Nick dropped the sheets on the floor and walked over towards Sara, sitting down next to her on the edge of the bed. "How long have you been thinking about this?"

She glanced over at him, choking back a sob, her voice wavering and cracking as she spoke. "A while."

Nick felt like he'd just had the wind knocked out of him as he looked over at her. He was quiet for a moment as he felt his throat constrict, fighting back tears. "What's going on?"

She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I don't know. It's nothing and everything."

A myriad of emotions crossed Nick's face and he let out a deep breath before he spoke again. "Sara, when did you start drinking like that?"

Sara looked everywhere but at Nick. She felt a wave of shame wash over her and her voice was barely a whisper. "I didn't want anyone to know." She wanted to deny that she had been drinking, but he'd seen the evidence all over her living room and they both knew that the evidence didn't lie.

"Sara, what's really bothering you?" He reached over and touched her arm. He knew that her drinking was just an outward expression of what was going on inside of her. He felt an overwhelming wave of guilt as he considered that he had ignored all the signs that she needed help; that she needed someone to show her that they cared.

She looked at him. "I don't even know where to start." Her voice was a whisper, but her words were the beginning of a confession. She really didn't know where to start, but she knew that he wasn't going to buy any line of bull from her and that she couldn't deny that something really was seriously wrong.

He smiled softly. "Are you hungry? I'll order some pizza and soda and you can talk my ear off. I'm a good listener."

"What I wouldn't give for a beer right now." She moaned, fully aware that he wouldn't let her. A smile began to play at her lips. Just that small confession began to make her feel a little bit lighter as if telling the truth had begun to lift the burden she'd been carrying around for months.

"No way in hell are you getting one." Nick smirked at her. "C'mon, we have some laundry to do and then you're going to eat something and tell me what a crappy friend I've been to not notice that you needed me."

She looked at him with a serious gaze. "You're not a crappy friend, Nick. You're a very good friend. I've had the worst day of my entire life and you're here with me right now." She leaned over and hugged him. "I'm not sure I won't be a bitch tomorrow, but thank you for being here."

He hugged her back, blinking back tears. "Hey, you can be a bitch all you want if it means you'll be here tomorrow." There was a hitch in his voice. "I can't believe we almost lost you today."

"I'm sorry." She whispered, not really sure how she was supposed to feel.

"Don't apologize, Sara. You needed us and we let you down." He let her out of his embrace and smiled as he wiped at his eyes. "Now let's get some pizza."

"Ok." She tried to smile, but it came out as a slight curve of her lips. She pulled herself off of the bed and walked over to where Nick had dropped the sheets on the floor. She picked them up and glanced back at him. "I'm just gonna throw these in the wash."

He grinned at her, still trying to get his emotions under control. "I'll order the pizza. Double meat on yours."

A real smile spread across Sara's face and she laughed. "You are such a freak."

He chuckled. "And proud of it." He watched as she left the room and then let out a deep breath. He was really afraid for her, his brave front aside. He hoped that she would open up a little and tell him what had been going on that had caused her to withdraw from everyone. He had his own suspicions, but he wanted her to articulate them.

A while later they sat on her couch devouring a large vegetarian pizza and drinking root beer. Sara sat there looking around her apartment. "I really let this place turn into a shit hole didn't I?"

"I don't know if I would have phrased it quite like that, but it did kind of smell." Nick replied with a smirk.

She turned around to face him, a soft smile on her face. "You probably think that I'm crazy."

He shook his head. "You're not crazy, Sara. I think you're overwhelmed and you thought that you had to do it all by yourself, but you're not crazy."

She scoffed. "Well I feel pretty damn crazy. I can see the headlines now 'Las Vegas Criminalist Attempts Suicide, Fails Miserably'."

"Well that's one thing I'm glad you failed at." Nick said sincerely.

Sara studied him for a moment. "How do you do it? How can you be so upbeat all the time?"

He thought for a moment before he answered her. "Sara, I've just learned that things usually look better after a good night's sleep."

She had an intense expression on her face. "What if you can't sleep?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Nightmares?"

She nodded letting out a sigh. "Yeah."

Nick took a sip of his root beer. "I had nightmares after what happened with Nigel Crane."

She looked at him incredulously. "But you didn't move."

He shook his head. "No, I didn't. If I had, he would have won."

"But how did you sleep?" She grabbed another slice of pizza.

"I didn't always sleep, sometimes I still don't, but I knew that I could call my family anytime day or night and just knowing that helped." He confessed.

"Do they rent out?" Sara quipped.

Nick reached over and put his hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "You can call me. Anytime. Day or night." His expression was full of sincerity.

She furrowed her brow and felt tears welling up. She fought them back as she smiled at Nick. "Thanks."

They were both quiet for a few minutes and then Sara turned back towards Nick. "Do you know why I went up to the roof?"

Nick studied her and shook his head. "I'm hoping that you'll tell me."

"After we all went out to celebrate your promotion, I got pulled over." Sara began staring at her fingers.

Nick winced. "Oh, Sara."

She lifted her hand to make him stop talking. "They didn't cite me, but they did call Grissom."

"Shit." Nick exhaled harshly. "What did he do?"

"He picked me up from the station and took me home." She had a disgusted expression on her face. "He just told me to sleep it off. I took a cab into work."

Nick had a guilty expression on his face. "I didn't think you were drunk when you left."

"I didn't think I was either, but apparently I was wrong." She sniffled. "He barely said a word to me, Nick. His expression said it all. I just feel like I'm a complete failure."

"Sara, you're an amazing woman and you made a mistake. Hell, I made a mistake; none of us should have driven." He looked at her with regret on his face. "You know, you're not perfect. You have flaws just like the rest of us. That's part of why we like you so much. You're human."

She had tears running down her face again, but she was smiling. "It's been a really long time since I felt like someone cared about me. What did I do to deserve a friend like you?"

He reached over and put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. "You didn't have to do anything, Sara. I'm just here."