With the knowledge that Franklin Pierce, or whatever his name really was,
was in fact the father of Chelsea Smith's baby, our efforts doubled to try
and track him down. O'Reilly had run down all available addresses for him
and had hit a dead end. We were fairly certain that this guy knew we were
on to him and that he'd most likely fled the area. Of course, I've learned
never to assume anything in this business, so we didn't rule out that he
was just laying low seeing how things would play out.
With the revelation of our relationship to Greg, both Nick and I were anxious to talk about how to tell everyone else. I mean it wasn't like we were announcing anything on par with an engagement, but a dating relationship in the midst of our team would certainly change the team dynamics and they should know about it soon.
As shift was wrapping up, I headed to the locker room to gather my things and find Nick so we could head to my doctor's appointment. I really hoped that the doctor would tell me that things were healing nicely in my hand and that I'd be able to take the splint off soon. I'd only had the damn thing on a few days and I wasn't sure I'd be able to last the entire two weeks. Of course, I also didn't want to do anything to merit an actual cast on it either, so, if I put things in perspective, two weeks was a piece of cake.
I entered the locker room and noticed Nick and Warrick standing there with their backs to the open door talking.
"Why don't you let me set you up, man?" Warrick obviously thought Nick needed to get out more. "You haven't dated in so long that I bet your little man there is shriveling up because it's not getting any action."
Nick let out a low chuckle. "Thanks for the offer, Warrick, but I think I can find a woman on my own. Besides, I'm not interested in something short term any more. I think I'm ready to settle down and you can't find that kind of a girl in a club."
Warrick looked at Nick with a bit of incredulity and then noticed that I was standing in the doorway. "Uh, hey, Sara."
Nick turned around and grinned at me as I walked in and I couldn't help but smile back at him. I'm pretty sure Nick knew I'd overheard their conversation. I could tell that Warrick noticed something was up by the size of Nick's grin, but he also didn't look like he was ready to ask questions. I'm glad that Nick and I hadn't planned on keeping this a secret. I can just imagine trying to keep something like that a secret from the best investigators in the country.
Nick closed his locker and raised his eyebrows at me. "You ready to go to the doctor, Sar?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." I nodded and rolled my eyes, then glanced at Warrick who it seemed was starting to get the picture. I smiled and glanced back at Nick raising a single eyebrow. I think that Nick was beginning to understand that Warrick was suspicious.
Nick cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. "We better get going; I don't want you to be late." We left before Warrick had a chance to start asking twenty questions.
As we climbed into Nick's Denali, I turned toward him and chuckled. "You know, I think he knows that something is up."
Nick grinned. "I know he does, but I didn't think that was the time. Besides, you do have a doctor's appointment and I really don't want you to be late."
I settled back in my seat and fastened my seatbelt as Nick pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the doctor's office. As we drove I couldn't help but look over at Nick and smile. I wondered how it was that I'd been so preoccupied with Grissom for so long that I'd missed what a wonderful man he was. Nick had a huge heart and I felt thankful that he wanted me to be a part of his life; that he wanted to have a romantic relationship with me to see where it might go. I felt blessed.
As we pulled into the parking lot of the doctor's office, Nick glanced over at me with a curious expression on his face. "You're awfully quiet."
I smiled at him. "I'm just thinking about how blessed I am to have you in my life."
Nick couldn't contain his smile. "I'm blessed to have you in mine, Sara." He leaned towards me and I leaned toward him to share a soft sweet kiss. His fingers caressed the side of my face as he pulled away. "We need to get that hand checked up." His grin was priceless. Nick took my good hand in his as we walked into my doctor's appointment.
We didn't have long to wait and finally Dr. Mitchell made an appearance. He removed the splint and manipulated my hand to check my pain level. The pain had gone down considerably since he had first examined it in the emergency room. Dr. Mitchell smiled at me as he put the splint back on my hand. "Sara, it looks like it's healing nicely. Make an appointment for a week from today and you may get to take this thing off depending how the X- rays we take at that point look."
I stopped and made an appointment before we left, and as Nick and I headed to my apartment, I realized that I was hungry. I turned toward him and chuckled. "Nick, are you hungry?"
He nodded. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I am."
"Well, then we'd better go somewhere, because I don't have very much food at my apartment." I realized that the last time I'd been grocery shopping had been at least a week before I had injured my hand.
He raised an amused eyebrow at me. "Do you want to go out to eat, or go to the grocery store?"
"I think the grocery store would be the best choice." I grinned at him. "As much as I like being with you, I don't want to be at your mercy for every meal."
Shopping for food with Nick is an experience. I'm a vegetarian and the man loves his meat. Not exactly the best foundation to shop together, but I think I can work around it. I also discovered that he has a serious fondness for Twinkies, a food that I have never in my life tasted. It's a wonder he looks as buff as he does the way he eats.
"Nick, what in the world is that?" I looked at him wondering if he had suddenly morphed into a little boy as he dangled a package in front of my face.
He had the cutest expression on his face. "They're Twinkies, Sar. Can we get them?"
I had to giggle in disbelief. "Nick do you realize the shelf life those things have?"
He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed my neck. "Please."
Ok, so maybe it was that I didn't want to make a scene in the store, but for the first time in my life, I bought a pack of Twinkies.
The meat aisle was another story all together. I haven't eaten meat since I sat up with Grissom and watched that pig decompose. Nick on the other hand, being from Texas, loves his beef. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes. "If you think you're going to put meat in my refrigerator, then you'd better make sure I can't see through the bag."
He grinned at me and stopped to pick out some FDA choice cut of meat I'm sure. By the time he caught up with me, I'd moved onto the produce section to get a nice selection of fresh vegetables. By the time we got back to my apartment with food, we were extremely hungry. I still can't believe he talked me into putting meat in my refrigerator, but I suppose if he promises to come over and cook a meatless dish for me when he eats that thing, it's the least I can do, as long as it stays in a bag I can't see through, I should be fine.
After the most delectable omelets, we retired to my couch to watch a little TV. Ok, if I'm being honest, we retired to the couch and turned the TV on to have an excuse to sit close together and kiss. I may be over thirty, but I love kissing, and Nick is a damn fine kisser. When he kisses me, it's like being kissed for the first time. It just makes me giddy.
I'm not sure how long we'd been sitting there, but I started to yawn and Nick pulled away with a slightly amused expression on his face. "I should go. You need your sleep."
I grinned at him and pulled him in for another long kiss before I nodded my head. "Yeah, I am tired." The thought occurred to me that I didn't really want Nick to go home, but I also didn't want to rush things. I had experienced enough disappointment with both Hank and Grissom, and I didn't want to rush into a broken heart. I wanted to wait and see if Nick would tell me what he'd told Warrick; that he was ready to find someone to settle down with. I wanted to see just how serious he was about me. There would be plenty of time later to work out his 'little man' as Warrick put it.
Reluctantly, we pulled ourselves off the couch and I walked Nick to the door, sneaking a few more kisses before he headed out the door to his Denali, with a promise that he'd be back before shift to make me dinner.
After I closed the door behind him, I realized how truly tired I was. I managed to get my flannel pajamas on before I collapsed into my bed and fell into a deep exhausted sleep.
With the revelation of our relationship to Greg, both Nick and I were anxious to talk about how to tell everyone else. I mean it wasn't like we were announcing anything on par with an engagement, but a dating relationship in the midst of our team would certainly change the team dynamics and they should know about it soon.
As shift was wrapping up, I headed to the locker room to gather my things and find Nick so we could head to my doctor's appointment. I really hoped that the doctor would tell me that things were healing nicely in my hand and that I'd be able to take the splint off soon. I'd only had the damn thing on a few days and I wasn't sure I'd be able to last the entire two weeks. Of course, I also didn't want to do anything to merit an actual cast on it either, so, if I put things in perspective, two weeks was a piece of cake.
I entered the locker room and noticed Nick and Warrick standing there with their backs to the open door talking.
"Why don't you let me set you up, man?" Warrick obviously thought Nick needed to get out more. "You haven't dated in so long that I bet your little man there is shriveling up because it's not getting any action."
Nick let out a low chuckle. "Thanks for the offer, Warrick, but I think I can find a woman on my own. Besides, I'm not interested in something short term any more. I think I'm ready to settle down and you can't find that kind of a girl in a club."
Warrick looked at Nick with a bit of incredulity and then noticed that I was standing in the doorway. "Uh, hey, Sara."
Nick turned around and grinned at me as I walked in and I couldn't help but smile back at him. I'm pretty sure Nick knew I'd overheard their conversation. I could tell that Warrick noticed something was up by the size of Nick's grin, but he also didn't look like he was ready to ask questions. I'm glad that Nick and I hadn't planned on keeping this a secret. I can just imagine trying to keep something like that a secret from the best investigators in the country.
Nick closed his locker and raised his eyebrows at me. "You ready to go to the doctor, Sar?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." I nodded and rolled my eyes, then glanced at Warrick who it seemed was starting to get the picture. I smiled and glanced back at Nick raising a single eyebrow. I think that Nick was beginning to understand that Warrick was suspicious.
Nick cleared his throat and glanced at his watch. "We better get going; I don't want you to be late." We left before Warrick had a chance to start asking twenty questions.
As we climbed into Nick's Denali, I turned toward him and chuckled. "You know, I think he knows that something is up."
Nick grinned. "I know he does, but I didn't think that was the time. Besides, you do have a doctor's appointment and I really don't want you to be late."
I settled back in my seat and fastened my seatbelt as Nick pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the doctor's office. As we drove I couldn't help but look over at Nick and smile. I wondered how it was that I'd been so preoccupied with Grissom for so long that I'd missed what a wonderful man he was. Nick had a huge heart and I felt thankful that he wanted me to be a part of his life; that he wanted to have a romantic relationship with me to see where it might go. I felt blessed.
As we pulled into the parking lot of the doctor's office, Nick glanced over at me with a curious expression on his face. "You're awfully quiet."
I smiled at him. "I'm just thinking about how blessed I am to have you in my life."
Nick couldn't contain his smile. "I'm blessed to have you in mine, Sara." He leaned towards me and I leaned toward him to share a soft sweet kiss. His fingers caressed the side of my face as he pulled away. "We need to get that hand checked up." His grin was priceless. Nick took my good hand in his as we walked into my doctor's appointment.
We didn't have long to wait and finally Dr. Mitchell made an appearance. He removed the splint and manipulated my hand to check my pain level. The pain had gone down considerably since he had first examined it in the emergency room. Dr. Mitchell smiled at me as he put the splint back on my hand. "Sara, it looks like it's healing nicely. Make an appointment for a week from today and you may get to take this thing off depending how the X- rays we take at that point look."
I stopped and made an appointment before we left, and as Nick and I headed to my apartment, I realized that I was hungry. I turned toward him and chuckled. "Nick, are you hungry?"
He nodded. "Now that you mention it, yeah, I am."
"Well, then we'd better go somewhere, because I don't have very much food at my apartment." I realized that the last time I'd been grocery shopping had been at least a week before I had injured my hand.
He raised an amused eyebrow at me. "Do you want to go out to eat, or go to the grocery store?"
"I think the grocery store would be the best choice." I grinned at him. "As much as I like being with you, I don't want to be at your mercy for every meal."
Shopping for food with Nick is an experience. I'm a vegetarian and the man loves his meat. Not exactly the best foundation to shop together, but I think I can work around it. I also discovered that he has a serious fondness for Twinkies, a food that I have never in my life tasted. It's a wonder he looks as buff as he does the way he eats.
"Nick, what in the world is that?" I looked at him wondering if he had suddenly morphed into a little boy as he dangled a package in front of my face.
He had the cutest expression on his face. "They're Twinkies, Sar. Can we get them?"
I had to giggle in disbelief. "Nick do you realize the shelf life those things have?"
He wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and kissed my neck. "Please."
Ok, so maybe it was that I didn't want to make a scene in the store, but for the first time in my life, I bought a pack of Twinkies.
The meat aisle was another story all together. I haven't eaten meat since I sat up with Grissom and watched that pig decompose. Nick on the other hand, being from Texas, loves his beef. I just looked at him and rolled my eyes. "If you think you're going to put meat in my refrigerator, then you'd better make sure I can't see through the bag."
He grinned at me and stopped to pick out some FDA choice cut of meat I'm sure. By the time he caught up with me, I'd moved onto the produce section to get a nice selection of fresh vegetables. By the time we got back to my apartment with food, we were extremely hungry. I still can't believe he talked me into putting meat in my refrigerator, but I suppose if he promises to come over and cook a meatless dish for me when he eats that thing, it's the least I can do, as long as it stays in a bag I can't see through, I should be fine.
After the most delectable omelets, we retired to my couch to watch a little TV. Ok, if I'm being honest, we retired to the couch and turned the TV on to have an excuse to sit close together and kiss. I may be over thirty, but I love kissing, and Nick is a damn fine kisser. When he kisses me, it's like being kissed for the first time. It just makes me giddy.
I'm not sure how long we'd been sitting there, but I started to yawn and Nick pulled away with a slightly amused expression on his face. "I should go. You need your sleep."
I grinned at him and pulled him in for another long kiss before I nodded my head. "Yeah, I am tired." The thought occurred to me that I didn't really want Nick to go home, but I also didn't want to rush things. I had experienced enough disappointment with both Hank and Grissom, and I didn't want to rush into a broken heart. I wanted to wait and see if Nick would tell me what he'd told Warrick; that he was ready to find someone to settle down with. I wanted to see just how serious he was about me. There would be plenty of time later to work out his 'little man' as Warrick put it.
Reluctantly, we pulled ourselves off the couch and I walked Nick to the door, sneaking a few more kisses before he headed out the door to his Denali, with a promise that he'd be back before shift to make me dinner.
After I closed the door behind him, I realized how truly tired I was. I managed to get my flannel pajamas on before I collapsed into my bed and fell into a deep exhausted sleep.