Sorry for the wait. But this Chapter is worth it. It's my favorite so far. I hope you like. I think only about 5 people are reading this. I guess that's ok. But if you like it, tell your friends. Maybe they will like it to. R&R

Nick watched intently as Ryan paced back and forth making phone call after phone call. Making plans to attend her fathers funeral. She would slam her phone closed then take a swig of tequila, and do it all over again. It was thirty minutes before she was finished.

"My plane leaves tomorrow morning" She sighed. "Grissom gave me a week off"

"Do you think that's enough time?"

"I will be okay. I need my work. It keeps my mind busy." She sounded tired. She sounded drained. For all of her strength, she was not without knowledge for the pain she was presently experiencing.

She had no apprehension in declaring her sorrow in front of Nick. But to him it made her seem stronger. In the past couple of days his admiration for her had grown strong. He was convinced that she was the perfect woman. In his eyes she was the epitome of everything he had searched for his entire life. All of the on-screen woman he had idolized growing up did not compare to Ryan Stanton. All of these thoughts flooded his mind as he watched her on the phone. Although he was very drunk, he would not admit it to her. But he felt very strongly about her.

"Are you gonna be okay?" he sympathized.

"Yeah" she said as she stumbled her way over to the couch. The Alcohol obviously making it's way into her system. She slammed down on the couch. Nick sat beside her.

"What was he like?" He inquired

"You would have like him, he was fun, passionate about his religion. He went to college for theology." She put her head down. " He loved his family...us. And we loved him very much too. I think he would have like you Nick."

Nick had a confused look on his face.

"Would you like to see what he looked like?" She said as she pulled her wallet out of her purse.

Nick leaned towards her to see a man at the Santa Monica pier with his arms out like Jesus. On each of his arms sat 2 large colorful parrots. And one parrot on top of his head. He was smiling broadly and clinging to his leg was a small brunette girl.

"Is that you?" Nick asked

"Yeah. I was afraid of the parrot man. But my dad took this picture to show me that the parrots weren't gonna hurt me."

Nick put his arm around Ryan. More confident as the effects of being inebriated. She leaned in.

"I wonder what my mother is gonna do?"

"She will be alright, if she is anything like you then she is strong, and she will get through this just like you will. And you can call me for anything"

"Thank you Nick."

Suddenly His doorbell rang.

"What the hell? What time is it?" He said as he stood up and walked to the front door. Ryan followed. He looked through the peephole.

"Oh god no" he laughed a little.

"What? Who is it?" Ryan was smiling curiously

"My old best friend and my old girlfriend. It wasn't really serious between us but then she cheated on me for my best friend. They are always smoking weed and they come over here so high when they don't have any food" Ryan laughed.

"Well lets feed them" she commanded.

"Are you sure your up for some company?"

"Yes im fine." She lied. She wasn't really fine. But she didn't want to ruin Nick's early night off because of her. And she surely didn't want to talk about her father anymore.

They could here them outside the door.

"Nick let us in man, I know your home, I saw your light on." a mans voice yelled.

Nick shook his head as he opened the door. Before he could ever say anything a skinny blonde woman barged in. Stumbling across the floor heading straight for the fridge. She didn't notice Ryan or she didn't acknowledge her. Her dress which was obviously too large for her small frame, was falling off of her as it barely hung on her bony shoulders. Her bleach blonder hair was greasy and her makeup was pilled on thick. The man didn't look any better. His short greasy hair framed a slightly chubby face. His clothes were nice but he reeked of B.O.

"Matthew, Carol, this is my friend Ryan. We work together at the lab." Nick introduced them.

Matthew stuck his hand out to shake Ryan's. He gave her a genuine smile and she immediately liked him. She knew he was an honest man. Carol on the other hand swung her head around as soon as she heard a woman's voice. She stumbled back to the living room looking Ryan up and down. Ryan took a step forward and put her hand forward to shake. Carol didn't return the shake, instead she looked Ryan over once more and smirked. Turning towards Nick she finally spoke.

"Nick who is this?" She slurred.

"A friend from work" He repeated looking at Matthew. Matthew apologized softly to Nick.

"I can tell...She does look like a working girl" Carol remarked making her way back to the fridge to grab a beer. Ryan looked confused as she shot a glance at Nick.

"So how are you guys doing?" Nick asked trying to change the subject.

"Ah well I got my job back" Matthew said "Carol still isn't working" He continued indiscreetly upset at Carol.

"Shut up Matthew! Women aren't supposed to work" She glared at Ryan "Unless they don't have men to take care of them"

Ryan was getting pissed. She had quickly picked up on the animosity that Carol had towards her. What was her problem? It's not like she was dating Nick anymore, and even if she was, it's not like Nick and Ryan had a thing for each other. 'Had they?' she thought thinking back to them sitting on the couch, when he had leaned in close to her and put his hand behind her head. That was until her phone rang, then everything had fallen apart. Ryan suddenly realized that she was sick to her stomach. The pain must have registered on her face, for Nick immediately picked up on it. He sent her a look across the room, not wanting to interrupt Matthew talking about work. She grabbed at her stomach and dizzily became unbalanced. She giggled to herself. Before she knew it Nick was by her side helping her to the bathroom.

"Well that hit you fast didn't it?" he said to her, Noticing how fast the tequila had hit her. One moment she was fine the next she was totally wasted. Nick helped her to the bathroom and sat her on the toilet.

"Are you okay" He asked softly, leaning down to her level.

"M'drunk" She slurred.

"I know" he laughed "Me too" they both started laughing hysterically.

"She is threatened by me, you know?"

"Yeah she gets like that. I don't know why they come over here. We hardly ever talk anymore."

"I thing she still has a thing for you" Ryan said as she started to fall off of the toilet, unconsciously putting a hand on Nick's shoulder for support.

"Yeah...that's too bad for her" He said as her wrapped his hand around hers on his shoulder "Because I have a thing for someone else" 'What am I saying?' he thought.

She smiled, and he smiled back. But the smiles faded as Ryan suddenly jumped into Nick's lap in front of the toilet. She spun around and lurched hard into the toilet. Nick didn't know what was happened until she threw her head into the toilet. He unconsciously rubbed her back and held her up for support as she emptied the contents of her stomach into the porcelain bowl.

"You poor thing" He whispered to her as she layed her head on the side of the bowl, moaning incoherently.

"I will get you some water" He stood up and walked out.

Ryan head was spinning. 'Why did I drink so much? Im so embarrassed. Oh god I don't feel good.' The room spun as she tried to stand. Slowly making her way over to the sink to rinse out her mouth. She didn't hear Carol approach as she leaned on the doorway.

"Are you and Nick seeing each other?" She smirked

"Wow, you don't beat around the bush do you?" Ryan said not taking the time to look up from the sink.

"Because I plan on getting back together with him" Carol crossed her arms and was leaning close to Ryan.

"Oh really" Ryan leaned up and looked Carol in the eyes "What about Matthew?"

"He is temporary, that loser can't even keep a job."

"He seems like a great guy. Maybe you should give him a chance"

"You just stay away from Nick, He is in love with me and I love him" Carol was whispering to Ryan, though very loudly.

"You don't have to worry Carol, we just work together" Ryan said as she came to the realization that nothing would ever happen between her and Nick. 'Why did I come here? What did I expect was gonna happen? What would a guy like Nick ever see in a woman like me? I have to get out of here. I want to see my dad! I have to ger out of here!!' "I have to go!" Ryan pushed her way passed Carol who smiled triumphantly as Ryan ran down the hall. She ran into Nick was dropped the cup of water.

"Ryan what's wrong?"

"I have to go" She looked around trying not to look at him.

"What? You can't leave...you..." He didn't finish his sentence before she was running towards the door. She grabbed her things and shut the door behind her. Nick went after her but not before turning to Carol. "Carol get out of my house!" He tuned towards Matthew as he headed towards the door after Ryan. "Im sorry Matt, this isn't a good time"

"It's okay man. Im sorry about Carol. I wont be bringing her around anymore"

"Thank you" Nick said as he headed out the door.

Ryan sobbed as she stumbled her way out of Nick's house and down the sidewalk towards her car. She stopped in front of it only to fish her keys out of her purse. She was dizzy and very drunk as she fumbled around her bag and dropped it. Frustrated she emptied it out onto the ground and threw it's contents around wildly searching for her keys.

"Shit!" She screamed "Why! Why did this have to happen?" She spoke to no one in particular. She fell to the ground and sobbed even harder, leaning against the tire of her car. Nick stood several feet away watching Ryan. He didn't know what to do. He had seen her empty her purse on the ground in defeat. He had heard her cursing and pleading to know why her father had been taken from her. Nick wanted nothing more than for her to be home safe, where she could mourn properly and be alone with her thoughts. But she was in no position to be driving and neither was he. He would kill himself if he let her drive home and something happened to her.

Carol had obviously said something to upset her and he had a good idea of what it was. He and Carol did not date for long. She was possessive and extremely jealous. He had even blamed him for having a thing with Sara. Even when he had explained to her that Sara was in love with Grissom. He had ended it between them and afterwards she would constantly call when she learned he had a new girl in his life. He could easily guess what Carol had said to Ryan.

He approached her slowly and sat beside her. Speaking softly as if she were a child.

"Ryan...Ryan honey, you have to come inside. You cant be driving around right now" his words were soft. He didn't want to upset her any more than she already was.

"I know" She whispered. She crawled over to her things and slowly put them back in her purse. They stood and before they headed back into the house she stopped Nick with a question.

"Nick...why did you invite me over tonight?"

He thought for a while, unsure as what to say.

"We had a lot of fun at dinner...I guess I thought it would be fun to hang out again. I...im sorry, I didn't know Matt and Carol would show up."

Ryan was angry, That was not the answer she wanted to hear. Her face grew red.

"Well then why didn't you just invite Warrick or Greg?!?!" She was yelling

Nick looked confused. "I don't understand, I thought you would want to hang out!"

"Hang out? Hang out?! Is that all you wanted? Because I thought you wanted a quick fuck and you'd be done with me!" She screamed but immediately regretted what she had said. Although she was unsure as to Nick's motives to inviting her over, she did believe he was a genuine guy. And she liked him a lot.

"Is that what you think?" He screamed

"Maybe!"

"Well if that's what you thought then why'd YOU come over?!"

Ryan was furious. She turned on her heels and started off in the opposite direction at a fast pace, unsure as to where she was going as long as it was away from Nick. 'How could he think that? I've been sending him signals since day one and he hasn't shown an interest in me until just a few weeks ago!'

She felt an hand on her arm and she spun around to face Nick.

"Ryan im sorry. I didn't mean that" He put his head down in shame. "I thought it was clear why I wanted you over. Im sorry if I didn't clarify."

Ryan was still annoyed.

"What do you want from me Nick? Im no good with one night stands!" She yelled

He grabbed both her upper arms shaking her in desperation for her to understand.

"How could you think that is all I want from you?! Haven't I made my actions clear?!" He screamed back.

"No!"

He pulled her close and smashed his lips against hers. His kiss was fierce, as if all of his month's of wanting had been pushed to the edge as he succumbed all of his want for her in one breathtaking kiss. Ryan was stunned, he certainly had made himself clear. And in a way she had known all along. This was right. It felt right.

He released her. They were both breathing heavily. He pulled her close again and placed small passionate kisses along her neck down to her shoulder, she bent her head back letting him have his way.

"Is this clear enough?" He said between kisses "Do you understand now?"

"Yes" She moaned breathlessly.

Nick scooped Ryan up in his arms and headed back to his house. 'Yes' was all he needed to hear. Once inside he made sure Matt and Carol had left before he set her down on the couch. He stood back waiting for her to make the next move. She grab the collar of his shirt and viciously pulled him closer, crushing their lips together once more. It was passionate and full of want as their tounge's explore each others. Nick fought the urge to rip all of Ryan's clothes off. They both stood quickly and Ryan grabbed Nick's shirt and lifted it above his head. As soon as it was off they were kissing again. Her hands rubbed every part of his back as he undid the buttons of her blouse, exposing the top of her breasts. He had 2 buttons left when he stopped.

"Ryan"

"What's wrong?" She subconsciously crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can't...can't do this to you" He pulled back and released her as his arms fell to his sides.

"Do what?" she was confused and she felt as if she was about to be rejected.

"Your drunk, im drunk, your father just died. Your vulnerable right now and I don't want to take advantage of you!"

"Nick I need this right now. I need you"

She reached for him and leaned up to kiss him. He didn't reject her. This kiss, unlike the last ones, was softer and gentle, full of warmth. She finished undoing the buttons of her shirt. Nick picked her up in his arms again and carried her to the bedroom. He laid her softly on the bed. And took off his pants. He then preceded to do the same to her. He slid her pants off and laid next to her. He kissed her again. Rubbing her side and slowly down to her ass. She moaned softly, pushing her hips into his. She could feel his erection, and became confident that he felt the same about her, as she did for him. At least right now. He slid his hand up her back and undid the clasp of her bra, exposing her beautiful breasts. His need grew for her then. He wanted her so badly. He slid his middle finger down her hip until it went under the string of her thong and he slowly slid it down.

The rest of the night was a blur of sweat and skin and beautiful sex that neither of them would ever forget. It ended with love as they held each other until both were asleep. Ryan woke once in the night and leaned over the bed to cry. She tried not to wake Nick but was glad when she felt an arm fold around her bringing her back into bed to cry in the safety of his arms.

R&R please