He ignored his headache and all the other aches and pains all over his body as he walked up the unfamiliar walkway to the large, dark red house in front of him. His shaking hands had retreated into the sleeves of his navy blue hoodie sweatshirt and were now stuffed inside the pockets of his faded blue jeans. It wasn't that cold of a day out, but the wind blew crisply, ruffling his dark hair slightly and sending a chill down his spine.
Nick came to a stop in front of the large oak door. He reluctantly drew his left hand from his pocket and knocked on the door. He felt his still injured right hand throbbing inside its confinement, and despite the fact that it was causing him a great deal of pain keeping it crammed in there, Nick neglected to do anything about it. He just added it to the long list of the other things he was currently ignoring, like the fact that he had no idea what he was doing or what he was going to say. He figured he would wing it, and worst comes to worst, he's right back where he had started from, just not in the hospital this time.
For an unknown reason, Nick finally pulled his right hand out of his pocket when Sam opened the door, surprised to see Nick standing in front of her. She kept her right hand on the knob on the inside of the door as if she were intending to slam it shut in his face at any moment. But she didn't. She just stood there, staring at him. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a red long sleeved sweater, her brown hair hanging down onto her shoulders and the back of her neck. Nick stared back at her, wishing now that he had planned on something to say on his way over here.
Sam finally broke the building tension. "How did you find out where I live?" She asked, but not as rudely as Nick had expected.
"I'm a CSI," he said with a shrug. "It's kinda my specialty."
Sam forced herself not to smile. "Why are you here?" Her voice was soft and sounded as if it were on the verge of breaking.
"I needed to see you and talk to you," Nick explained. "I didn't say what I should have at the hospital because you caught me off guard and I didn't know what else to do, so I didn't do anything."
Sam shook her head slightly. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize," she said as he started to close the door.
Nick's hand shot out and grabbed the door, opening it back up until he saw her face. Sam was looking down at his hand that was wrapped in a white bandage, but the cuts and stitches were still visible underneath. She flinched at the sight, knowing all too well that what he had done to his hand was because he had wanted to save her, but he didn't remember any of that. He didn't remember anything that had happened, and Sam would never be able to forget it.
"I want to," Nick said, still holding the door. When he saw Sam's hand fall from the knob, he dropped his back to his side. "I hate that I can't remember what happened, but what I do remember is being scared that Marshall was going to hurt you."
"He wanted to hurt you too," Sam said.
"I know, but I didn't care about that. I didn't care what he wanted to do to me as long as you were safe. Now, I may not remember what happened, but I remember that much and I still feel that way. It didn't go away just because I can't remember what happened in the warehouse."
Sam swallowed the lump that had started to form in her throat. "What feeling?"
"The one that I've had ever since I met you. I don't know how to explain it, but it's definitely a good thing. I was never scared for my own life throughout this whole Marshall thing, you were the only thing I was worried about."
"You're not making any sense."
Nick smiled. "I rarely do. But I don't care about that, and I don't care that Marshall tried to take over my life. I can't say that I wish that that never happened because that's not true. I'm glad it happened because I met you."
Tears started to build up in Sam's dark green eyes. "You don't know what you're saying, you obviously still have a headache from before."
"That's true, but I do know what I'm saying," Nick replied. "I know that this is going to sound crazy, but I haven't stopped thinking about you since the day I met you. I think I'm in love with you. And I know that you wouldn't still be standing there if you didn't feel the same way."
Sam stared at him blankly, appearing as if she were at a loss for words. "Okay, so what if I do? Where do you plan to go from here Nick?"
Nick didn't have a verbal answer for that, so he didn't give one. Instead, he resorted to stepping foward slightly and pressing his lips against Sam's softly, kissing her gently. She was surprised at this as well, but didn't pull away or even move at all for a couple seconds. When the initial shock wore off, she leaned closer to Nick, eventually giving in to the overwhelming feeling and wrapping her arms around his neck. Nick responded by putting his hands on her hips and pulling himself closer.
When they finally broke apart, Sam couldn't help but stare deeply into Nick's dark brown eyes. She had believed everthing he had said to her before, but now the impact of it all really sank in as she looked into his eyes. She shivered slightly at his soft touch against her cheek, but it was a good kind of shiver. The best kind.
Nick smiled again. "I'm definitely gonna remember that."
Brass sighed heavily as he sat down behind his desk. "Okay Nicky, let's just get this over with, okay?"
Nick nodded as he sat in front of Brass with Warrick, Catherine, Grissom, Greg, and Sam standing behind him against the back wall. Their only pupore there was to defend Nick if the sheriff or Ecklie decide to show up and try to heckle the Texan, but that hadn't happened yet. All Brass was interested in was getting something close to a statement from Nick and letting him go home to get better because he still looked a lot worse than anyone would like him to be.
"Tell me everything that you can remember. Wether it makes sense or is in order doesn't matter."
Nick nodded again. "Okay. All I can really remember is Marshall saying something about how he had won and that he kept asking me when I was going to give up. Then I heard a gun go off I saw Sam and Warrick. That's it."
Brass wrote that on a piece of paper, taking his time to prolong the moment he had to look back up at Nick, which he eventually had to. "Okay. Warrick and Sam filled in the blanks at the hospital, right?"
"Yeah," Nick answered. He read the look on Brass' face as if what he was thinking had been written there. "I know I killed Marshall."
Brass didn't seem surprised that Nick had read his mind. "Out of self-defense," he added.
Nick shrugged. "I guess so. I can't say I remember. All I know for sure is that I would have killed him if I had to, and I guess I did."
"He didn't do anything wrong," Warrick chimed in.
Brass smiled slightly. "No one's saying he did. I know he wouldn't have done anything if it hadn't been necessary. Grissom and I both backed him up on that against the sheriff earlier at the hospital."
"So what does this mean?" Nick asked.
"You're not being charged with the death of Dan Marshall or Mike Laring. We proved already that you were framed and that Marshall killed Laring, and that you can't be held responsible for Marshall's death. Marshall doesn't have family, so it's not probable that there'll be a civil suit against you or anything," Brass said.
Nick turned around and looked at Greg without realizing he had done so until the ex-labrat spoke up. "Hey man, just because I had a civil suit against me doesn't mean it can always be associated with me."
Nick smiled apologetically. "Sorry G."
Greg shrugged it off with a smile of his own. "I guess I would have had to repay the favor and defend you in court. Ya know, keep your ass outta jail for all of our sakes."
"It would sure keep him out of trouble though," Brass said thoughtfully.
"I bet he could still find a way to wreak havoc behind bars," Grissom said. "It would really only make him work harder."
"Hey, I don't do any of this on purpose. I don't call people up and ask them to stalk me. They do it on their own," Nick said defensively.
"But you never make the situaitons any easier," Catherine added. "You've been known to intice people all the time. You're the biggest smartass I've ever met and you never know when you shut your mouth."
"No, he does, he just chooses not to," Greg said.
"Thanks for all your support guys, I appreciate it. I love you all too," Nick said sarcastically.
"That's exactly what we're talking about smartass," Brass said with a small laugh. "You'd still be making sarcastic comments even if your jaw was wired shut."
"Well I learned from the best," Nick said, turning around to face Brass, but the police captian was now looking over Nick at the scene unfolding outside of the office.
Multiple cameras and reporters were trying to force their way into the police station, but were being stopped by a few cops and the secratary. Everyone else in the office followed Brass' gaze to outside of the office, where they were starting to get louder, almost to the point where everyone in Brass' office could hear what they were saying, but not quite yet. There was definitely a lot of noise, but none of it was very clear.
Nick turned back around in his seat and sighed heavily. "I wonder what they're here for."
Greg glanced over his shoulder quickly before meeting gazes with Warrick, who nodded silently in agreement with the younger man. "Alright Nicky, Sam, get ready to run."
Nick frowned in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Greggo and I will go out there and create a diversion. You and Sam can go out the side door and down the halls to the back. Your car is parked out there anyway," Warrick explained.
Nick started to grin a little. "What kind of diversion?"
Greg threw up his hands dramatically. "What the hell does it matter? I'll let him kick my ass if you want, I don't care. Leave that to us and just go will ya?"
Sam walked over to Nick and pushed him slightly forward, elicting him to stand from his chair. "Be quiet for once and just listen to instructions," she said, unable to hold back a smile.
Catherine laughed immediatly. "Amen."
Nick and Sam waited at the side door to Brass' office until Greg and Warrick went out the door leading to the main lobby, where they immedaitly started yelling at each other and anyone else that would pay any attention to them. Nick and Sam slipped out the side door, quickly walking down the hall and taking a right into the hall that lead them all the way to the back door to the parking lot where Nick's Denali was waiting for them.
"Are you sure you can drive?" Sam asked as they hopped into Nick's car.
"I'm fine," Nick reassured her. "I'm not taking any medicine so that won't affect me, and everything's pretty much healed by now anyway," he said as he started the car and put it into gear.
"Why aren't you taking your medication?" Sam asked.
"Because I hate it," Nick said simply.
"So you're not gonna take it and not get better just because you hate it?"
Nick looked at Sam quick, but abruptly looked away when he saw that she was smiling slightly at him. "I'm getting better without it, I don't need it. Most of the time it ends up making me worse than without it."
Sam scoffed. "I don't believe you. You're just being stubborn."
Nick looked back at her and smiled. "So what?"
She crossed her arms in defeat. "It's stupid," she mumbled.
Nick was still smiling when he looked back at the road, but it faded after a couple miuntes. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked because he had a feeling Sam really wasn't.
She kept her eyes away from his that kept glancing at her every so often. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you were kidnapped, put in a glass tank, tied up, and who knows what else Marshall would have tried to do to you. I know it's normal for me, but it's not normal for normal people."
Sam turned away so that she couldn't see any part of Nick at all. She stared out the window as she said, "I'm fine, I swear."
"Then why won't you look at me?"
The tears that had been building up in Sam's eyes started to fall as she turned her head and looked at Nick. "Because you almost died. Marshall almost killed you, and you were gonna let him. You were going to let yourself be killed, for me."
Nick was looking back and forth between Sam and the road every couple of seconds. He didn't say anything though. He didn't know what to say, so he was quiet, which was quite a rarity with Nick.
"When I met you, the first thing I thought was that you're such a nice guy and so great and everything, and then that damn psycho kept trying to kill you and I didn't know why I cared so much. I cared a hell of a lot more that he was trying to hurt you than I should have considering you were barely more than a stranger to me. But I didn't want you to get hurt and I wanted you to be okay and not get hurt because of me."
"This wasn't your fault," Nick said. "Marshall dragged you into this to try and hurt me more, which he would have if he had in fact hurt you. I wanted to save you from the beginning because you're not like anyone I've ever met before. You're laid back and funny and so beautiful..." Nick trailed off as his eyes were stuck to the road.
Sam turned in her seat so she was fully facing Nick, who pretended he couldn't see her looking at him from the corner of his eye. "Do you love me?" She asked suddenly.
Nick was about to turn and look at her, but stopped himself at the last second. He could see Sam looking at him, waiting for an answer that she pretty much already knew. The tears had stopped falling from her eyes, but were still present on the tips of the bottomg of her eyelids, waiting to pour out given the opportune moment.
"You said before at my house that you thought you did, but I know that you've known for sure for some time," she said, her voice surprisingly steady. "Do you love me?" She repeated.
"Yes, I do," Nick said immediatly after Sam had spoken. "I have basically since the minute I met you, and it's really weird because that's never happened to me before and I don't know what to do or say to you. I'm this totally fucked up guy who has a new stalker every couple of years, and you're you. You're perfect, and I'm me."
Sam smiled, and Nick finally looked at her. "Well I'm glad you're you, because I love you."
Sorry it took so long. There's going to be a few more chapters, I'm not sure yet exactly how many. Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you're enjoying it.
I'm also writing another Nick story called "For All Of This" which is differnent from anything I've ever written, but I think it's going to portray Nick's character well. It's more Nick centric, of course with other relationships, but it focuses more on him alone than anything else.