Disclaimer: None of it’s mine… despite my best efforts.

Rating: G… PG. I said ‘erection’.

A/N: Thank you for the patience : D

Somewhere between the ridiculous time of morning and heavy dosage of Gravol, Sara was passed out in her rather stiff plane chair, drool lingering in the crease of her lips. Her head rested against the provided pillow that was propped up between her and the window, while her legs were moderately sprawled in a surprisingly comfortable manner. Chuckling softly at the adorable state of his coworker and newfound lover, Nick turned his attention back to the magazine in his lap, taking a healthy sip of his water. He knew that for the good portion of the trip, Sara would be exactly the same as she was right then: passed out and isolated. It made for a quiet trip though Nick was secretly rooting for a chance to become a member of the mile high club.

Nick was mindlessly flipping through the glossy pages, his eyes catching the odd word and the random face of a model sporting something ludicrously priced and shiny. It had been the third time he had ‘read’ the book; really he was merely providing his hands entertain since they couldn’t really be on Sara at the moment, given the whole public thing and her being utterly dead to the world. So, he read and noisily turned the pages while his thoughts wandered into dirty gutters because they were far more amusing and enthralling than who was in rehab that week or who got a nose job.

The prospect of having a sort of all inclusive hotel excited Nick since he had never traveled before without paying a dime for anything. Just when he had figured that there were absolutely no perks to being a CSI, he realized that there were. They were just few and far between.

Finally tired and frustrated with the tedious magazine, Nick tossed it aside and started looking through the little carry-on bag that Sara had insisted upon bringing. He found a little iPod and some girl stuff that was probably make-up, a bunch of snacks and a couple of books. Intrigued, he pulled out the two thick novels that had bright covers. Frowning to himself, he read the back of them, wondering what kind of books Sara enjoyed reading before she went to sleep at night. Both happened to be trashy romance novels and if he hadn’t known Sara very well, he never would have guessed that she would be a sucker for them. Deciding that one with the domineering lawyer and frivolous entrepreneur would be more scandalous given blatant unresolved sexual tension between them and distinctly different personality types, Nick returned the other book to the bag and settled in his seat for what he hoped would be a good, somewhat enticing read.

After the tenth page of what appeared to be the protagonist’s life story, Nick figured it was well past time to skip ahead and find the juicy parts. He was sure that everyone did this since he knew that the real reason why people read that kind of sap was for the sex, something he was dying to get. Apparently, so was the domineering lawyer; Nick sympathized immediately.

Rifling through the pages, searching for key words that would only be used in regards to the particular subject matter he was seeking, Nick began to feel a little foolish and embarrassed that he was bored enough to read one of his girlfriend’s seedy romance novels in a dire attempt to find some juicy material. He smiled triumphantly when he would the word ‘erection’ half way down a page but was rather disappointed when he discovered that the lawyer was merely expressing how he hadn’t been able to successfully use any of the ones he had been getting recently. Nick chuckled before continuing on with his search for the soft core porn that he started to think was nowhere to be found.

It didn’t surprise Nick that as soon as dinner was being handed out, Sara magically woke from the dead. Watching how she blinked her eyes several times to readjust to the light and when she stretched out the lethargy from her cramped limbs, Nick smiled at her cute mannerisms just as the flight attendant asked if he preferred the pasta primavera or the fish dinner. Neither sounded particularly appetizing but he ordered to of the pastas anyways, figuring he needed to eat.

“Were you reading my book?” questioned Sara, eyeing the novel that Nick had placed down on his fold down table.

“Trying to.”

“Was I snoring?” she asked, her eyes wide with embarrassment.

Shaking his head as he chortled softly, he replied, “No, I was just trying to find a certain part.”

“Oh. The sex?”

Her grin was catlike and mildly smug while he nodded, turning his head down to hide his flushed cheeks. Patting his arm softly, she shook her head.

“The other book is better.”

“What? I figured that with all the ‘unresolved sexual tension between two polar opposites’ would be rich with lust.”

“Nope. That’s all it is, Nicky: unresolved.”

“Pft, what a tease.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Kind of like you,” he quipped, raising his eyebrow at her.

“Excuse me?” she said, her voice rising in octave and her face clearly shocked. “I am not.”

“It was a joke, Sar. You would never be a tease.”

There was a pause in which she attempted to decipher his sentence, knowing there was a hidden meaning and definite insinuation immersed in it somewhere.

“Are you implying something, Nicky?”

“What could I by implying?” he asked, feigning naiveté and confusion.

“Oh, don’t give me that.”

Laughing, he returned his attention back to his dinner and finished it off while Sara ate hers, stabbing the noodles as she pouted about her lack of involvement in Nick’s joke.

“I hate you,” she said, after the attendant took away their garbage and leaving them drinks.

“You can’t hide your love for me, Sar. You’re not that good,” he winked.

“Apparently,” she replied with a tinge of sarcasm.

“Apparently what?”

“Apparently I’m not that good.”

“Hey now, I never said that,” he drawled, putting his hands up defensively. “I was just insinuating that you couldn’t tease me if you tried.”

“What makes you think that?”

Shrugging, he answered, “Just a lucky guess.”

“We’ll see, Nicky,” she said noncommittally, reaching down to grab the other book out of her back. Turning to him and looking him square in the eye, she said evenly with the straightest face she could muster, “Or you might not tonight.”

“Ouch,” he winced.

“You brought it upon yourself, Nicky.”

“Come on.”

“Shh, I’m trying to read my book. Maybe I’ll learn something from this Tracy girl since she’s a bit of a tease.”

“You don’t need to learn anything from a fictional character, Sar.”

“Well, you could from Hugo.”

“Hugo?” he asked, arching a brow at her.

“Yeah, it’s called multiple orgasms, Nicky,” she smiled, loving how she just kept outright insulting him.

“Now that one definitely stung.”

As much as Nick wasn’t enjoying the rapid fire insults that were flying from her mouth, he loved how they had maintained their teasing and playful nature despite now that they were now dating. He was glad because he was afraid that they would lose moments like this where Sara would shoot down his masculinity. However, given that she was sleeping with him it, it hurt more because she had evidence to possibly back up her verbal abuse.

“It was meant to.”

Smiling, she leaned over and gently pressed her lips against his in an unexpected and chaste kiss that somehow managed to send heat pooling in his legs. His hand cupped the side of her cheek before grasping the back of her neck to keep her in place against his mouth. Reluctantly, she pulled away, patting his cheek before she opened her book and once again, lost touch with the world.

It wasn’t much later when they were walking into the terminal and going through customs with the masses. It didn’t take as long as Nick had anticipated and when they were finished, outside waiting for them was a cab to take them to their hotel. It Was only seven thirty when they arrived at their hotel.

Smiling, Nick walked around the end of the car to open Sara’s door for her. She gratefully took the hand that he had offered and stepped out onto the busy street with cars quickly passing by. She wasn’t sure if she had ever missed San Francisco but as she consumed the city life that was so different there than in Las Vegas, Sara had an ache in her heart that she never knew was there.

“You okay?” Nick asked, watching her face that seemed to be mixed with excitement and sorrow.

“I just never realized how much I had missed it here.”

“It’s been a while?” he wondered, grasping her hand in his, intertwining their fingers.

She nodded for a response and then helped Nick unload their luggage from the trunk of the taxi.

Checking into the rather impressive hotel went smoothly, just like the elevator ride up to their new home for the next who knew how long. Sara ignored the view of the city behind her while Nick drooled on the glass. She had never been a fan of heights and as much as she wanted to turn around and see the beauty of the city, she wasn’t ready to face all of her fears, especially since most of them resonated somewhere behind her.

“Don’t like heights?” Nick asked once he turned his head to see her staring straight ahead at the stainless steel doors.

“You could say that.”

Nick’s hand found hers at her side and he squeezed it in an attempt to comfort her. He saw her out of the corner of his eye look down at their entwined fingers and smile softly before looking back at the elevator doors with a softer expression.