Title: Eavesdroppers never prosper
By: lewis771750
Challenge: That picture of fingers crossed
Rating: PG-13 Just to be safe I guess
Disclaimer: Not mine, Jerry and the people at CBS would never be quite this twisted:) But it is all just for fun, honest.
Spoilers: No
AN: The follow-up to "A Lucky? Break". What happened next...

***

Nick had got into work early, trying to settle himself by controlling his surroundings, putting his mind firmly into work mode before meeting Catherine and Sara for the first time after overhearing their lovemaking the night before.

It wasn't really working, he was pacing to and fro in the break room, alternately raising his fingers to his mouth to bite his nails and when he forced his hands away from his mouth they clenched into fists so tight that he had drawn blood in a couple of places by driving the ragged edges of his bitten nails into his palms.

One by one the other members of the shift arrived, Greg making his coffee, Grissom with a pile of paperwork, then Warrick who looked a little rough after a long day in court and then coming in to continue work on a hot new case. Warrick sat himself down with a coffee before noticing Nick's agitated state.

"S'up Nick?" he asked. He knew Nick had planned to ask Sara to come to the wedding as a witness, Warrick assumed from the nervous air Nick was projecting that things had either gone terribly badly and Sara was going to be tearing strips of Nick for a week, or just maybe that things had gone better than anyone expected and Nick was nervous about seeing her the morning after a wild and passionate night.

"Did things go OK with Sara last night at the wedding?" Warrick continued. Unknown to him Catherine and Sara had chosen that moment to appear in the corridor leading to the break room and they heard this comment clearly. Nick turned to answer Warrick and as he did so he caught sight of the two women coming towards him too.

Instantly his face went red. This was far worse than he had imagined, now the two of them at least knew he had been going to ask Sara to a wedding, and he knew and they knew he'd never gone through with it. Would they work out why? Why wouldn't the ground swallow him up? Or Warrick with his big mouth and bad timing?

Catherine and Sara entered the room looking inquisitive.

"So Nick, what's this about you, me and a wedding?" Sara began. Catherine stood a little behind the younger woman watching Nick, taking in the look of mortification on his face. She started to get an idea of what might have happened, reading his body language and the almost subliminal flinch that ran through his body when he looked into both their eyes. She wasn't ashamed, she knew Sara wasn't ashamed, so she decided to let this scene play out and see where it led them all. Everyone would find out eventually, so why not this way, at Nick's embarrassment rather than anyone else's?

Nick could barely answer. "I... I... I was..." He stopped, swallowed and took a deep breath. He twisted his body slightly and crossed his fingers behind his back. It was a silly childhood habit, a means to deflect the anger that went with telling lies, but he needed that comfort now.

"My friend, Geoff, came to Vegas and was going to get married. Typical Vegas rush job, no planning so he asked me to be best man, and to see if I could get a friend to be maid of honour for his wife. I thought I might ask you Sara..." this was getting a bit easier, but so far it was all the truth. Nick swallowed, bracing himself for the lie, and twisting his fingers more tightly over each other. "...but I decided that you wouldn't thank me for setting you up like that at the last minute, so I went to someone else."

"Nick, why are your fingers tied up in knots behind your back?" Grissom's voice rang around the rest room. "If you were still 7 I might think you were lying and hoping not to get caught." Nick spun round guiltily. In the other door was Grissom with a vague smile on his face. Nick's face flared even redder than before. Then he realised his fingers were still crossed and he was showing them to the two women he'd just been lying to as well, revealing the evidence of his crime to all and sundry.

"Go on Nick, tell us the truth, what really happened?" Catherine finally joined in. Warrick had noticed a loaded glance between the two women but couldn't quite read it, or perhaps he couldn't believe what he thought it meant. Nick spun back again, feeling dizzy, just not knowing what to do.

He knew the ground wouldn't actually open up and swallow him, but he really, really needed it to, right now.

"Well... um... ah... erm... oh... It's.... it's like this. I was going to invite you to come with me, but when I got there I could hear you had company. I decided not to interrupt your social life, so I went turned around and went away."

Warrick suddenly stiffened. Now that loaded look made sense. Sara's social life had been with Catherine, they'd been together last night, and judging from the look together as more than just friends after work. A smile spread slowly across his face. He wouldn't have guessed it for either of them, but he was happy for them both.

Catherine took a step forwards, stalking her prey. "Why was that so hard to say Nick? We've found the little lie, what's the big one? What did you hear or see that made you want to lie about the whole thing?"

Nick felt trapped. Anything he said now would make it clear what he had heard, what he'd done, or rather not done, and it would reveal Catherine and Sara's private lives in the most public of forums. He knew that Catherine wouldn't let him escape so he tried looking at Sara, hoping she would realise what he knew and let him off the hook, at least in public. That didn't help, Sara was moving to stand beside Catherine, staring at him, daring him to say something, wanting him to say something. Nick drew a big breath and flicked his gaze away from the two women. He gathered his wits and started to answer, but just as he opened his mouth he noticed Greg walking towards the break room as well, coffee cup in hand. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse it looked like everyone was going to hear this.

"I heard Sara, and well, I was about to knock when I heard someone else's voice. Your voice." He said, turning to look at Catherine, deciding that was the least bad of the people to be facing.

"So?" Sara, Catherine and Grissom asked in unison. Nick knew two of them knew the answer to that already, but he didn't know how Grissom would respond to what came next.

Squirming more than a little Nick looked back at Catherine. 'Go on' she mouthed at him, 'tell it all.' Looking past her at Sara he noticed she was nodding at him and smiling. Hoping he could get out of this with some grace left, some tattered semblance of his dignity and chivalric demeanour available to him, and knowing that, however embarrassed he was the two principals seemed to want him to say more he drew breath once more.

"Well, um, your voice, wasn't exactly holding a conversation. In fact it was pretty obvious you two were making out." He finished in a rush.

You ought to have been able to hear a pin drop as he said this, but actually the sound of Greg's mug hitting the floor would have drowned it out.

Warrick, who had had some inkling of what was going to be said rose to his feet and stepped towards the pair, holding his arms out. "Congratulations you two" he said, hugging them to him.

They turned to him, surprised, but happy to be so quickly accepted. Warrick looked over at Nick who was still red, but was relieved that the focus of attention had shifted away from him.

Grissom and Greg were both stood there open-mouthed. Neither quite knew what to say to this revelation, but both gathered their wits and went forwards to offer their congratulations as well. Moments later normal order was restored as Grissom pulled himself together and started handing out the assignments.

Things would be a bit difficult for a while, as everyone adjusted to the new relationship, but the team would pull through it eventually, and be strong for having those two headstrong women pulling in harness.

***