A/N: For SingingStarryKnights, for being awesome, and for having a freakish amount of things in common with me. :)

Carpe Diem

“Greg.” Sara looked over at her co-worker, sighing softly. He had been on edge all night. Jittery, scatter-brained, generally out-of-sorts. Typical Greg behavior- had he drank two pots of coffee or eaten three dozen of her hard candies that she kept in her locker.

But he hadn’t.

He looked up at her, setting down the photo he was analyzing. “What?”

She motioned to his leg. “You’re shaking.”

Greg stopped momentarily, let out a long sigh, and continued to shake.

She put her hand on his thigh, close to his knee, forcefully holding his leg down. “Stop. Please.”

“Sorry.” His immediate reply caused her to feel a bit guilty, and she withdrew her hand, frowning.

“Okay. What’s wrong?”

He glanced at the door, as if to make sure no one was listening to their conversation, and turned his attention back to the photo. “Nothing.”

“Something’s wrong.” She bit her lip, not wanting to push the issue. But she was worried. Normally, he’d sit there quietly, bumming sips off of her coffee, cracking lame jokes to see if he could get her to smile. “Is it too soon?”

He looked up at her. “Too soon for what?”

“You know...” She drew the words out, choosing them carefully. “...coming back here, working. Because you can take another week off, Greg. Grissom would understand.”

Another sigh. His foot rose slightly, but he set it back down, forcing himself not to shake. “No, it’s... it’s not that.”

Her attention was now focused fully on Greg. She wouldn’t be able to wrap this case with him sitting there, distracting her, playing it off as nothing... whatever it was.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Really. I just, I... I promised myself that I would ask this girl out today, and I...”

She arched an eyebrow. “And you...”

“Can’t.”

Now this was new. Sara had heard him brag endlessly about girl after girl, late night after late night, and he had never had any trouble with any of those girls. Any of those other escapades and conquests and all of those adventures that guys like to brag about when they think you’re not listening.

“You can’t?” She smiled broadly at him, her words laced with sarcasm. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you supposed to be some sort of ladies man?”

He laughed quietly, shaking his head. “S’posed to, I guess. But this girl’s different. She’s kind of, uh... special.” Greg ran a hand through his messy hair, curls falling gently over his face, and laughed again. “I sound like some sort of lovesick teenager, don’t I?”

“Just a tad.” She joked, leaning back in her chair. It was silent for a few moments, before she offered up the only piece of advice she had. “You know, you could just start out simple. Ask her if she wants to get a cup of coffee. See where it goes. Don’t... you know... buy her flowers or candy or offer up some big proposal or anything.”

He nodded, and she could tell that he seemed somewhat relieved. “I can do that, I guess.”

They worked quietly for another few minutes or so before Greg began to pack up his stuff, sliding a handful of photos into a manila folder. “I’m gonna head out. Shift ended half an hour ago.”

Sara glanced at the clock, her eyes growing wide. “Yeah... guess it did. Well, I’ll see you later.”

Greg slung his bag over his shoulder, file in hand, and headed for the door. He reached the threshold and turned around, and saw her cleaning up the map and credit card receipts she was working on.

“Hey Sara?”

She didn’t turn around, as she clipped the receipts together and began to file away her paperwork into an accordion-style folder. “Yeah?”

Greg rested his hand on the doorframe, and his stomach twisted into knots. “You wanna get a cup of coffee?”