Title: Birthday Bash
By: Amaris Ethne
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG
Summary: It's Nick's birthday and Sara won't let him forget it. When they throw together a last minute party things get wild.

***

"Hey, Nick." Warrick greeted, coming into the break room. Nick glanced up from his coffee and smiled.

"Hey. Saved you a bear claw from Sara's rampage," Nick said, unwrapping the pastry and handing it to his friend.

"Thanks. She started early today." Both men laughed, but their hysteria was cut short when the rampager entered.

"What?" she asked of their sudden silence. The men just smiled at each other before Nick turned to leave.

"Oh, by the way Nick? Happy Birthday!" Warrick called after him.

"Wait, what? Nick; it's your birthday?" Sara asked, stunned. Nick just sighed and nodded. He hadn't really wanted to make a big deal of it.

"Technically it's tomorrow, but the shift runs into tomorrow..."

"How old are you?"

"33."

"And you're not doing anything? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell us what?" Catherine asked as she and Grissom came in.

"Did you guys know that it's Nick's birthday?" Sara asked. Catherine looked at the man in surprise.

"Well, hey. Happy Birthday."

"Yeah, Nicky. You're what, 33?"

"Yeah. But look, guys, let's just get to work, huh? It's not a big deal."

"But Nick it *is* a big deal!" Sara insisted. Nick ignored her and turned to Grissom.

"Do you have anything for us, boss?"

"Ooh! Someone's getting old and cranky!" Sara teased to be ignored again.

"Well, guys, there are no cases at the moment."

"You're kidding me!" Warrick complained, "we haven't had a major case in three days! My last case the suspect broke down at the crime scene and admitted!"

Grissom just shrugged and glanced in the donut box. Finding it completely empty he shut it and grabbed a coffee mug.

"Man, usually when there's been no murders for three days it's something to be glad about," Nick said.

"Yeah but it means we have nothing to do. And I am *not* going to clean the labs again like yesterday. Nick, are you seriously not going to do anything for your birthday?" Sara demanded, unwilling to let the subject drop. Nick just rolled his eyes.

"It's a three day weekend this week, I'm flying home. I'll celebrate then."

"But you should do something *today*!" Sara insisted. Nick studied her for a moment.

"Why the hell is this buggin' you?"

"My whole life I had a big party every year. I'd be so bummed if I was all alone on my birthday!"

"Well, I'll tell you what, since we don't have a case why don't you guys go out for drinks or something?" Grissom suggested.

"What if a case comes in?"

"I'll page you. But until then go out and enjoy yourselves." Grissom didn't have to tell them twice. They all practically ran for the lockers.

"So, Nick, what do you want to do?" Sara asked. The birthday boy just shrugged. Everyone looked at each other, thinking before Nick's eyes lit up.

"I've got it!" he yelled, snapping his fingers, "Let's go back to my place. We can order pizza, pick up some beer, maybe a couple of movies, you know a little party with friends?"

"Great idea!" Sara exclaimed, enthused.

"Hi, guys. You all get off early too?" Greg greeted coming into the locker room. The CSI's all looked at each other and nodded in silent agreement.

"Yeah, we're all going back to my place for some drinks and stuff. You wanna come?"

"Hey, sure!"

"Okay," Sara stepped in; "here's the plan; Nick, just go home. I'll go get the pizzas. Greg, go get some movies, comedies. No nudity."

"There's movies like that?" Greg asked. Nick laughed.

"Yeah, they're *in front* of the beaded curtain, Greggo."

"Oh, *that's* what those are!"

"Anyway...Warrick, can you get a case of beer?" Sara continued.

"Two cases!" Greg, again. Catherine laughed.

"I second that. I'll go with Warrick."

"All right, y'all. I'll see you back at my place. Oh, and, thanks everyone. Really. It's nice to have friends who care." With that Nick left. Greg looked around for a minute.

"Huh?" Sara sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Never mind, Greggy. Never mind."

)0(

25 minute later the doorbell of Nick's house chimed. Sara stood in the darkened doorway, balancing numerous pizzas in one hand and a large heavy paper bag.

"Here, let me get that," Nick grabbed the bag from her.

"Thanks. There's more in the car."

"More? Sara I thought you were just getting pizza!"

"Well then I thought that we'd need a birthday cake so I stopped and got one. And I have a bunch of candles at home so I stopped to get them and then I remembered that I had some party decorations from my brother's party a couple months ago..."

"Sara, you should have been a party planner." Nick interrupted with a laugh. Sara frowned and put her hands on her hips.

"You just go in the bedroom for a minute so I can set up out here."

"You're the boss."

"And don't you forget it!" Sara called at Nick's retreating back.

)0(

"Holy cow!" Catherine commented upon being let in by Sara. Across the foyer metallic blue letters read "Happy Birthday." In the living room was a paper sign apparently printed off a computer that read the same, except personalized. Balloons were scattered around the floor and brightly colored streamers were hanging everywhere.

"You do all out, don't you?" Sara ignored the comment.

"Did you bring the balloons?"

"Yup. Warrick was right behind me with the booze, I think. I stopped at home quick." Catherine handed Sara two bunches of helium balloons.

"thanks. Did you have to go far?"

"Nah, when you called I was right by a Glovers. Help me haul in my karaoke machine, will you?"

"Sure."

The girls set up Catherine's Karaoke machine in the corner of the living room and quickly finished putting up the decorations.

"Nick?" Sara called, knocking on his bedroom door. From inside came a muffled call. Sara opened the door to find Nick in jeans and a T-shirt with his old fraternity logo on it laying on his bed with a Stephen King novel, his radio playing Queen quietly.

"You can come out now. We're done."

"We?"

"Catherine's here. She brought her Karaoke machine."

"Alright. Alcohol and karaoke. This should be fun!" Nick exclaimed, closing the book and jumping off his bed. The two returned to the living room just as the doorbell rang again. Nick pulled open the door to reveal Warrick with a case of beer under each arm and Greg holding a bag full of movies and another case of booze.

"Come on in. Jeez, Warrick, how much do you think we can drink?"

"Yeah, it'd be a shame if there was some left over and we'd have to finish it off another night." Warrick said sarcastically, putting the cases on the counter.

"All right, Greggy, what movies did you get?" Sara asked, grabbing the bag and lookin gin. There were three movies; Van Wilder, American Pie, and Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"Grab the pizzas and let's go!" Nick grabbed the bag and hurried into the living room.

" Which do we watch first?" Warrick asked. They had all seen Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Nick, Greg and Cat had seen American Pie, so Van Wilder was up. Nick grabbed some paper plates and set them by the pizzas. There were four kinds; veggie for Sara, ham and pineapple, meat lovers with all meat for Nick, and one that had the works minus pineapple and anchovies. Everyone grabbed a piece of their favorite and then went to Catherine who was serving drinks. In addition to the beer Warrick had brought, Sara had grabbed some wine and Nick had already had a stocked liquor cabinet of everything *but* beer; taquilla, vodka, whiskey, bloody Mary mix, martini mix and lots of other drinks. They were set to go.

)0(

"Nick is that really what frat houses are like?" Sara asked, shocked. He nodded with a broad smile on his face.

"Worse. The party where I was initiated..." he trailed off, a far off look in his eyes and an even wider grin.

"Girls?" Greg prompted.

"Oh yeah. Lots of them. And beer. We played hooky for three straight days. Never left the dorm."

"Never left the bedroom is more like it." The younger man amended. Nick nodded and took a gulp of his beer.

"Screw that, I'm never eating a custard donut again!" Warrick exclaimed, disgusted. The others agreed. In the kitchen most of the pizza was gone, as was the first case of beer. But they weren't done drinking yet. We played hooky for three straight days. Never left the dorm."

"Never left the bedroom is more like it." The younger man amended. Nick nodded and took a gulp of his beer.

"Screw that, I'm never eating a custard donut again!" Warrick exclaimed, disgusted. The others agreed. In the kitchen most of the pizza was gone, as was the first case of beer. But they weren't done drinking yet.

"I vote we fire up that karaoke machine, crank up some tunes, get giggy with it..." Greg slurred.

"Get the beer away from him." Sara finished. Greg just glared while Catherine turned on her karaoke machine.

"Who's up first?"

"Oh, me!" Greg yelled, raising his hand like a schoolboy. He tried to jump to his feet only to fall back down. After two attempts he made it and began to scan through the song titles. With a little squeak of happiness he called up a song. When the music began to play a unanimous groan came from the room. Greg took the microphone and in the most feminine and sultry vice he could manage began to sing "Happy Birthday Mr. Stokes" and dancing around. The song (and Greg's wailing with it) ended with the lab tech jumping into Nick's lap.

"Thank you, Greg, but I have not had nearly enough alcohol for a guy to sit on me yet." Nick said, pushing the younger man off him.

"Then I'll go get you another beer!"

"Grab me one while you're at it!" Warrick called after the stumbling man.

"All right, Sara, let's show these guys how it's done," Catherine said, grabbing Sara's hand and dragging her up to the mic. She punched in a number and the music blared. This time a laugh went up from the spectators as a hit disco song played and the girls started dancing. The new Weather Girls sang and danced through the first verse, but just before the refrain grabbed the guys by the hand and dragged them up to dance.

"Hallelujah it's rainin' men. Hallelujah..." the drunken men thrust out their pelvis, then turned and shook their butts.

"Oh dear God!" Sara laughed. Catherine just shook her head, smiled and kept singing. The guys were trying to follow each other's leads and dance in synch buy somehow they just couldn't get it right. By the time the music had stopped no one was singing anymore, the women had collapsed on the couch in fits of laughter.

"That's it!" Nick yelled, grabbing the mic when the music had ended.

"How 'bout one we can all dance to?" he asked and queued up the next song. The music started; a song that everyone could recognize. The girls squealed with delight as the three men took their places in front of the entertainment center, their backs to the women. In time with the music they turned around in a cadence action; Warrick, Nick then Greg. Gyrating hips mesmerized the spectators and Nick's singing was almost completely ignored.

"It's fun to stay at the..."

"YMCA" they sang together complete with all of the arm motions. Sara and Catherine were both laughing so hard they were crying.

"Come on!" Nick yelled at them, but both were laughing too hard to comply. After the "YMCA" came the Bloodhound Gang's "Bad Touch" done by Greg and Nick; "Too Much Time On My Hands" by Styx; a hilarious performance of Queen's "Bicycle Race" by Greg and Nick again, "We All Live In A Yellow Submarine" by everyone and finally a rendition of "Wild Thing" by Warrick. They were getting than a little tired of singing and dancing and mostly laughing until they cried when Nick found one last song. Even with the lyrics rolling by on the screen no one could keep up with the song except the two-word refrain of "Hey Macarena!" So instead of they jumped around the room, putting their arms out and behind their heads and shaking their hops until they ran into each other and fell to the floor in a laughing, drunken, pile.

"Anyone wanna play a game?" Nick asked after everyone had calmed down.

"Sure! I saw a deck of cards in the kitchen," Greg exclaimed jumping up to go get them.

"How 'bout a game of poker?" Sara suggested. Everyone agreed and Greg began to deal.

)O(

"Full house, pay up!"

"Are you stacking the deck?"

"Yes. I am. I stacked the deck to win a handful of M & M's. " Nick said sarcastically.

"Well, let's make this more interesting than." Greg broke the argument up.

"I think chocolate is a great prize!" Sara argued, a chocohaulic at heart.

"How about a drunken naked person instead?"

"What?" Everyone yelled. Greg just grinned.

"Strip poker. It'll be fun."

"Oh, what the hell. I'm game." Nick said, throwing a handful of his earlier winnings into his mouth. Catherine took a deep swallow from her taquilla bottle before saying that she'd play.

"If Birthday Boy is in than so am I." Warrick said, mentally counting how many clothes he had on. But Sara stayed silent until Catherine elbowed her.

"Come on you've got enough clothes on."

"Oh, okay. I'm in."

)0(

"All right, Greggo, let's see them!" Warrick pushed. With a deep sigh the lab tech put down his cards.

"Ha! Take something off baby!" Nick laughed. Sighing again Greg began to unfasten his belt.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold on, man! Start with your socks or something! Damn!" Nick protested along with the others. But Greg just gave them a weird look.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"Trust me, there is fun in it!" Sara shot back. Greg resigned and took off his shirt.

"I guess that's better." Warrick mumbled.

)0(

An hour later Cat and Warrick had learned three things between them; that Sara wears pink lacey bras, Nick looks surprisingly good without a shirt on, and lastly that Greg goes commando.

"Seriously, man; socks before pants." Nick told the man who sat across from him in only stocking feet.

"Yeah, well, you loose one more hand and it's bye-bye jeans for you too!"

"But I wear boxers at least! I call."

"Personally I'm enjoying this game very much!" The barefooted Catherine said.

"Oh, we'll get your clothes off in due time, Kitty Cat. Don't you worry. I fold." Greg set his cards down in front of him, face down.

"He folds? What, are you afraid your feet'll get cold?" Everyone laughed.

"For your information, my feet get cold easily."

"Not the only part, I see. You want me to turn up the heat in here?" Nick teased.

"*You* might need to. I call. Let's see what you've got!" Warrick interrupted. Nick showed his hand and with a groan Warrick took off his shirt.

"Do *you* want me to turn up the heat?" Nick asked. The newly shirtless man just glared. Beside him, the shirtless Sara raised her hand.

"I'm a bit chilly."

)0(

It was 9:00 in the morning when the festivities ended and everyone headed for home.

"Next time we'll plan a party for you." Sara promised as she gave him a hug.

"I like the way this one turned out!"

"Agreed, man. Happy Birthday." Warrick slapped his friend on the back.

"Thanks, guys. This was great." Nick said from his porch, watching everyone get into their cars.

)0(

That night, back at the Crime Lab the CSI's found the donut box full. Next to it was the box that Nick had brought the left over cake in; two pieces already taken by Sara. Grissom stuck a candle in one of the donuts and presented it to Nick, since he'd missed the party before. The man blew out the candle, but his wish had already come true; to have friends and coworkers like the ones he had.

***