her skin.

"I'm not really one to rat out another lab tech." She threw him a tired grin, dropping her fingers to the bed, and shrugging. "He had a good day." As if rewarding her for her answer, albeit elusive, Nick leaned forward, leaving an open-mouthed kiss against the top of her camisole, making her shiver from the contact with her sensitive skin. Her fingers came off the bedding of their own volition, settling in the crook of his neck as she arched into him, wriggling slightly for release.

"He seemed distracted." Nick's hand traveled up from her backside to her waist, kneading her side deliberately before bracing the mattress beside her, giving him leverage. "It's just not like him to brush me off like he did. Speaking at a conference, not just going, you know? I thought I could pawn that off on him pretty easily, even if it is in Iowa." His words came in warm puffs, tickling her skin as he moved over her, lighting fires as he settled into her, cuddling against her.

"We sorta had a little side project today."

"Yeah? What kinda project?" He turned his attention elsewhere, squirming against her to shift lower, lifting the bottom hem of her camisole up, kissing the exposed skin with similar open-mouthed displays of affection. She groaned softly, rolling her hip against his chest, urging him to continue; the thickened accent his voice had become laced with causing an unsettled heat in her pelvis.

"Sworn to secrecy, Nicky, sorry."

"What're you guys like part of some sort of lab tech cult now?"

"Just a little extra curricular activity, is all." Mandy shifted again, uncomfortably, as Nick chuckled, his laugh reverberating against her hips acutely.

"Extra curricular activities with Hodges? I'm not sure I can hang with that." He placed a kiss against the elastic band of her panties before climbing back up the length of her body and claiming her mouth. "Now, with Wendy, or your friend Jill, then maybe then we could work something out." She groaned, annoyed, and made an attempt to push him off of her, succeeding easily as he let her, giving her space.

"That's the road to the door, Stokes, not the one to my pants." Her tone was easy, affectionate, telling him she was joking. He flashed her a grin, climbing across her body to the other side of the bed, leaning down over the side. "Oophft. What're you doing?"

"Checking for your pants." He rummaged through their discarded items of clothing, but she giggled pulling him back to her, delighting in the fiery smile that had settled on his lip. She pushed him over easily, climbing on top of him as he lay back against the sheets, running his hands along her hips before clasping them against the small of her back. "Fine, fine." He accepted the casual kiss she dropped on his lips, tightening his grip on her as she snuggled into him, tucking her head securely beneath his chin. He shifted, raising a knee against her center, wedging her against his body and making her squirm as his thigh came in contact with her crotch through the cotton of boxers and panties. "So what were you guys working on? Party for Greg? His birthday's coming up." Mandy rolled her eyes, melting into Nick's chest as his fingers ran soothingly through her hair, making her sigh.

"While you guys were out saving the city from the range of mediocre criminals, we took a stab at the miniature killer case. Well, at least until Warrick dumped all his evidence on me." Immediately, his fingers stalled in her hair, and a collection of muscles tensed beneath her. It hadn't occurred to her that he would react so possessively on a case he only partly worked on. There was a shift in the light in his eyes, the mischievous spark dulling to a concerned shine that took up residence primarily in the lab. When he spoke, his voice had hardened only just, rigidly transitioning into his criminalist mind.

"You broke into the lockboxes?"

"Grissom left them open."

"He told you it was okay?"

"Not exactly."

"Does Grissom know?"

"Not…really, no." Beneath her, Nick shifted again, pushing her off of him, and sitting up, giving her his full attention.

"That case is high profile, Mandy. And ongoing. We have no suspects. No leads. Any handling of the evidence by unqualified individuals can get convictions thrown out in court. You and Hodges just tampered with evidence in a career-making case-"

"D'you think we're stupid? It wasn't just me and Hodges, Nick. Henry, and Archie and Wendy were in on it, too. And we followed procedure. We reevaluated everything in the case files. Double-checked the tests and the photos and the conclusions-" She stopped herself, frowning at Nick's criminalist demeanor, heaving a labored, frustrated sigh and lay back down, rolling on her side, away from him, pulling the frames of her glasses off her nose and pushing them over onto the bedside table. "Forget it."

Several moments of awkward silence passed between them, each troubled by the manner in which the conversation, and the mood, had skittered away on them. Finally, she felt Nick's hand slip along her waist, and down to her hip, pulling her flush against him. She let him, relaxing into his chest, unable to remain agitated. They lay like that for a few more moments, spooned companionably, the tension in the silence beginning to dissipate. When he spoke, his soft whisper was hot in her ear, relighting the heat in her hips, despite his hardened, criminalist tone.

"D'you find anything probative?"

"Hodges did." She reached for his hand, threading her fingers into his and curling them securely against his chest.

"And?"

"And what? Sometimes you need a fresh pair of eyes. And Dave Hodges is obsessive compulsive, neurotic, and intelligent. D'you know he has an additional degree in Psychology? Specialized in Deviant Behavior. He's smarter than you give him credit for."

"What did he find, woman?"

"Promise we can stop talking about Hodges?"

"Yes."

"And we can continue with our romantic evening?"

"Yes." She twisted in his arms, disentangling her fingers from his and winding her arms around his shoulders, pulling his lips down to hers sensually. She rolled over onto her back, pulling his frame on top of hers, kissing him hard as he settled himself against her center, arching up to increase the pressure. He groaned at her touch, the rough, focused, criminalist expression flaking away to make room for the emotive, affectionate Nick she had climbed into bed with earlier. She raked her fingertips delicately down his torso, distracting him with a kiss as her fingers dipped into his boxers, guiding him gently as he gasped at her touch, his muscles reacting instinctively. His words were whispers. "Please, Mandy."

She couldn't tell if he was asking for Hodges' findings, or release. Restraint tumbled like dominoes, each giving in to the sensate distraction. There'd be a time for discussing her foray into forensics, sure, but the world around them faded, as it always did, and he kissed her again, sharply, falling just shy of rough, and she knew the tension between them had been dissolved. She grinned into his kiss, arching her hips against his, inhaling a sharp breath as he entered her, the dull, heated burn giving way to cresting pleasure as he began to move, countering her movements.

The force, and intensity of his weight driving into her curled her toes, making her cringe. She gripped his arms where they steadied him; carefully constructed muscles tensing hard, providing leverage as she matched his rhythm, capturing his kiss sweetly as he sped up, hitting that spot with each push. There was no point in withholding information; he had worked the cases, he would know soon enough.

"Bleach."

She breathed it out as an after thought, he had quickly stolen her capacity for coherence, battling her jovially for dominance, winning only because she let him. Mandy brought a leg up against Nick's waist, listening to a hoarse gasp catch in his throat as the case, and her escapades into the world of criminology, were forgotten in favor of other extra curricular activities.

…

Don't know where this came from… it slid away from me. I've had this pairing on my mind since Happenstance and the Barry Manilow impersonation… the amused look on Nick's face before he kicked it up a notch, combined with the deviant behavior of the Lab Rats last Thursday… This wouldn't leave me alone. I'm growing more and more enamored with the idea of Nick and Mandy. It's kinda offbeat, and a little odd, but I hope you enjoyed. ::grins madly::