AN: Thanks to those who are still reading/supporting. Here is the next chapter. Warning: Hints of a triggering moment & Implied/suggestive adult behavior.

Chapter 33: Still in love?

The minute Nick saw Stephanie turn to walk out, he was already rushing towards the door, not wanting to let her go, while Sara stayed where she was at, because one, she decided to get his food when it was done, and two, to give them a moment.

When he made it outside, Stephanie was standing off to the side of the walkway, on the grass with her back turned to him, so he didn't see her eyes closed.

After a moment of standing just outside of the door, staring at her, afraid that if he blinked she would be gone, he took a breath and walked up to her, his heart still racing, until he was close but still had a little space between them.

"Hi, Steph."

He cringed because he couldn't think of anything better than that, and instead of saying hi back, she asked another question, her eyes still closed. "What are you doing here?"

No hesitation, he replied. "There is a CSI conference here and my boss wanted me to..."

He stops talking when Stephanie started laughing and shaking her head. "A CSI, really?"

A little surprised about her response, he asked. "Yeah, why do you say it like that?"

She finally turned around, their eyes locking onto one another again, their hearts still reacting towards one another as they thought both of them still looked good, then she mentally shook her head. "It just seems you have a lot more in common with Sara and Grissom than previously thought, because that's what they are too."

Now he looked shocked in another way. "Wow, really? And are they..."

He trailed off, and she nodded on both questions. "Yes, and would you really be that surprised if they are now married?"

Nick shook his head instantly. "No, I think out of anybody's marriage out in the world, theirs was the surer one out there."

As she nodded, the diner door opened, and Sara cleared her throat before she spoke. "Sorry to interrupt, but I got called back to the lab, there was a break in the case."

Both of them turned their attention to Sara while she walked up to them, and Stephanie asked in worry for her. "What about lunch?"

Sara waved it off with a smile. "I'll figure something out, don't worry about me."

Sara then held out the take out sack towards Nick, and Nick smiled in appreciation as he took it before they get into a hug, and while in the embrace, Nick spoke. "I hear congratulations are in order."

Sara chuckled as they pulled back. "For what? There was a lot accomplished since we last saw one another."

Nick chuckled in return. "I guess you have a point there, how about to all that you have done, and especially your marriage to Grissom."

Sara nodded with a smile. "Thank you, and I hope we can have dinner while you are in town, I'm sure Grissom would love to see you."

Before Nick could speak, Stephanie did. "You won't even have to wait, you could see him as early as tonight."

Sara looked confused at first before Nick spoke with a smile. "I'm here for the CSI conference."

Sara had the same reaction Nick did when he had found out they share the same profession. "Wow, really?"

Nick nodded with a bigger smile. "Really, I'm a Level 3 CSI for the Las Vegas Crime lab."

Sara smiled at his accomplishment. "Congratulations."

"Thank you."

Sara nodded while she walked up to Stephanie, and after sharing a hug, they pulled back while Sara spoke. "I'll talk to you later." Stephanie nodded before Sara looked back at Nick. "And I guess we'll see you tonight. It was nice seeing you again, Nick."

Nick nodded again with another smile. "You too, Sara."

After Sara nodded one more time, Sara headed for her vehicle so she could leave the diner and get back to work.

It was a moment of silence before Stephanie cleared her throat and spoke again. "I should let you go."

But Nick wasn't ready to leave her presence, so he asked, with a hint of pleading in there as well. "Please, can we just go somewhere for a little bit?"

Looking into his eyes, which always made her weak in the knees and her heart melt, and even after 11 years apart, he still had that hold on her, so she nodded. "Ok, but I'm going to go order a meal, because unlike Sara, I can't go hours without eating something the minute I'm hungry."

Nick smirked. "I know, I remember."

It amazed him how much she could eat and still look as good as she did without even trying, there were times when she could eat more than him, and that was saying a lot.

Stephanie gets a shy look on her face for a second before shook her head while walking back towards the door to the diner to order her food.

45 minutes later

Once she got her food, Nick followed her to the park, which they both seemed it was fitting, considering a park is where they first met one another, and as they were sitting at a bench that was close to the play structure, she thought she would ask a safe question, how was his family.

Nick took a bite of his burger, and after swallowing, he told her they were all doing good, with three of his older sisters and only brother now married with kids, while the fourth one was engaged and the fifth one had a boyfriend. Then he asked how her family was, and she also said her siblings were good, better than good even.

Michelle and Tyreek, were now both 27, long since graduated from their respective colleges, and currently Tyreek, while single, is playing baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers (which Nick did hear about that, and when he claimed he knew him one day when a game was on the TV at the lab, he didn't think anybody believed him), and Michelle, while has a boyfriend, was a fashion designer in New York.

Becky, now 19, was in her sophomore year at UCLA, while Jacob jr. is 14 and a freshman in High School in the fall, Hope is now 12, along with Stephanie's other half-sister, April, from her father's side.

18 year old Cameron will be a freshman at Texas University in the fall, and Max, who is now 16, will be a Junior in High school.

Stephanie also mentioned her mother and Jacob had adopted two more children, a 10 year old boy, Mike and his 6 year old sister, Jane, about a year ago, wanting to keep both of them together when their biological parents could no longer care for them, and they were welcomed with opened arms into the Grissom/Evens family.

When she was done sharing on what was gong on with her family's lives, he smiled, happy they were all doing well, then she took a breath and closed her eyes as she was hearing the kids laughing behind her from the play structure, it was a beautiful sound that always got to her, for more than one reason.

After opening her eyes back up, she took another breath before speaking again. "It took me a long time before I could step foot in a park again." Nick knew that feeling all to well, so he nodded in understanding before she continued with a smile, a bright one at that. "But then as Billy got older and the park became his favorite place, outside of the zoo, I..."

She was cut off when Nick asked softly. "Billy?"

She could see the question in his eyes, maybe even a little sadness that she could have a child, and she didn't want to give him the wrong impression, so immediately she answered his silent questions(s). "Billy is Sara and Grissom's 8 year old son."

She could practically see the relief in his eyes for a few seconds before he finally brought it up. "8 years old?" Stephanie nodded, her heart racing as he said it, or at least tried to. "That's only a few years shy of..."

He trailed off and she whispered. "I know."

He looked into her eyes next, both seeing the pain. "Steph..."

But Stephanie cuts him off as she looked away. "Nick, please."

He cleared his throat. "We can't ignore this, she's part of our past, and yes it still hurts, but I need to talk to you about it, about her, we never really had closure together." When he saw she had a hint of a smile, he asked. "What?"

She shook her head before clearing her throat. "It's just that you thought 'she' would be a 'he'. I'm the one that said our baby would be a girl."

He smiled slightly before replying. "Yeah I did, but now when I think about our baby, I like to think of her as a she." She nodded in understanding before he continued after clearing his throat. "And I do all of the time, I think about who she would've looked like more."

Stephanie closes her eyes for a second, willing her tears to stay inside before she opened them and whispered. "No doubt her father."

He shook his head with a smile. "I think this is where we would disagree, because I was thinking more like her mother, she would be so beautiful."

Stephanie then smirked. "Ok Mr. smarty-pants, what subject do think she would like?"

He smirked in return, his eyes lighting up. "Science, what else is there?"

She couldn't help but chuckle and roll her eyes at that, then she asked. "Favorite sport, if she had one?"

Both actually answered that one together. "Baseball."

Another round of chuckling ended a moment later, both feeling good to get that out together, but then once it died down, Stephanie started to have tears in her eyes, not able to stop them anymore as she whispered. "I'm so sorry, Nicky."

Concerned, he placed his hand on top of hers as he asked. "For what?"

"For everything, for losing our baby, for pushing you away, for leaving, for not fighting for us, you name..."

He cuts her off with tears in his eyes. "Oh sweetheart, I don't blame you, for any of it." She was going to open her mouth, but he continued with emotion. "I was hurting too, and you weren't the only one doing the pushing away. I felt like I wasn't giving you enough reason to stay."

She nodded before looking down at their hands while speaking softly. "I thought you had stopped loving me after I lost her."

He gasped softly as he squeezed her hand lightly. "That's what you really thought?" After another nod, but still hadn't lifted her head up, he spoke softly after clearing his throat. "Steph, I..."

But was cut off when her phone started to ring, so she slipped her hand out of his instantly and took her phone out of purse before answering it. "Yeah?" After going back and forth, Stephanie finished the conversation as she moved to get up. "Ok, I'll be there in about 10 minutes...yes, I'm on my way, ok bye." Once she pulled the phone from her ear, she looked down at Nick, who was still sitting down. "I have to go, an emergency at the restaurant."

While he didn't know what she did, considering their conversations never reached how they were doing since the last time they saw one another, he did believe her, so he nodded but then asked. "Can I see you tonight, after the conference?"

She would be lying to herself if she denied wanting to see him again, so she nodded. "Ok, just follow Sara and Grissom to my apartment since they'll be picking up Billy afterward."

He nodded with a smile, causing her heart to skip a beat while her knees almost turned to jelly. "Ok, I'll see you later."

She nodded one more time, grabbed her trash before she turned to start walking, then after a few steps, she turned back around and said with a smile and beaming eyes. "It was nice seeing you again, Nicky, honestly, it was."

His smile and eyes get brighter as well. "It was nice seeing you again too."

She turned around and started walking again, taking a deep breath as she tried not to put too much thought on why he wasn't wearing a wedding ring, not knowing Nick was having the same thoughts about her.

Later that evening

After dropping Billy off at Stephanie's, Sara drove them to their destination, and once they parked and got out of the vehicle, Grissom asked while slipping his hand into hers. "Now can you tell me what has you in a good mood?"

She was going to tell Grissom that Nick will be here as well, but then she decided to let him be surprised, even though she almost spilled the beans twice.

Sara shook her head with a smile. "No, I told you it's a surprise."

He smirked in return. "But what can be surprising here?"

"You'll see."

Grissom just sighed with a nod, finally accepting that Sara wasn't going to tell him, causing her to chuckle as they continued to walk towards the building, and after arriving inside the hotel, they headed for the ballroom, where the conference was at.

They greeted their CSI team close to the entrance, but instead of following them to their table, they walked towards the snack table before Sara's attention turned towards the door, while Grissom made a small plate filled with different snack items.

A few minutes later, Sara spoke with excitement. "He's here."

Grissom not only raised his eyebrow at what she said, but also about how she seemed to be, so he asked. "Uh, should I be worried that my wife is really excited about seeing another man?"

Sara chuckled as she shook her head. "Relax babe, while I am excited, it's not really for me." Before Grissom could ask more questions, she raised her hand and waved it while saying his name. "Nick! Nick Stokes, over here!"

Grissom gets a shocked look on his face, first hearing the name then seeing Nick walking up to them with a smile.

As Nick gets closer, he smiled a little wider while holding out his arms towards Sara. "I hear another congratulations is in order."

Sara chuckled as they get into a hug. "What did Stephanie tell you now?"

He chuckled as they pulled back. "About your son, Billy."

Sara smiled with a nod. "Yeah, he's our greatest accomplishment."

Nick nodded in understanding. "I don't doubt that."

Her smiled started to die down as the air between them shifted, and Sara cleared her throat before speaking softly. "Nick, I'm sor..."

He cuts her off, knowing what this was going to be about. "It's ok, I know Stephanie needed you more."

Sara sighed. "We didn't find out till after Billy was born. She had been pushing all of us away for so long."

He nodded, really believing that, because he did the same, before he asks. "And how is she, really?"

"Like most people who's been through something like that, she's had her good days and bad days, but there has been more good then bad for years now, and I think a lot of that is because of Billy's presence, he's healed a lot of what she felt was broken."

He smiled a little. "I'm glad."

Sara nodded with a smile. "Me too."

Before anything else was said, Grissom finally gets in the greeting as he held out his hand. "Wow, Nick Stokes, long time no see."

Nick shook the other man's hand. "Yes it has been Grissom."

As they releases hands, Sara could help but chime in. "Make that Dr. Grissom now."

Nick's smile gets wider. "Then another round of congratulations."

Grissom shyly smiled with a nod while Sara smirked at her husband, seeing his reaction at the complement. "Hey, this is a huge accomplishment for you, and I have a right to be proud of my husband, so yeah I'm going to share it with the world if I want to."

Nick chuckled as he shook his head. "Some things never change, and it's a welcoming sight, seeing you two like this. I missed you guys."

They each gave him smiles, also mentioning they've missed him before the start of the conference.

After the conference ended a few hours later, Nick followed Sara and Grissom to Stephanie's apartment, where he met Billy and they sat around the living room catching him up on what led Sara and Grissom here, with a few stories about Nick's then Stephanie's lives, and when it was getting very close to Billy's bedtime, Sara and Grissom called it a night with the promise of lunch together tomorrow before walking out of the apartment, leaving Stephanie and Nick alone.

As the door clicked shut, Stephanie asked if Nick wanted anymore wine, and he accepted, so after she came back into the room, after getting it from the kitchen, she poured him half a glass before she poured her some, then once she sat down next to him, he took his glass from the coffee table and turned to her, holding it out. "To seeing one another again."

She smiled as she clinked her glass against his, then after taking a sip, she spoke. "You know you forgot a missing piece in your life's story."

He raised an eyebrow, and after taking a sip of his wine, he asked. "Really? And what would that be?"

"How about the part that you're married?

He smirked as he lifted his left hand up. "You do see there isn't a ring on my finger, right?"

Of course she knew that, her heart kept skipping a beat every time she saw it, but there could be a reason for it, so she continued. "True, but that doesn't mean that you aren't, you could be one of those guys who don't ware a..."

He cuts her off softly. "Believe me, if I was married, I would let the whole world know."

She looked a little shocked, her heart starting to race like mad, which had been nothing new all day. "So, you're not?"

He chuckled while shaking his head before asking with a curious look. "Why is that shocking? And why are you convincing yourself that I would be?"

She took another sip of her wine before shaking her head. "I just can't believe a man like you would be single all this time."

He sighed after taking another sip before he replied softly again. "I'm not going to lie and tell you there hasn't been other women."

Wanting to be truthful, she had an answer of her own. "And I with other men."

Both wanting to push past that part of the conversation, Nick continued as he moved his hand to cup her cheek, causing both of their hearts to continue to pound in their chests. "But there are two reasons why they were never that serious. One, because being a CSI takes up a lot of time and the women that I have been with can't deal with the unpredictable schedule that I sometimes have to be on."

Before Nick could continue, Stephanie couldn't help but say something, a phrase from their first meeting, just altered a little. "Then it's possible you've been dating the wrong ones."

Nick's heart skipped a beat again at her word choice, taking them back to the first time they met, then he continued as love started to shine through his eyes. "And two, they weren't you."

Stephanie silently gasped as she replied with tears in her eyes. "They weren't you either, I tried to move on, but I couldn't."

He ran his thumb up and down her cheek. "Me neither, I never stopped loving you. And I regret not coming after you the second you walked out the door."

She sniffled. "I never stopped loving you either, and I regret not turning back around the second I walked out."

They move their foreheads forward and touched before they both whispered at the same time as their eyes closed.

"God, I've missed you."

Once Sara and Grissom made it back home, which Billy had fallen asleep in the backseat, they get out of the vehicle before Grissom opens the back door so he could unbuckle his son, pick him up and carry him while Sara grabbed his bag.

When they made into their apartment, Sara sets the bag down on the floor by the door, kissed her sleeping boy's temple before whispering her love to him as she ran a hand down his back before Grissom carried their son into his bedroom.

After taking his shoes off, he tucks him under his superhero themed comforter, ran his fingers through his son's hair with a smile before he bent down and whispered against his forehead. "I love you, buddy. Sleep tight."

He pulls back a moment later, turns and walked towards the door to the bedroom, but before he walked out, he turned the light out, causing the night light to turn on, then headed for the master bedroom after closing his son's door.

He stepped into the master bedroom, shutting the door behind him before he started unbuttoning his shirt, then he sat down in the chair to take off his shoes and socks, and while he stood up, he sees Sara walking out of the bathroom in just one of his old t-shirts, and her panties.

He watched her every movement until she was sitting up on her side of the bed with a smirk on her face, knowing exactly what she was doing to him, and happy she still had that affect on him.

He cleared his throat with a raised eyebrow. "So, you're just going to tease me now?"

"Who said anything about teasing you, I never said our night had to end." She took a moment before whispering with passion in her eyes and voice. "I guess it all depends on how tired you are, Dr. Grissom."

He saw and heard the passion, and it only grew in her eyes as she saw him slip his shirt and pants off, leaving him only in his boxers before he walked over towards the bed.

She wraps her arms around his neck the second he was above her, then he whispered with passion in his eyes. "When it comes to you, Mrs. Grissom, I'm never too tired to show you how much I love you."

Her smile gets cut off when his lips touched hers, and after that moment, they were lost in each another's kisses, touches and their all consuming desire/passion for one another.

Afterwards, while she was wearing his t-shirt again with the sheet up to their waists, her head was on his bare shoulder and the palm of her hand was over the spot of where his heart was as he had his arm around her shoulders.

He turned his head and kissed her head before they both closed their eyes, enjoying the silence and their closeness, then she asked after a few moments. "What do you think is going to happen now, with Nick here visiting, do you think it's a sign?"

He took a breath before replying. "What do you think?"

She ran her thumb up and down on his skin before sighing. "I want to think he's here so they can finally heal together, start over, get back to the way it was meant to be between them. I know they still love one another."

Grissom nodded in agreement, also seeing that connection earlier tonight. "Yes they do, but will it be enough? A lot of time has passed, they aren't the same people they were when they were together before."

"True, but I like to think that it will be. I'm ready for Stephanie to finally get the life that she wants with the only man she ever truly loved, I want them both to be happy, as happy as we are."

He smiled as he ran his hand up and down her arm. "I know honey, me too."

Now getting sleepy, she moved up and they shared a few kisses on the lips before she whispered. "I love you, sleep tight."

"I love you too, honey. Sweet dreams."

The next few moments they started falling asleep, eventually dreaming of a happy life for everybody they loved and cared about.

AN: Thanks for reading, please review. Stay safe, and enjoy your weekend. Find out what happens next.