Nick and Sara wandered back into the kitchen and grabbed their sodas before heading outside to sit by the pool and talk while the girls slept in the living room.

Sara studied Nick with an amused expression on her face.

He raised an eyebrow at her quizzically. "Just what are you thinking, Sara Sidle?"

She chuckled. "Oh, I was just thinking that I wish I could have seen the expression on your face when you discovered your shorts were missing in the pool."

He chuckled and grinned at her. "Like I said, if you wanted to see me naked, all you had to do was ask." He leaned back into his chair and took a long sip from his soda.

Sara smirked at him. "Well, I'm afraid if I had you strip for me now, one of the girls might wake up and be scarred for life."

"I'm sure they'll be asleep for hours." He grinned at her and waggled his eyebrows.

Sara giggled. "Nick, you also said they were watching a movie and look where that got us. We've been blackmailed by a group of ten year olds."

He took a sip from his soda. "I'd say it was worth it."

Sara raised her eyebrow and pursed her lips. "So, are you saying you want to strip for me?" Her voice had a teasing tone in it.

He grinned. "Only if you want me to."

She glanced at the house next door which seemed impossibly close to Catherine's backyard. "What about the neighbors?"

"All their windows are facing away from us." He replied nonchalantly as he studied her, taking note of the way her shirt hugged her figure.

Sara bit her lip for a moment. "But, the girls might wake up."

Nick chuckled. "Sara, we don't have to get naked."

She raised an eyebrow. "We?"

Nick waggled his eyebrows at her. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

"I've already seen half of yours." Sara laughed in spite of herself.

He smiled at her. "You seemed to like what you saw."

Sara tried to suppress her grin as she recalled the nice view she had of his bare butt. "Nick, you sound like a horny teenager."

He laughed. "I may not be a teenager, but I am horny."

"Catherine would kill us." She looked him in the eyes.

"Even Catherine would leave evidence behind." Nick couldn't wipe the grin off of his face.

Sara took a long sip from her soda and then leaned back in her chair. "You do have a nice ass."

Nick chuckled. "Glad you like it." He glanced at her curiously. "So, why did you steal my swim trunks anyway?"

She chuckled. "I wanted to win."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I think it ended in a draw."

She shook her head. "Nope. I still think I won."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And just why do you say that, Ms. Sidle? I did get my swim trunks back without you blackmailing me."

She stopped her soda can just shy of her lips and smiled coyly. "I got to see a piece of that fine Texas ass of yours."

Nick couldn't help but laugh. "Do you have any idea how much I'd like to see you naked?"

Sara grinned as color flushed her face. She wasn't sure what to say to Nick's comment, and thankfully, her cell phone rang. Nick waggled his eyebrows at her and took another sip of his soda as Sara answered her phone. "Sidle." She glanced up at Nick and smirked at him. "Hey, Cath. No everything is fine. They all fell asleep in front of the TV and Nick and I are just sitting out by the pool talking." She listened to Catherine for a few moments. "Ok, so Lindsey is going over to Kelsey's then?" She glanced at Nick and smiled. "Ok, yeah, that should be fine. I make a mean blueberry pancake." She chuckled softly and grinned at Nick. "Yeah, they did. Uh, huh. Really? Kelsey's mom? Well, I warn him then. Ok, we'll see you in the morning."

She ended the call with Catherine and chuckled at Nick. "Catherine wanted to warn you about Kelsey's mom. She's looking for a man." Sara looked amused.

An embarrassed grin flashed across Nick's face. "She must be pretty desperate for Catherine to warn me. Do you have any idea how many blind dates Catherine's tried to set me up on?"

Sara giggled. "Well, no more blind dates for you. At least for a while."

Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Thanks for the vote of confidence that I'm a keeper." There was a hint of teasing in his voice.

Sara stood up and offered her hand to him. "C'mon, let's go back inside. We should probably check on the girls."

Nick took her hand and followed her back into the house, shutting the slider door behind him before softly making their way into the living room. The girls were all still asleep and it was clear that the movie was over. Nick walked over and turned the TV and DVD player off. As he made his way back to Sara, he whispered. "I think it's a good bet that they are out for the rest of the night."

They made their way back into the kitchen and Nick grinned at Sara. "Ok, we checked on the girls, what do you want to do now?"

Sara had an amused expression on her face. "What did you have in mind?"

He stepped closer to her and snaked his arms around her waist as he whispered into her ear. "Ever been skinny dipping?"

Sara started to giggle. "You just don't give up do you?"

Nick feigned innocence as he pulled back and looked into her eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Ms. Sidle?"

Her voice was husky. "You want to see me naked." She leaned up and kissed him softly. As she pulled away, she whispered. "But you and I both know that if we get naked, we're mostly likely not going to be just swimming."

Nick pressed the issue with a mischievous grin on his face. "You don't think we could get in the pool naked together and not have sex?"

Sara couldn't help but giggle. "No, Nick, I sure as hell don't think we could get into that pool together naked and not have sex."

"Why not?" Nick sounded like a little boy that was begging for a puppy for Christmas.

Sara shook her head and stepped out of his embrace. "You are priceless, you know that don't you?"

Nick chuckled in spite of himself. "I'm just horny as hell, Sara, and I want you in the worst way right now, whether or not there are five ten year olds in the next room."

Sara regarded him for a moment. "I can tell." There was the beginning of a telltale bulge in his pants.

Nick glanced away from her, with frustration etched on his face. "I'm sorry."

Sara stepped toward him and put her hand on his arm. "Nick, don't be sorry. I'm just afraid of getting caught."

He glanced at her, a bit of surprise on his face. "So, what are you saying, then?"

She tilted her head and smiled at him. "Did you miss the part where I said if we were both in that pool I was pretty damn certain we'd be having sex?"

He nodded a bit perplexed. "I just wasn't sure what you meant by that."

She giggled and reached over to trail her fingers down his arm. "Nick Stokes, you are dense as hell sometimes."

He didn't know whether to be insulted or be confused.

She stepped a little closer to him and slid her arms up his chest and around his neck, her lips hovered a fraction of an inch from his. "I'm just as horny as you are, baby."

Nick didn't move for fear the situation in his shorts would get worse. Instead, he gritted his teeth as he said her name. "Sara."

She raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "You do realize if we get caught we'll have hell to pay, it is a little different than just kissing in the kitchen."

The situation in Nick's shorts was definitely getting worse. "Sara?" He had a slightly panicked edge to his voice.

She leaned up and kissed him softly and as she pulled away she smiled. "I'll go grab a couple of towels and meet you outside."

Nick groaned in anticipation. "Sara."

She trailed her fingers down his chest and looked at him with a sultry expression before heading down the hall to get a couple of large towels out of Catherine's linen closet. When she walked outside, she noticed Nick sitting on one of the chairs. She glanced at him quizzically. "Are you going to join me?"

He had a serious expression on his face. "Are you sure about this, Sar? I meant it when I said I don't want to make you do anything you're not ready for."

She smiled at him and didn't say a word. She simply pulled her T-shirt over her head and tossed it on the chair nearest to the pool. She then unzipped her shorts and stepped out of them, putting them next to her shirt. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Coming?"

He just nodded and stood up beginning to unbutton his shirt, tossing it on the chair behind him. He glanced up and noticed that Sara faced the pool and she'd taken her bra off and was removing her panties. He stood there mesmerized at her figure in the moonlight.

She glanced over his shoulder and flashed a smile at him. "You're a little behind there, Stokes."

Nick finally found his words. "I'm just looking at your behind, darling. You have a cute little ass." He grinned at her as he quickly shed his shorts and boxers in one swift move. He walked toward the pool and dove in, surfacing just as she dove in.

She surfaced near him and quickly found herself pulled into his embrace.

Nick's lips descended on hers and they lost themselves in the kiss momentarily as they sank beneath the surface of the water. They finally let go of each other so they could return to the surface for air. Nick raised an eyebrow at her. "Why don't we go to the other side of the pool where the water is shallow."

"Race you." Sara began to swim furiously for the other end of the pool.

Nick caught up with her about halfway across and grabbed her by the waist.

She giggled. "You play dirty."

He waggled his eyebrows at her as he stood on the bottom of the pool and pulled her against him. "Well my thoughts about you right now are incredibly dirty."

As Nick leaned in to kiss Sara, they heard a voice coming from the house. "Sara? Nick?"

The broke apart, with panic on their faces. Sara swam to the edge of the pool and pulled herself against it to hide her state of undress. Chelsea was standing there in the darkness. "Yeah, sweetie?"

"I've got a problem." Chelsea sounded upset and nervous.

Nick had joined Sara at the side of the pool. "What is it, honey?"

"I'm, I mean, I, went to the bathroom and something's wrong with me." She was on the verge of tears.

"Uh, Chelsea?" Sara began.

"Yeah?" There was a hitch in the girl's voice.

"Why don't you go back inside and wait for me in the bathroom. It's going to be ok, honey." Sara suggested.

"Ok." Chelsea sniffled and then closed the sliding door.

When Nick and Sara were relatively certain that she was out of view, they pulled themselves out of the pool and wrapped towels around themselves.

Sara didn't dare look at Nick as she quickly dried herself off and got dressed. He did the same and as they made their way into the house, they found Chelsea in the hallway with tears running down her cheeks. Sara pulled her into a hug and led her into the bathroom, motioning to Nick to go wait in the kitchen.

She returned a few minutes later with a smirk on her face. "I need you to go to the store."

Nick looked at her quizzically.

Sara smiled. "Let's just say that womanhood has hit full force and she hadn't had 'the talk' yet so she didn't have a clue what it was."

Nick raised his eyebrows. "I bet it scared the hell out of her."

"That's an understatement." She wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Nick, narrowing her gaze at him. "Trust me, brand names are important for things like this."

He chuckled and raised a hand. "Ok, I'll follow it to the letter." He leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips. "I'll be back shortly."

Sara returned to the bathroom and let Chelsea know that help was on the way. "If you want me to, Chelsea, I'll talk to your mom and let her know what's going on so you don't have to. I remember when I got mine, it scared me half to death."

Chelsea smiled at Sara through her tears. "Thanks, Sara."

"You want me to stay here with you, or do you want me to go out there until Nick comes back?" Sara wanted to be sensitive to how this little girl in the midst of a huge life change was feeling.

Chelsea shyly smiled at Sara. "Could you stay with me?"

Sara nodded and sat down on the floor, trying to keep the mood light as they waited for Nick to return. Thankfully, he wasn't gone long and a soft knock sounded at the bathroom door. "Sar?"

Sara cracked the door slightly as Nick handed her the bag. She grinned at him. "Thanks, baby."

He winked at her as she closed the door.

Sara got Chelsea situated and then the young girl made her way back to her sleeping bag. Sara went back into the kitchen and as Nick looked up, she smiled. "Thanks."

He smiled back at her. "I have sisters and nieces. That actually happened to one of my nieces when some of my family was out visiting a couple of years ago. She though she was going to die."

Sara chuckled softly. "I thought I was too, when I got my period the first time."

Nick wrinkled his brow. "Don't mom's talk to their daughters about stuff like that?"

Sara smirked. "If they did, do you think we would be having this conversation?"

Nick glanced out at the pool and then back at Sara, waggling his eyebrows at her.

She chuckled and shook her head. "We are not trying that again."

He grinned. "Oh, and why not, Sara?"

She swatted at him raising an eyebrow. "I sure as hell hope you like Scrabble, because that is the only game we're going to be playing until it's time to go home."

Nick chuckled. "You're in serious trouble if you plan on playing Scrabble with me, Sidle."

She smirked at him. "We are not playing strip Scrabble, Nick."

He grinned. "You're taking all the fun out of it, Sar."

She waggled her eyebrows at him. "Trust me, Nick, you'll have plenty of opportunity to get me naked and have your way with me, it's just not going to be tonight. That was a little too close for comfort."

He feigned a hurt expression. "I kind of enjoyed being close to you."

She swatted at him with a grin on her face. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." She left the kitchen in search of a board game and when she returned Nick had pulled out the leftover pizza and a couple of sodas. They settled in, seated on opposite sides of the table until the girls woke up for breakfast.