"Well, Mr. Stokes, I have some good news for you!" Dr. Sharpe's voice sounded cheerfully through his room. Nick glanced at his parents, then at the doctor.

"Yes? What is it?" His mom asked breathlessly. She had always been impatient when receiving good news.

"The infection has responded to the antibiotics! Your fever is gone, the pneumonia has cleared up. I don't see any reason why you can't leave within the next couple of days," she said, smiling widely at him.

"Really?" Nick demanded, almost afraid to believe it.

"Really. As soon as tomorrow morning," she confirmed. "I have to say, Mr. Stokes, I'm surprised. In all honesty, I wasn't sure you'd make it through, but now I'm positive you'll make a full recovery." She smiled one last time, then excused herself to go check on another patient.

Nick sat, frozen in place for a moment, letting the happiness wash over him. It felt warm, like wishes coming true, like hope.

His mother squeezed his hand tightly, smiling at him. "You hear that, baby?"

"Yeah…" he said, grinning. His father clapped him on the shoulder, smiling also.

"Good to hear, Pancho," he said, smiling. "I'm proud of you for pulling through this."

Nick swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. "Thanks, Cisco."

Judge Stokes' pager went off and he quickly excused himself to make a call.

"Nick, honey?" his mother asked softly.

"Yeah, Mom?"

"I'd like you to come back to Texas with us." She gripped his hand tightly as his smile faded, a weight settling on his chest. This was a conversation he didn't wish to have.

"W-what?" he stuttered.

"Sweetie, I just think it would be better for you to be closer to your family…maybe get away from some of this stuff?" she suggested gently.

"Mom, I – I can't just leave…" he said, not wanting to hurt her.

"Nicky…you'd be so much better off at home," she said.

"Mom…this is my home. I belong here," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't work this hard to just pick up and leave."

She sighed, and shook her head, tears glistening in her eyes. "You always were so stubborn. Never could get you to see reason."

Nick smiled faintly. "Not much has changed, huh?"

"Nick, you have to promise me something," she said suddenly.

"Anything," he responded sincerely.

"Promise me you'll take care of yourself…do some things for you, not just work."

"Sure, Mom. I promise," he said, smiling reassuringly.

"And another thing…"

"Yeah?"

"I need to hear from you more, honey. If you don't call at least twice a week, I promise you, I'll –"

"I promise," Nick said quickly, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence. Then he laughed. "And you have to promise me something, too."

"What?"

"Don't worry about me, okay? I think everything's better now."

"Hey Greggo," Nick greeted happily as Greg entered Nick's room to find Nick talking to his parents.

"Hey," Greg said, and nodded at his friend's parents. "You look better."

Nick nodded. "Yeah." Greg grinned at him, trying to hide how uncomfortable he was. However, Nick's mother seemed to pick up on it anyway.

"Nick, how about we leave you and Greg alone for a little bit?" She stood and tugged on her husband's arm. "We should probably pack anyway."

They left quickly and Greg took the chair Jillian had vacated. "Pack?"

"Yeah. They gotta get back to Texas, for work." Nick sat up a little more. "So how're things at the lab?"

"Pretty good," Greg said, relieved to be talking about something he knew well. "We have a ton of evidence on your case, we're gonna nail Parras for this." He stopped suddenly, kicking himself and waiting for Nick to freak out.

But contrary to what he would have done in previous weeks, Nick merely nodded. "Good."

"You're – you're okay talking about it?" Greg asked dumbly, surprised.

"Not my favorite topic," Nick admitted. "But… yeah. Yeah, I think I am."

Apparently seeing Greg's confused look, Nick continued. "The last few months have been like a nightmare I couldn't get out of. I don't want the rest of my life to be like that."

Greg nodded. "After that lab explosion…I – I was scared it would happen again."

Nick met his eyes. "But you got past it."

"Yeah, I did. You guys helped me a lot with that," Greg said, smiling a little. "So now we get to help you."

"You already did, man. You already did…"

"Welcome home, Nick!" Catherine exclaimed as Nick climbed out Warrick's truck. It was fairly early when he was released from the hospital; they must have come straight from work.

"Thanks," he said, grinning easily. He walked up to his front door, following them inside. They must have found his spare key.

Once inside, he tossed his jacket in the general direction of the chair and walked into the kitchen. "Ya'll want something to drink?" he asked. No one said anything.

He turned to look at them, finding them staring at him apprehensively. "What?"

"Nothing," Sara said quickly, then forced a smile.

"I'm okay, you know. I'm okay being here, even after Parras breaking in. I'll get some better locks or something." He shrugged, and grabbed a bottle of water. "So, do you want something, or not?"

"I'm good," Warrick said, and Grissom shook his head. Catherine said nothing, and Greg was too preoccupied with looking through Nick's video games to even notice the question.

"Okay," Nick said. "Food, then?" He looked through his refrigerator. "On second thought, maybe we had better go out somewhere. I don't think I have anything that isn't about three weeks old."

Warrick laughed. "Well, I think we all know where we're going," he said, leading the way.

Once they arrived at the diner the CSIs frequented, Nick and Warrick commandeered a few tables, shoving them together to form a space big enough to seat all of them. They walked up to the counter and placed their orders, then returned to their table.

The conversation was light; they made fun of Greg, laughed at Hodges' latest antics, poked fun at Grissom and his overly healthy breakfast. Nick wolfed down his pancakes, much to the appeasement of his friends who all believed he had gotten too thin. He didn't care much either way, all he knew was that breakfast had never tasted so good.

When they were finished, they left the diner, going their separate ways at the door, each to their own house. Grissom offered to give Nick a ride, as his house was in the same direction.

They sat together in Grissom's car in complete silence for a few minutes, Grissom lost in thought, Nick trying to get up the courage to ask Grissom something.

"Why me?"

"What?" Grissom asked, confused.

"Why did Parras choose me?"

Grissom considered it for a long moment. "I'm not sure, Nick. He had a traumatic childhood. He chose men who visited the Hispanic area of Vegas. But that's all we know about him, really."

Nick nodded. "I guess there are questions that just don't have answers."

Grissom glanced at him. "Some don't."

"I think I'm okay with that."

They rode in silence for a while longer. Finally, when they were almost to Nick's home, he spoke.

"Gris?"

"Yeah, Nick?"

"I think there's one last thing I have to do, before I can really put all this behind me."