Wow....it's been a long time... but yes I am alive. I had the flu and of course got out of the habit of writing, then exams came up and yadda yadda yadda, but I am here before you now to try and get back into the swing of things and update a little more frequently and perhaps to finish a story one day. Anyway, thanks again for all the reviews, and it seems unanimous that everyone likes the chapter length this way and no longer. Awesome:-) And about Dallas, I got that inspiration from the movie A Walk in the Park, where George Eads stars. The movie is ultimate cheese but it's cute and he's so great with the dogs I had to give him one. :-) (He's also very nice wet in a towel;-);-) heehee)

I could steal from forensicsfan and say I would like to have a cup of coffee with George... but I think I would like a little more perhaps... heehee;- ) But I own nothing CSI, other than a CSI computer game. Did you hear about the sushi restaurant for lawyers? It's called sosumi:-D

BTW, this is going to be a long chapter, just because I want to get something more accomplished in the chapter... rather than having more than one chapter of just humor... cause there's more to this story than that... if that makes any sense to you fine folk.

"You sure?"

"Sara, I can handle it." A muffled voice came from behind a pile of boxes and bags. All Sara could see of Nick were his legs, the top of his forehead, and his hands underneath the stack of his belongings. If that wasn't enough he had two bags of groceries hung on each hand.

"I can take some of it."

"There's still some stuff in the back of the car."

"But we could just make more trips-"

"It's fine." Nick started to walk up to her apartment.

"I've got the key so you may want to wait there, buddy boy."

"Okay, fine."

Sara took four bags in each hand then started to walk in front of him. "Can you even see?"

"No, just keep talking so I know where to go."

She chuckled and shook her head. "You're ridiculous."

"I know." Came the muffled reply.

When they got to the door, Sara unlocked it and opened it wide for Nick to go on in. Before he knew what was happening, Dallas ran ahead into the house and he tripped in her short frame.

"Dallas!" Nick shouted before boxes flew everywhere. He grabbed the first thing he could to stop himself from falling and grabbed an unprepared Sara.

"Nick!" Sara called when he fell on top of her.

He laughed hard when he realized what a site they must have been; the two of them lying in the middle of the doorway with groceries and boxes everywhere and a dog barking at the pair.

"Nick get off me!"

"That's not what you said last night, baby." He whispered in a teasing stage whisper.

"NICK!"

"Okay, okay." He got up, chuckling and took her hand to help her on her feet.

"I told you you had too much stuff."

"It was Dallas' fault."

"Uh huh." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Well we'd better pick this up."

"Jeeze, I'm not moved in with her for five minutes and already she's nagging me." He said with a grin.

"I do not nag!"

"Whatever you say, Naggy McNag."

"Naggy McNag?" She repeated, blinking at him.

"Uh huh." His grin got wider.

"That's the best insult you could come up with?"

"I'll go get the rest of the stuff."

"If you didn't notice, although since you couldn't see I guess you didn't notice that I took what was left in the Denali."

"All of it?"

"There wasn't much left! You took pretty much everything!"

Nick merely chuckled and stepped into her apartment, looking around. "And I thought I was a neat freak."

"Shut up."

Her apartment wasn't small, but it wasn't overly large. Just right for two people to live comfortably. Nothing was out of place; even the stack of magazines on the coffee table was perfectly lined up according to size. Kicking off his shoes, he ambled over to the kitchen area with some grocery bags. When he opened the fridge door he looked up at her.

"I guess you don't eat in much, do you?" The fridge had a lemon, a few bottles of beer and some lettuce. Other than that, it was full of old take out containers.

"Well—"

"This must be the only messy spot here. I would say most of this has gone bad, give me a garbage bag I'll clear this out. If you want to help unpack why don't you put my DVDs over by yours. It could take a while to get them in alphabetical order." He added sarcastically with a smirk.

"I don't..." He raised an eyebrow at her. "They're listed by category THEN alphabetical...so what?"

Nick chuckled. "Just hand me a garbage bag."

After a few hours of cleaning, rearranging, and bickering, they finally got all of Nick's things put away and with Nick's help, Sara's apartment looked more lived in and homey. Dallas laid down in her bed which was next to the sofa and Nick and Sara were seated together, each with a beer in their hands.

Nick sighed heavily and stretched out on the couch. "You want me to cook now?" He asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"No, you're tired. I can wait for tomorrow. Pizza?"

"Only if it's meat lovers."

"Shut up cowboy. How about I order the pizza."

"Okay, as long as there's no freaky stuff looking back up at me."

Sara laughed and called the nearest pizza place before relaxing back into the couch. "That was hard work."

"Hey, I did most of the work."

"I helped push the couch."

"If that's what makes you feel better."

"Ah, I'm stiff." She stretched and rolled her neck.

"I'll have you know I can give the best massage known to man."

"Really?"

"Of course. Uh, why don't you sit on the floor." She looked at him skeptically, but sat down on the floor between his legs, her back against the couch. His large strong hands started on the indent between her neck and shoulders and massaged the sore muscles.

"Oh Nick..." She moaned her name and he gulped. It was starting to get hot in the room and if he got really turned on, something embarrassing could really happen. "That feels really goooood..."

"Uh, I wonder where the pizza is..."

"Nick I only called a few minutes ago."

"Well they should be quicker."

"Is something wrong?"

"No no no no I'm fine, just just perfectly f-f-fine..."

"Oookay..."

"I just remembered, uh, Wild On Discovery's on!"

"What?" She turned around and he grabbed the remote to turn the TV on.

"Nick what's wrong?"

"Noth-"His voice squeaked and he cleared his throat. "I mean nothing."

"Alright." She eyed him carefully and sat down next to him. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You look kinda red in the face." She moved to put her arm across his forehead.

"Y-you know maybe I-I should just-I'll be right back."

With that, he ran down the hall into the bathroom. Panting, he threw some cold water on his face and composed himself.

"Nick? You okay?" Sara knocked on the other side of the door.

"Ye-yeah I'll be out in a second."

"Okay. Just shout out if you need anything, alright?"

"Uh huh." When he heard her walk away he breathed a sigh of relief. "How am I gonna last living with her." He looked at himself in the mirror. "I can't do this, she's one of my best friends. It's wrong for me to look at her like that."

Nick shook his head and composed himself once again. With a little more confidence, he walked out of the bathroom. Sara was sitting on the couch with a pizza on the coffee table.

"Grab a plate." She said with a smile. "You want to play Monopoly or something?"

"Oh my God, I haven't played that in so long."

Sara laughed. "Good, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"Oh no, you like staring at it too much." He teased.

"I do not!" She screeched, her jaw dropping.

"Sure. I know you do. I've caught you."

"Whatever. You think very highly of yourself if you think I've looked at your ass."

"Oh come on. Remember that time when we were trying to get the bar off of the shower in the cookie cutter home?"

"What about it?"

"I know you stared when I was pulling it off."

Sara couldn't help but think about how good he looked, his strong muscles flexing while he tried to pull it off. "Why do you think that?"

"Cause I was staring at yours." He said with a grin.

"You male chauvinist pig!" She smacked him.

"Hey, I know girls do it too."

"We do not... ogle men..." She started getting flustered. Nick smirked.

"Come on, I told you I looked at yours. Why don't you tell me the truth."

She sighed, defeated. "Okay maybe once. But you know it was only cause you were right in front of me with your ass in the air. I think anyone would have looked then. Even Warrick." She added with a sly grin.

Nick nearly choked on his pizza in disgust and shock at her last statement but quickly recovered. "Sara, I am shocked and appalled. Looking at me like I am merely an object." He pretended to be offended.

"Nick you're horrible. C'mon I'm gonna kick your ass at Monopoly."

"Unless I kick yours first."

"We'll see."

Several hours into the game, Nick tossed the rest of his money and properties onto the board. "Fine you win."

"I told you!"

"It was only cause you got Parkplace and Boardwalk. If it wasn't for that you would have been bankrupt long ago."

"Nick, look down. I own the entire board."

"I've got Mediterranean and Baltic!"

"Oh, sorry. That makes all the difference." She jabbed, sarcastically.

"I'm just out of practice. Hook up my PS2, I'll kick your ass."

"I don't like video games."

"Chicken! Chicken! BAW-KAWWWW!" He flapped his arms and moved his head back and forth, pretending to be a chicken, though looking more like a crazy Texan flapping his arms.

"Okay so apparently you are twelve years old."

"I've got lots of nieces and nephews. I never did grow up. I'm their favorite uncle."

"Really? I didn't know you had a big family. How many brothers and sisters?"

"Six sisters, one brother. I'm the youngest."

"Wow, you two were outnumbered. Why don't you tell me about them?."

"What about PS2?" Her playful mood was gone, suddenly, she was sitting next to him, smiling a thousand watt smile.

"Nick I hardly know anything about you. I mean I know you, but nothing about your friends or family. And if you're living here, why not tell me?"

"Only if you tell me about your family."

"Mine's not that interesting. Just me and my parents in a Bed and Breakfast."

"That sounds cool." She shrugged. "I'll tell you about my family, but only if you promise to tell me about yours."

"I just told you my story."

"There's got to be more than that. I'll tell you mine, then you tell me yours."

She sighed. "Fine, but you first."

"Okay, well it all started way back on the 18th of August, 1971, in Dallas Texas. The most beautiful little baby boy the world ever saw was born—"

"Nick..." He looked at her with a grin. "I want a story, not an ego trip."

"I take it you're looking for the shorter version?"

"Yeah, slightly shorter."

"Alright. Well, my brother Michael is the oldest; he's 50. The next is Elizabeth, she's 46. Then Eve and Bridget, the twins, are 42. Katherine is 38, and then Victoria is 34. Last is me, Nicholas," She smiled when he rolled his eyes at his full name. "And I'm... 28." Sara glared at him. "Okay, 32."

She giggled. "You're old."

"Hey you're only a month younger than me! It's your turn now."

"No way, I said my bit. I want to hear about you."

"I'm sure you have some stories, growing up with that many kids, it had to have been interesting." "I'm sure yours is more interesting than mine. I lived in the romanticized world of Texas, with cowboys and ranches. I was born in Dallas, but we lived on the outskirts of the city on a huge ranch. Each of us had our own horse; mine was Storm. He's still at the ranch now, but he's retired. Horses live a long time, but I can't ride him like a used to. My other horse is only 12, he's Maverick.

"My brother and I get along, but he's 18 years older than me, so we never saw much of each other growin up. He and his friends used to play a lot of pranks on me, and quite a few of them ended up with me in the barnyard in little pajamas with the feet in them, or the ones with the cowboys on them. Very embarrassing." Nick grinned at the memory, not noticing that his accent was becoming more pronounced as he talked about home.

"Mike was married by the time I was only ten, and I've been an uncle since I was fourteen. My parents are still trying to set me up with the girls around town, since I'm the only bachelor left. Mike had three girls, and although Dad is smitten at that he wants me to be married off and have a boy so I can 'carry on the family name.'" He made his voice deeper to imitate his dad. "Beth's got four kids; two girls and two boys, Eve's got three; two boys and a girl, Bridge's got five kids; three girls and two boys, Katie's got four; three boys and one girl, and Vicky's got four; three girls and a boy."

By now, Sara was sitting up hugging her knees to her chest, hanging onto every word. She could tell he was in love with his family, and he missed them greatly being in Vegas. He took a minute to collect his thoughts and she asked quietly, "Do you miss them?"

"Oh yeah. But I couldn't turn down the chance to work with Gil Grissom, and had to come out here. Everyone else is still in Texas, most of them living in Dallas." He chuckled. "Every Sunday, whoever's in driving distance always comes back to mom and dad's for a big turkey dinner. Every single Sunday..."

"I wish I had a family like that." Sara said sadly.

"So what was your childhood like? I bet it was... interesting."

She snorted a laugh. "You can say that again." Smugly, he opened his mouth but she stopped him. "A figure of speech, Nick." With a big sigh, she began her tale. "Well as you know, my parents are ex hippies. Being born in 1971, my parents were just getting over the fact that the 60s were finally over, and the new decade was very different. They went to Woodstock 1969, where they got married by a pastor performing marriages for $3.00,"

"Sounds like Vegas."

"Sort of. Mom showed me a picture of the wedding... she wasn't wearing a shirt, just paint." Nick's eyes widened. "They were very sexually liberated. Mom gave me 'the talk' at age eight when I caught them on the couch. Oh, and I was apparently conceived at a concert in San Fran that was similar to Woodstock, just smaller."

"Woah."

"Yeah... Paula and Keith became better known for a while as Flower and Rain. Some of their friends still call them that. My middle name is... never mind."

"No, c'mon tell me."

"No, it's too weird." Grinning, he leaned over and tickled her sides, getting a loud laugh from her. "Okay, okay..." He let go. "It's..." She sighed. "If you tell anyone at the lab, so help me God you'll be singing soprano with the Dixie Chicks." He laughed. "It's... Willowtree."

Nick starred at her for a moment, blinked twice and swallowed a grin as he said "Sara Willowtree Sidle?"

"Yes. Dad wanted to call me Sue. Sue Almond. I would have been Sue A. Sidle."

"Woah... that wouldn't have been good."

"No, especially in our line of work. 'Hi, I'm Sue A Sidle, I'd like to talk to you about your son's Suicide.' That would have worked really well."

"So, didn't you grow up on a bed and breakfast?"

"Yeah, well it was several little cottages, and our house had a huge dinning room where everyone came to eat. I spent my summers cooking, cleaning, everything. Being an only child, it was hard, so they hired kids from the town too. Most of the people that used to go there were hippies too, and the kids were all scared off, so needless to say, I wasn't too popular. Especially when we'd get calls from parents saying they heard strange noises coming from my parents room. Now, it's more of a honeymoon retreat, where each cottage is supplied with, get this, along with the regular soap shampoo and all that, a variety bundle of condoms, as well as a Kama Sutra book and sensual oils."

With wide eyes, Nick managed to say, "If they were that liberated you would think they would have had more kids. I mean, my parents were very conservative, and they had seven of us."

"Yeah, well mom was on the new 'medical miracle', the pill. She used to tell me about it and by the time I was fourteen she told me I should go on it 'just in case'."

"Wow."

"You've said that about fifteen times now."

"Yeah, well... you're childhood was certainly... different from mine..."

"Yeah at least you didn't learn about sex when you were eight."

"No, I was six."

"No way!" She pushed his arm.

"Hey, my brother was 18 when I was born! Everyone was older than me and kept it from me for a while, but eventually I found out. When he came home from college, he'd bring girls home sometimes. Mom would make them sleep in separate rooms, but his room was next to mine, and he'd sneak them in. I used to hear strange sounds from his room until one night when I had a bad dream I went in there and saw him and his girlfriend, who's actually now his wife, on his bed... doing... well you know..."

"Sex?" She offered. (AN minds out of the gutter, people, she did NOT offer him sex! At least not yet, lol)

He blushed. "Yes."

"Nick, you're 32, we work together in a field where we come across some sick people, and have to deal with everything from collecting semen to visiting whorehouses for information. And you can't say sex to me?"

"I was just... brought up to respect a lady and not talk about that stuff..." He mumbled.

"That's just too cute." She said with a grin that caused his face to go redder. "C'mon cowboy, I dunno about you, but I'm tired. And I still have to make your bed."

"I can sleep on the couch."

"No, it's comfortable for sitting, but believe me it does strange things to your back when you're asleep."

"Uh, okay. You want to talk anymore?"

"Not right now, Nick. I'm tired. I know you got to sleep a bit today, but I had a really hard case last night. And we've been moving everything, I just need sleep."

"Okay, well can I get a shower?"

"Why don't you wait until after you sleep a bit?"

"Uh, umm well...I think I need one now..." He hoped she didn't notice his blatant stalling.

She eyed him curiously. "Okay then. I'll put your bed together then go on to bed."

"Sure."

He went on in and Sara realized she needed some things out of her bathroom before she could go to bed. Afraid she'd fall asleep if she went and lay down to wait she sat back down on the couch, not realizing she was asleep until waking up to a very wet Nick in only a towel around his hips standing over her.

"Nick!" Her eyes snapped open, but she tried not to stare at his chiseled abs and chest, dripping in water. The towel was just hanging there, and she could see the indent of his hips. Her fists clenched as she tried not to think carnal thoughts about her best friend, but he looked so damn good. When she looked up she saw his hair was tousled and it completed the sexy ensemble. "Umm...what is it?"

"Well for one I wanted to wake you to tell you to go to bed, and that I have no idea where the rest of your towels are." She looked down again and noticed that the towel he had on was basically a hand towel, and that it barely covered what it needed too. "Unless you wanted to see me wearing a facecloth in which case you could have just told me you want my body." He teased.

"Uh..." Finally finding her voice as she stood up. "They're in the linen closet...sorry. Oh and the sheets for your bed," She handed them to him, forcing him to let go of the knot on his towel. "And your blanket, and comforter..."

"AHH!" He cut her off as his towel slipped to the ground. Before Sara could see anything he brought his arms down so that the pile of bedclothes and towels covered him.

"Oh...um...sorry..." Awkwardly he tried to find a way to bed down to pick up his towel. "Why don't I—"She made a move for the pile of clothes so he could bend down, not thinking that he was holding onto them for dear life.

"That's okay Sara I got it!" He blurted out, thankful that he actually had more than a flimsy towel in front of him at the moment. 'I wonder if she'd notice if I got another shower... a very cold one... of course she would, she's a CSI for God's sake...Nick, just calm down, buddy...' he thought to himself. "I'll just go in here and get dressed." He backed up into the bathroom and shut the door.

"Smooth, Sara...smooth." She said to herself and covered her face with her hands.

Afraid to show her face to Nick again that afternoon, Sara went on to bed, leaving him to make his own bed as he had taken the bedclothes in the bathroom with him. She was so tired she didn't have time to think about how she had royally embarrassed herself in front of her friend and coworker, and fell sound asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

A loud scream from the next room woke her up suddenly. "NOOOO!" Came a loud male voice, which confused her in her sleep-clouded mind for a moment, until she remembered that Nick was staying with her. Worried about him, she went into the hall and pushed open his door. He was starring at her, panting and in a cold sweat.

"Nick, what is it?"

"Noth—nothing..."

"Nick—"

"No, I'm fine. You go on to bed."

"You sure?"

"Yeah... maybe I'll just... go play some Playstation or something..."

"You need sleep."

"We're not working tonight, I can sleep then."

"Nick, you need sleep. Would a warm glass of milk or something help? A bedtime story? Lullaby?" She asked with a small comforting smile.

"Thanks, Sara, but you go on back to sleep. I know you're tired."

"If you need to talk, you know I'm right here."

"Thanks. Maybe later."

"Okay." She went to go but stopped and turned around took at him for a moment. With a shy smile she asked him quietly, "What about a hug?"

He grinned. "That could help." She leaned over and put her arms around him, repeating in her mind that he is in pain and needs a friend, not someone to feel his biceps for him... though they were quite strong and it felt very good to be wrapped in his arms. "Thanks Sar. For everything. You have no idea how much this means to me."

Lifting off of him she smiled at him, which in turn caused him to smile again. He loved her smile, but she didn't do it nearly enough, "No problem." She said before turning around and leaving his room.

"Nice going Stokes." He whispered to himself, rolling his eyes as he plopped down on his bed. "I'm sure she sees you as a real manly man now..." Too scared and frustrated to sleep, he got up and went into the living room to find something to do until Sara got up again.

Read and Review!! To Be Continued... insert dramatic music here