I watched as Catherine and Warrick climbed into the ambulance each grabbing any part of him that they could, careful of all of his wounds. We stood rooted to the spot the silence was broken when Grissom said something to Ecklie.

I looked back down to the hole in the ground then to the ambulance that was pulling away. I felt someone grip my hand I turned my head to find Greg looking at me. I squeezed his hand softly as a tear fell down my cheek.

A few minutes later and I am climbing into Warrick's tahoe I told him I'd take it to the hospital for him. Everybody had gone now and I was on my own. I lifted my hand and wiped away the tears as they fell.

When I made it to the hospital I parked the tahoe and made my way up to the entrance I found the floor I was looking for and walked aimlessly down the corridor. I heard a familiar voice saying that he was going to be okay but the bites would sting for a while.

I round the corner and find Grissom, Greg, Warrick and Catherine. I sit next to Greg who takes my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze, I look up at him and give him a grateful smile.

About two hours later we were allowed to go into the room to see him his parents had left and gone to their hotel, Grissom Greg and I had to wait while Catherine and Warrick went in first. It was about an hour later when we were able to see him.

He was pale, his face tensed, all of the flesh you could see was covered in ant bites red and aggravating. I wanted to go over and take all his pain away but for now all I could do was watch as he slept.

As the door closed behind Greg Nick's eyes opened his face his hands curled up into balls, until he saw who it was and relaxed.

Grissom was the first to his side reassuring him that he was going to be okay, Greg just stood and nodded agreeing with everything that Grissom was saying, all the time my eyes were glued on his face.

The nurse came back in about half an hour later and told us we needed to go Nick needed his rest. Greg was the first to leave followed by Grissom as I turned to leave I heard him for the first time since I had been in the room.

"Sara" he whispered

I turned to face him

"Don't leave me" he whispered again. "I don't want to be alone"

I walk up to the side of the bed an grab his shaking hand. I sit next to him on the bed.

"I'm glad your okay Nick, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you. And I know we don't see allot of each other right now but I promise I'm gonna make sure I see you everyday" what I say I mean I never want to feel like I've lost him again.

Nick just nodded along with what I was saying, I knew he was too tired to take anything in so after a while I just stopped talking and watched him sleep.

I was woken up when Nick moved in his sleep, when I opened my eyes he was looking at me.

"Thanks for staying with me" he said as I took his hand again.

"No problems, I'd do it for any of my friends" Nick smiled at my statement

I was about to speak again when the nurse came back in and started doing a few tests on Nick, after a few minutes she spoke.

"As long as you get some rest Mr Stokes you can go home later today" he smiled I knew he wanted to get home and rest

"T- thanks" he stammered, after the nurse left I turned to see tears rolling down his face

"Nick?" I questioned

He shook his head and let out a small sob, I squeezed his hand harder, and his head turned away from me.

I let go of his hand and reached around to wipe his tears away and pulled his head to face me, his eyes closed tightly.

"Hey you look at me" I say softly, his eyes open and he looks deep into my eyes.

"I'm sorry I just… I dunno I just kinda lost it"

"No need to explain to me" I squeeze his hand

Later that after noon when I return the hospital Nick's parents are sat with him again, I watch through the door not wanting to intrude on the family. Nick's eyes wonder around and meet mine, a weak smile plays at his lips and his mother turns to see me stood watching.

"Mom, Dad this is Sara" Nick's whispers hoarsely

"We've met briefly Mr Grissom introduced us" Nick's mom says turning her attention back to her son. She whispers something that only he can hear that makes him smile even more, then he looks back at me and waves for me to come and sit next to him.

I do smiling at Mr Stokes as I pass him, Nick grabs my hand when I am close, Mrs Stokes just watches us together.

"Well Poncho I think it's about time we leave but we'll stop by your place tomorrow" his dad says leaning down and giving him a hug

"Dad did you have to call me that?" Nick whines

"Yes I did" we all laugh even Nick smiles at the comment

"Bye Sara" Mrs Stokes says

"Bye" I watch as they leave the room and close the door. Nick squeezes my hand and I turn to look at him

"Glad your back" he said softly

"Yeah me too I came to drive you home"

"Thanks!" he whispered

"What for?" I ask

"Grissom came by earlier and told me that it was you who found out where I was"

"Well it was a joint effort we all had ideas then I remembered something about Kelly Gordon and then I knew where you were"

"Still thanks I owe you my life"

"No you don't Nick I'm just glad your still with us"

"yeah me too"

We fall silent for a while, the nurse comes in with a small bottle of pills and a tube of cream.

"Right Mr Stokes you can go home now, we've got all your release forms signed and you need to use these until the bites go down but other than that your fine to go."

I left the room while Nick changed he called me back in when he was finished, I grabbed his medicines and his hand as he unsteadily walked down the halls. When we got to my car Nick hopped into the passengers side and did up his seat belt.

When we arrived at Nick's I helped him into his house and sat him down on the couch.

"you need anything… Poncho?"

"No I think I'm okay, I think I'm probably just gonna go to bed and try to sleep"

"okay well I'll leave you alone then" I say heading towards the door

"can u stay for a while I mean I'm gonna need somebody to help me rub the cream on my bites but I'm gonna take a shower first"

"Sure I'll stay"

"well I guess I'll go for a shower now then make yourself at home"

"call if u need any help" I say jokingly

"I will don't worry" he walks down the hall laughing

Half an hour later Nick comes out of his bedroom wearing only a pair of basketball shorts.

"C'mere then cowboy" I grab the tube of cream as Nick makes his way to the couch. "Sit infront of me facing the TV" I instruct him and he sits in between my legs.

I take the lid off of the cream I squeeze the tube until there is a small amount of cream on my finger. I find a really big red bite and gently run my finger over it making sure it is covered in the healing cream.

I can feel Nick tensing every time my finger runs over a bite, I'm going as gently as I can not wanting to hurt him anymore than he has already been hurt. When I'm finished with his back I ask him to turn to face me.

Once he turns he pulls away so that I can see all of the red bites on his torso and neck. Again I gently press my finger against each bite, this time I can see the pain flickering across his face, a tear runs down his cheek. I wipe it away and he smiles at me.

"can you stay with me Sar? I don't think I can be on my own tonight"

"Of course I'll stay, I'll be here as long as you need me Nicky"

"thanks" he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around my waist

I knew it was going to happen eventually as his arms were around my body sobs wracked his body all I could do was wrap my arms around him and gently calm him down.

"shhh… Nicky come on your safe now we've got you nothing going to happen to you again I've got you." after a few minutes Nick's sobs died down, he stayed resting in my arms I wasn't going to push him away when he needed me.

Eventually he pulled back and wiped his eyes he smiled sheepishly at me before turning his eyes away from me.

"You okay now?" I ask reaching for his shoulder

"Yeah I just needed to get that out of my system"

"you want me to carry on with these bites?"

"Yeah"

I carry on from where I left gently rubbing the white cream on the bites. When finish all the ones I can see I ask him.

"is that it or are there more?"

"there are more but I think I'll do those ones" he said chuckling slightly

My look of confusion must have made him elaborate

"uhh they got to my private area"

"Ohh okay well I'm gonna let you do that I'll just stop by my place and grab a couple of things"

"okay don't be too long"

"I wont"

I hand him the tube of cream and stand up helping Nick up, I turn to leave but Nick grabs my arm and spins me to face him.

He's about to speak when there is a knock at the door.

"can you get that?"

"Sure" I walk towards the door as he sits down on the couch.

"Hey girl"

"Hey Rick, Nick's on the couch"

"Where you off to?"

"I'm gonna head home and grab a couple of things"

"you staying here?"

"Yeah Nick needs someone to help him rub cream on his bites and things so I'm gonna crash here for a few days"

"see you in a bit then?"

"Yeah I'll be back in less then an hour"

"cool bye"

"Bye"

An hour later I pull up at Nick's house to find Warrick's tahoe still satin the driveway. No surprise there, I grab my bag and walk to the front door. I knock and wait for an answer Warrick opens the door and grabs my bag.

"I'll take this into the spare room for you" he offers

"thanks Rick"

I walk into the living room and see Nick sat on the couch still only wearing his shorts, staring blankly at the TV.

"Nicky?"

"Hey your back?"

"I told you I would be"

"Thanks, for staying"

I turn my attention to Warrick who is walking back into the room.

"Sorry Nick I wish I could stay longer but I've got work to do"

"Tell Grissom I wont be on for a few days I'm looking after Nicky"

"I will"

I walked Warrick to his car

"How is he Sar?"

"I don't know he just doesn't want to be alone"

"Look after him"

"I will bye"

"C'ya"

I walk back into the living room and sit down next to Nick. I reach over and rest my hand on his knee

"How you doing?"

"I'm tired but I don't wanna go to bed"

"Why not?"

"Dark" he simply states

"You want me to find a light to put on?"

"Yeah"

I walk around the house until I find a small light that I can sit next to him on the bedside table.

"Come on Nick go to sleep" I help him up from the couch and into his bedroom. Once he is settled I turn the light on

"Call me if you need me" I tell him. He just nods and curls up into a ball, he reminds me of a small child all he needs is his woobie.

I walk out of the room and into the spare bedroom. The bed is all set out I change into my pyjamas and lie down on the bed. A little while later a can hear a strange noise coming from down the hall.

I get out of bed and slowly walk to Nick's bedroom I open the door and fins him sat up in bed wiping his eyes and shaking.

Slowly I walk over to him and rest my hand on his shoulder, he looks up at me sheepishly.

"I'm sorry I woke you"

"No I told you if you needed anything to call me."

"I just cant do it"

"do what?"

"Sleep all I dream of is being locked in the box"

I sit next to him and wrap my arms around his shoulders. He turns to face me pulling my arms away from him.

"I… can you stay with me in here tonight?… please"

"Of course I will, I'll be here whenever you need me to."

Nick led down on his bed and I took my place next to him, reaching over and holding his hand. He turned to face me and smiled weakly.

I watched as Nick closed his eyes slowly drifting into an uncomfortable slumber.

I suddenly woke In the morning felling trapped, I turned my head slightly to see that in the night we must have shifted as now I was led on my side with my back to Nick and his was around my body holding me him tightly, our legs tangled together.

I try to move away without waking Nick but it's impossible he's holding me to tight.

"Nick… Nick" I whisper

"Argh… Sar?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh god sorry"

Nick pulls his arm away and rolls over freeing me from his death grip.

"What time is it?" he asks

"Uh… ten thirty, how did you sleep?"

"Good thanks… I uhh… didn't mean to sleep like that"

"It's okay you were keeping me warm"

"I still didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable that's the last thing I'd wanna do." he says honestly

"Yeah I know"

I can feel him sitting up in bed and I do the same sitting next to him.

"How are your bites?"

"Sore"

"You want me to rub some more cream on them?"

"Yeah please, the creams In my bathroom."

I got up from the bed and walk into Nick's bathroom, after a few minutes of searching I found what I was looking for and walked back into Nick's bedroom.

"Right we could do this one of two ways, I could do it in a massage sort of way where you lie on your stomach, or we could do it how we did it yesterday?" I say as I walk through the door

"oh massage please"

"Right then remove your shirt and lie on your stomach"

Nick does as I said to and carefully lies down. I sit over his legs and start to rub the cream onto the bites, as I am doing this goose bumps start to show on Nick's skin. I gently place a hand on his shoulder

"You okay?"

"Yeah it tickles" he replies with a slight laugh

"I've done all of the ones on your back if you wanna turn round"

"uhh this is gonna sound worse than I want it to. But uhh could you get the ones on my ass?"

"Sure"

Nick lifts his hips nearly causing me to fall off his legs. I grab the hem of the shorts he is wearing and pull them down so that his ass is now bare. I place a little more cream on my fingers, I gently apply the cream to the few bites he has on his… gorgeous ass.

"I gotta say Stokes you've got a pretty fine ass" he laughs at my statement

"thanks but it's not fair to bare judgement on yours till I've seen it bare"

"maybe I'll show you one day"

"Don't tease me Sidle"

"but it's fun"

Nick chuckled and led still as Sar finished off rubbing the cream on to his bites. When Sara had finished she lifted his shorts back up and rolled of him onto his side.

"Thanks Sar"

"No problems, I' d do it for you anytime"

"I really appreciate it"

"I know you do now turn over and I'll get the ones on your front"

I lift off as Nick turns over I take my place sitting on his thighs. I rub a little bit of cream into each bite, the last ones are on his face.

"there you go all finished" I say replacing the cap onto the cream

"I'm glad you're here" he whispers and I barely hear him

"me to" I reply

"I need to tell you something"

I sit next to him to allow him to sit up and face me

"What is it?"

Nick reaches over to me and takes my hand in his.

"when… I was… buried… it made me think about my life… my family friends, work everything… and everything I was missing from life… my own family a wife, kids a dog, everything I want in my life that I haven't got… what I'm trying to say Sara is that…I want you in my life… not as a friend as my wife mother to our children… I know it's going to be difficult for you… what am I saying I know it's going to be difficult for both of us to change but… I need you… now and forever… will you?"

I stayed silent looking Nick deep in the eyes, I could see the unshed tears resting on his eyelids, I pulled his arms around my body and nestled my face into the crook of his neck sobbing away. I could feel his sobs running through his body.

"of course I will Nick I love you"

"I love you to Sara"

Nick pulled away from me and kissed me gently sealing our love for each other.