Sara woke up and stretched. She looked at her clock and realized that her date with Nick was in just under 2 hours. Last night, he had finally gotten up all his courage and asked her out to dinner. With some help from Catherine, she had gotten the perfect dress and with some help from her straightener, her hair looked perfect. But, with all of her excitement, she was completely ready with an hour and a half still until the date.

She was perfectly fine with sitting around and watching some TV to kill time though. Until about 15 minutes before Nick was supposed to come and pick her up. Then the nerves started setting in, about everything. Her dress, her hair, oh gosh, she didn't know what to do if he tried to kiss her. After a well deserved minute of panic she got up and grabbed Mr. Cuddles from off her bed.

Her furry stuffed dog was a bit ragged, but it had served her well over the years. It was almost 30 years old, if not even older. It was white with brown patches and a big red bow tied around its neck. It was like her security blanket, but a bit more embarrassing. She hugged her old friend and calmed down. Just as she had calmed her stomach, the doorbell rang and she jumped up, suddenly nervous again. She put Mr. Cuddles down on the couch and walked over to open the door. She saw Nick standing there awkwardly and let him in.

"Hey. How are you?" Nick looked amazing in his black dress pants, and a dark maroon dress shirt. He wore no tie, his smile being the only accessory he wore and it suited him perfectly.

"Oh, I'm very good." She replied confidently. She smiled, thankful that her nerves were gone. "You look really nice Nicky. You clean up well."

"Thanks." He looked her up and down and Sara blushed under his gaze. "You look gorgeous." There was a bit of an awkward pause until he moved his hand from behind his back and thrust something at her. "I brought you flowers."

The smile on her face widened when she saw that they were lilies, her favorite. "Thank you. I'm going to go put these in water, make yourself at home."

She walked towards the kitchen and tried to remember if she even had a vase. Nick on the other hand sat on the very edge of her couch, carefully looking around at her home. It was very Sara, the walls were a light brown, a bookshelf took up the majority of one wall, and a few paintings hung across the others. Satisfied, he sat back on the couch, and leaned right onto something. He turned around and grabbed whatever it was. He smiled when he saw the stuffed dog, it was a little ragged, but that just meant it was well loved. He was holding it when Sara walked back into the room with a vase full of flowers.

"Oh gosh. That's um, that's my dog. His name is Mr. Cuddles."

"He's very cute." Nick responded with a genuine smile.

Sara blushed, but still smiled and walked over to him. She kneeled down and put her hands on his knees. "If you tell anyone that I still have a stuffed dog, I'll kill you."

He nodded and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "If it helps, I still have a crocheted baby blanket that my grandma made me."

"Thank you." Sara smiled at him. She lightly tapped her knees before removing her hands and standing up. "Are you ready to go?"

Nick smiled. "I found the perfect place for us."

They walked into a small Italian restaurant that Nick swore made spaghetti better than anywhere he'd ever been. They were quickly seated by a young girl who looked to be about 15, in a booth secluded towards the back of the restaurant.

"So, do you have any idea what you're going to get?" Nick hadn't even looked at his menu, he already knew exactly what he wanted, he got it every time he went here.

"Well, what are you getting?"

"I'm getting the spaghetti, it comes with garlic bread too, but we get mints at the end, so you don't have to worry about bad breath when you kiss me later." He puckered his lips and made the two made pretend kissy faces for a few minutes before a waiter came over to take their orders. Sara thought it was really nice to be joking and flirting with Nick like normal.

After almost an hour at dinner, Nick stood up and helped Sara into her jacket and walked her out to the car. He held her door and then made sure that she had her seatbelt on. With any other guy, Sara would have felt smothered or thought he was overprotective but with Nick, she couldn't quite figure it out, but he made her feel safe.

When they got out of his car, Nick walked her to the door and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Sara knew she wasn't ready for anything to go farther but she decided she was going to invite him in to watch a movie before work. Everyone would want to know about the date anyway, so if she should up alone, she'd have to tell them alone, at least if she arrived with Nick, they could do it together.

"Do you want to stay and watch a movie or something?"

For a second he looked totally flustered before he could even respond. He looked down then back out to his car. "Actually, I have to go and –"

"Really Nick?" She smirked at what he had been assuming. "Do I seem like someone who has sex on a first date? I said watch movie, and I really did just mean watch a movie. I wasn't trying to rope you into hot sex … "

He laughed and nodded. "I'm going to go grab my duffle bag from the truck though so that I can change. I'll be right back." He kissed her on the cheek and dashed down to his truck. Nick jogged to his truck and unlocked it, grabbing the black Adidas back from the passenger seat. He riffled through it and smiled when he saw that he had two pairs of jeans and a couple shirts in there. For a second he leaned up against his truck and smiled, he had just kissed Sara Sidle.

Sara, on the other hand, stood on her porch, her hand resting on her face where her cheek was still tingling.

"Wow." She sighed and walked inside leaving the door partially open so he could come back in when he was done.

Nick came in as she was putting popcorn in the microwave.

"I'm going to go put on something more comfortable than this." She gestured down to her dress. "You can use the bathroom if you want. It's just over there."

She put on a pair of sweat pants and a big t-shirt, and then she casually threw her hair up in a messy bun leaving it hanging loose. She walked back out into the living room and saw Nick in a pair of jeans and a blue and green stripped polo, which was probably what he was going to wear to work.

"I feel under dressed." She commented, looking at his attire.

"Oh, you look fabulous darling. Now sit down so we can watch this movie." He said putting air quotes around the watch a movie part, making Sara laugh and plop down next to him.

Sara rifled through her movie collection for a while, suggesting a horror movie, three or four action flicks and even a few Disney movies until she finally looked over at him with a glare. "You had better pick something, or I am putting in whatever movie I want and you're going to have to deal with it. And you know what; it's going to be a chick flick. So decide fast."

Nick rolled his eyes. "I already told you that I don't care what you put in. Just pick something and then come back and sit down. I'm sure whatever it is will be just fine."

Sara smirked at him and looked through her collection one more time to find the movie she was looking for. With a triumphant smile she grabbed it and put it in. She then moved to settle herself on the couch next to Nick. With a bigger smile, Nick wrapped his arm around Sara and she leaned in to his chest. Looking down on her, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. Without a second thought he moved his hand under her chin so that she was looking at him, and pressed his lips against hers. He felt her smile against his lips and her hands come to rest around his neck. He kissed her for just a moment longer and then pulled away, admiring the slight blush on her cheeks and watching as she opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Wow." She said, for the second time that night after Nick Stokes had kissed her.

"I agree." He added.

She smiled and adjusted her position so that she as now lying completely against Nick, her head resting on his chest and his arms wrapped around her fully, holding her to him tightly.

After the movie had been on about 20 minutes, Nick looked down at Sara with a pained expression on his face. "Sara, I know that I said whatever movie you picked would be good, and that I wouldn't care, but this is horrible. Please, can was watch something else, anything else?"

Sara looked up at Nick amused. "You mean you don't like it?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's a classic chick flick Sara. Steel Magnolias is my mother's favorite movie, second only to Titanic."

Her mouth fell open. "I'll have you know that this movie is amazing."

"That really doesn't make it any less of a chick flick." He added with a roll of his eyes.

"Fine. Do you want to go do something manly now?" She asked sarcastically, turning off the movie and then moving to face Nick.

"Actually Sara, something manly sounds pretty good right now."

She smiled at him and got up. She had gotten almost the entire way to her bedroom before she turned back towards the couch. "Well, come on. Don't you want to do something manly?"

He stood up and his eyes widened. "Uh, Sara, I don't really think that this is a good idea."

Sara's mouth fell open and she put her hands on her hips. "What is it with you and the sexual ideas tonight? You're going to be fixing my bedroom fan, we're still not having hot sex."

Feeling stupid, he chuckled and walked towards the bedroom. "What exactly is wrong with it?"

"It fell out of the ceiling." She deadpanned. Nick laughed and Sara just looked at him. "I'm not kidding. I have a new one in a box in here, because I don't think that it's going back up there."

After walking into her bedroom and checking out the fan that had fallen from Sara's ceiling he sighed. Slowly, Nick nodded. "I think a new fan would be the best idea."