As they sat there Sara did exactly what Nick had suggested; She started at the beginning. She told Nick all about her less than ideal childhood – the trips to the hospital, what her mother, father and brother were like.
She told him about the day that her mother had killed her father – the resulting placement in her first foster home and the many that would come after that.
She told him about what happened in the desert, how she'd managed to survive – what she'd felt and thought about while she was out there and that she was sure she wouldn't make it back.
And much to both their delight she told him about her relationship with Gil – how it had all started in San Francisco and again in Vegas, how they had finally become an "item" and about the "dear john" letter she'd left him when she'd run away a few months ago.
Though Nick had mostly remained silent while Sara was telling the story of her life he had the odd question here and there. He'd been surprised to find out she had a brother; he'd offered comfort when she was telling him about her escape from Natalie Davis; and he was glad to hear about her happiness with Grissom but mostly he just listened.
As Sara's stories lead from past events to the present and the stories came to an end both CSI's sat on the couch in silence for a moment before Sara's observation of Nick broke the quietness. "You still have a questions." She'd seen that look on his face before while working a case. It was the kind of look he got when he hadn't yet solved the puzzle but was only missing a few key peices.
"Yeah I do." He said, not sure if he should ask them.
"Shoot." Came Sara's honest reply.
"Have you ever talked about this before?"
"All of it, like this? No." she almost laughed. "Gil knows some, bits and pieces I guess. Brass too, he helped me get all the information in my file. Catherine has figured some out on her own I think but she's never said anything."
"And 'Rick and Greg?"
She shook her head no.
"Are you coming back?"
"To Vegas?" she asked to clarify. When he shook his head yes she continued. "I don't know. I want to, it's my home. You and the others are my family and Gil…" she trailed off not sure where she stood with him. Even though the two had been in constant contact since she'd left things were far from perfect. They'd talked, he'd understood why she left, he'd even forgiven her for leaving the way she did, but she knew she'd hurt him.
"He loves you, ya know." Sara looked at him completely taken off guard. How could he know that when he'd only found out about the two of them a few months ago.
"What?" Nick asked when he saw the look on his friends face. "Common Sar, give us a lil' credit will ya?" He laughed a little. "We are investigators. We've all known for a long time how the two of you felt about each other – we just didn't know you'd actually done anything about it."
"Oh." Sara said before the two shared a look and began to smile and laugh.
