Disclaimer: Not mine.

A/N: I have been thinking about this idea way too long and I just had to get it out of my system. I have no idea how to write it differently, so this will have to do. I have a darker version, but I feel that one is just too much.

Pairing: Nick/Sara friendship

Falling and catching

Five minutes and 23 seconds from the moment the train passed the stop sign to the spot he was standing, but only 5 minutes and 15 seconds left to decide what to do. Thirty minutes in between trains, giving him more time to make up his mind.

Five bridges he could either jump off or drive his car off.

Nine bullets to work up the courage.

Forty nine cigarettes burning his skin. Fifteen burns in an advanced state of healing, thirty-four still more or less fresh.

Four pairs of eyes filled with pity. One pair avoiding him entirely.

Finding the person who those eyes belonged to on the rooftop of the building was an unwelcome surprise.

Because, ten times wanting to force her to look at him and he wasn't too sure that he would be able to suppress his urges when he was alone with her.

"You've got a cigarette?"

Leaving a safe distance between them.

"You don't smoke." Pulling out a half filled package. Ironically, the brand he had been using, using not smoking.

"Neither do you."

"Safety package."

"Safety from what?"

"Life in general."

Reaching out to grab the cigarette she was holding. Touching her soft skin was making him want more. The sleeve of his shirt fell back a little exposing the wounds. He didn't care if she would see them, but she wouldn't anyway as she was still focusing on something far away or close by in her own mind.

He was wrong.

Soft fingertips tracing the burns.

Looking up into his eyes now. No pity, no anger, no judgment, just a sense of sadness radiating from those eyes. It should be forbidden to have such eyes in the state of Nevada or anywhere else for that matter.

"Nick."

She said his name with such emotion. He just couldn't deal with it. Brushing away her hand, he tried to walk away.

"Don't."

"Don't what, Sara?" Suddenly, he was very tired. He had lost the feeling of feeling tired. He had been feeling like he was on an adrenaline high the last couple of weeks.

"Don't avoid me, don't walk away?" He watched as she turned her face away from him once again.

"Stop it." The force behind her words made him stop for a second.

"Come with me." He whispered those words and wondered if she'd heard him.

Without hesitation she stepped towards him and he showed her the train tracks, the bottles of alcohol, the cigarette burns, his spare gun and all five bridges.

And never she turned away her eyes, like she had done before. She faced all his horrors quietly and then she showed him the way she had walked before. The path leading away from self-destruction she had come to know so well.

She showed him friendship, unconditionally.

FIN