Nick looked at Sara quizzically as he turned the ignition of his Denali on to drive home after shift. "What? Do I have something on my face?"
Sara shook her head as an expression that Nick could only describe as girlish crossed her face. "No. I just wanted to ask you something."
"Ok." The last time Nick had seen that expression on her face, she'd asked him for cotton balls so she could remove the polish from her toenails.
She looked like she was gathering her breath. "Do you think you could drop me off at your house and go to the store by yourself because I was thinking that maybe if it was ok with you that I could use the soaker tub in your bathroom and take a long bath and then that way by the time you got back from the store I would be done and I wouldn't be invading your personal space."
Nick looked at her for a moment still trying to process her words.
Sara bit her lower lip waiting for him to say something.
He let out a soft chuckle. "Yes, I can drop you off at the house. Yes, you can use the tub in my bathroom, and you can take as long as you want, you don't have to be out of there by the time I get home." He smiled at her. "And as for the grocery store, if there's anything in particular you want, you'd better write it down because I'm not going to guarantee that I'll remember it." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Although, I should draw the line at tampons, unless of course it's an emergency." There was a definite teasing tone in his voice.
Sara couldn't help but laugh at him and just glanced out the window. "Thanks."
"No problem." He grinned and pulled the vehicle out of the parking lot and threaded it into traffic. It didn't take long to get to his house and as he pulled up along the curb, he glanced over at Sara. "Uh, did you want me to pick you up anything in particular?"
She smirked at him and then her expression softened into a smile. "I can't think of anything really, although I think you're running low on pints of ice cream. You might want to get some of that."
He grabbed a pen from the console and a piece of paper. "Ok, then. Sixteen pints of cookie dough ice cream." He glanced up. "Anything else?"
She swatted at him. "Freak."
He flashed her a grin. "And proud of it. Now go take a bath, I'll see you later."
Sara descended from the SUV and made her way up to the front door, glancing back at Nick and smiling to herself that he was waiting until she was inside the house before he left. As much as she found it strange in this day in age, she also found it endearing that he did little things like that for people to make them feel safe and cared for. She shut the door behind her and set her keys on the kitchen counter. She smiled at the thought of soaking in that tub. Her apartment was no frills and with her long legs it was impossible to submerge her entire body in the shallow tub. Nick, however, being a home owner had done some upgrades since he'd moved in, and since she had found out he had a soaker tub, she'd been jealous.
She went to the guest room and gathered her things before making her way into his bathroom. Despite the fact that it was ok with him that she use it, she still felt like she was invading his personal space as she turned the water on and poured in a capful of bubble bath.
Once the tub was full enough, she shed her clothes and climbed in, luxuriating in the warmth as it enveloped her body. She knew she'd been in there a long time, how long she wasn't sure, but when she heard the front door open, she decided that she'd been in there long enough. She climbed out of the tub, dried herself off and put her pajamas on while the tub drained.
When she emerged, she padded down the hallway in search of Nick who for some reason had just let out a string of choice curse words. When she found him in the kitchen, he had a hand behind his back and a wide grin on his face. "Hey, Sar."
She tilted her head at him suspiciously. "Hey."
He grinned even wider, although it looked a bit like he was gritting his teeth. "I got you something at the store."
She folded her arms in front of herself and pursed her lips, looking at him curiously. "What?"
He continued to grin and pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a ball of dark gray fur. "A kitty."
Sara wasn't sure what to say. She just looked at Nick with disbelief and then looked at the kitten who at the moment had a death grip on Nick's hand with his claws. "He's so little."
"I named him." Nick smirked as Sara took the kitten from his hand.
She glanced up at him quizzically. "You named him."
Nick raised a single eyebrow. "Harley." He extended his hand out to show a few claw and teeth marks. "I thought it was appropriate because he's a little Hell's Angel."
Sara pet the kitten who was now purring and looked at Nick again. "Why did you get me a kitten?" She wasn't against the idea, but she was never home and didn't think it was fair to have a pet with the hours she kept, but as Nick spoke, she knew he was right.
"Well, since I know you won't be living here forever, I thought you might need a roommate to keep you company." Nick looked at her and smiled. "Do you like him?"
Sara nodded, blinking back tears at Nick's gesture. She had been dreading going back to her apartment by herself. She knew she couldn't stay with Nick indefinitely, and maybe having this little ball of fluff around would help her to focus on something other than herself and her problems.
Nick pulled her into a hug and squished the kitten a bit in the process.
"Mrowrl!" Harley let his presence be known.
"Sorry, little guy." Nick let go of Sara and patted the kitten on his head.
Sara furrowed her brow for a moment. "Uh, did you happen to get him a litter box and food?"
Nick gave her a perplexed expression for a moment and then started laughing as he saw panic flash across her face. "Gotcha. Don't worry; I've got it all taken care of. Harley there is set up in the laundry room. I even got him high protein kitten food and a couple of toys."
Sara walked over to the laundry room and tried to restrain her smile as she noticed that not only had Nick gotten a litter box and food, he'd bought a football shaped cat bed, a scratching post, matching food and water dishes, and a wide assortment of toys. Sara set the kitten down and giggled as she watched his paws slide on the linoleum on his way to the food dish. She glanced over at Nick who seemed to be utterly delighted that she liked the surprise. She raised her eyebrow at him curiously. "Did you even go to the grocery store?"
He looked at her a bit sheepish. "Uh, well, I saw him out front and decided that maybe we could go tomorrow. Harley helped me pick out all of his stuff at the Petco next to the grocery store."
Sara couldn't help but giggle and walked over towards Nick, leaning up and kissing him on the cheek, smirking as she pulled away. "You are such a little boy sometimes."
He grinned at her. "And you are quite the girl."