Part Five: Pact

He is walking down the hall before shift when he spots her, alone in the break room. Sara slumps in the uncomfortable plastic lounge chair, gripping her coffee mug a bit too tightly, and all the while her bottom lip is quivering.

He can read her thoughts. 'Stop it. Stay strong. Big baby.'

Nick senses something is wrong the moment he sees her face, before she even senses his approach. The stiff upper lip he's noticed of late has been replaced with a look of shear hopelessness. The strongest woman he knows, short of his mother, looks like she's been broken.

"Hey," he says, softly, not wanting to draw any unwanted attention from the passersby in the hallway. "What's wrong, Sweets?" He closes the door behind him and sits down next to her at the break room table.

Her lip starts quivering again.

"What happened?" He pulls her in close to him, rubbing her shoulder blades with the knuckles of his right hand. He expects her to fight him, but she sinks into his chest, boneless. He knows, then, that she is in a bad way. A very bad way. He feels her shoulders begin to shake and he strokes her hair and murmurs to her.

Sweet words for his sweet girl, with her sweet smile.

She sniffles, then, a loud wet sound, and he reaches in his pocket for a Kleenex. She blows her nose, and it sounds a bit like a freight train, and he still rubs her shoulder blades and her hair. Like nothing happened, like he doesn't fear for his new button down shirt. After all, he'd found it on the clearance rack, and it isn't Calvin Klein or anything.

But it doesn't matter if it was. He's just that kind of person.

Finally, she speaks. "I, I."

He says nothing. He just looks at her face and waits for her to speak.

"Still no word," she whispers. "It's three weeks, like I've been forgotten. I guess it just hurts."

"I know," he says, pulling her boneless body closer to his chest. "But I think you're unforgettable."

She scoffs. "I'm clearly not."

"I couldn't forget you if I tried," he says, his voice trying to soothe her.

"That's only because I'm that annoying."

"You're so not annoying," he grasps at things in his mind. "You're important to me." He realizes his misstep almost instantly, and she tenses in his arms, and he knows he opened up an altogether new can of worms.

He wishes he could turn back time, like Cher.

"Exactly," she says, and he knows what's coming next. "I'm not important to him." Her voice takes on a steely tone. "Apparently never was. But why not tell me that? Why just leave me hanging?" She wipes angrily at the streaky tears sliding down her cheeks.

"That's right," Nick tells her. "I'd rather see you angry than sad."

"But why," she says, and he can tell she's winding down. He's seen her angry often enough to know. "Why does this happen to me?"

He presses his forehead to hers, shifting her body to face him. "I think it's possible that you haven't met the right guy yet, that's all."

Their faces are too close together and when she looks at him her eyes cross. "I am not going to live forever, Nicky. Sometimes I want kids, and a husband, and a dog, and a Goddamn picket fence." She blinks. "I want it like David and Molly. I feel like I'm running out of time."

Her words scare him. He is lonely too, and no closer to finding permanence than she is. "Me too, Sweets."

She snorts. "Whatever. You could have a different woman every week."

He furrows his eyebrows at her. "That's not true," he says. "But that's not the point. I haven't found The One. When I was going out with a lot of different girls, it was only because I was trying to find her."

She blinks.

"So why did you stop?"

Nick shrugs. "Maybe I just gave up."

"You shouldn't," she tells him.

All he can muster is a shrug. He feels even more pathetic than usual.

"You were really looking for the one?"

He nods.

"Serious?"

"As a heart attack." He presses his index finger to her nose. "I'll tell you what. Let's make a pact. If we're both single when you turn 35, we'll get hitched. 'Kay?"

"You're insane."

"Am not."

"Are too. You think I want to be with someone who only wants me because he doesn't want to die a lonely old man?"

Nick blinks.

"Hey," he says, his voice stern. "That hurt."

She tries to avoid eye contact, but he forces her to look at him.

"Tell me. Who doesn't want to marry their very best friend?"

Her eyelashes flutter, and she smiles just a little shakily. A tear sneaks down her cheek. "I do. I want to marry my best friend," she says.

"I hope it's still me, by then," he tells her.

She smiles, and laces both arms around his neck. "You really are the best friend a girl could ever ask for. You've made me feel better."

"I was serious, you know. I could be a good husband," he says, stroking her back. "I can cook a little and I'm handy around the house and I'm pretty good with cars."

She pulls away from him, suddenly, and he's afraid he said too much until he sees the glint in her eye.

"If you think that's all husbands are good for, you're wrong," she says, a mischievous tone to her voice.

He shrugs. "I think I could be good at that stuff, too."

"We'll just have to wait and find out," she says, grinning, and before he can respond, she's up, out of her chair, and across the room. "You've got yourself a deal, Nick Stokes."

He grins at her, a genuine smile, and he feels better than he has in weeks.

The door opens just then. "Hey, guys," Warrick says. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Sara replies. "Nothing you'd believe, anyway," she mutters under her breath. "I'm going to go see Greg before shift starts. I need to check on some results from yesterday."

"He's out again," Warrick throws his remark over his shoulder. "It's that girl," he snaps his fingers, trying to jog his memory. "The one who goes out with David."

"Oh," she says. "Good, I have to tell her something," she starts to skip down the hall.

The two men watch as she leaves. "The Hell," Warrick shakes his head. "That girl's getting nuttier by the day."

Nick grins to himself, shocked by the turn his life has taken in the past ten minutes. "Tell me about it," he says. He turns to the newspaper spread out on the table. Warrick is blissfully unaware.

Nick is just blissful. He's engaged. Sort of.

A/N: This is the final part in this series. Don't panic, it's not the end for this "universe." There is more to be played out, I'm sure. Thank you for all your reviews. This part, and really this piece, was inspired by an interview with George Eads on The Late Late Show. He makes mention of a similar arrangement with Jorja Fox. I thought, if something like this can exist in real life, than it can certainly exist in fanfic!!!