No One Said It Would Be Easy

Chapter 9 –

No one said it would be easy
But no one said it'd be this hard
No one said it would be easy
No one thought we'd come this far

Disclaimers in chapters 1 and 5

Spoilers: Anything through season four.

A/N Wow ok so it's been like forever since I updated but real life has been a bitch. I was really sick for a week, stupid meds. And then I had finals to deal with and then I was in MN for the holidays. I'm terribly sorry for making you wait so long. I hope everyone enjoys this installment! Read and Review!!! It's 11:23 MTN time so I got the new chapter in before the New Year Woohoo!

Las Vegas

Saturday

"Matthew's middle name is Nicholas yes."

"W…why? Do you have a relative named Nicholas?"

"No. Um…I named him for you." Nick glanced over at Sara his eyes were wide with surprise.

"You named him for me? Why would you do that?"

"You are my best friend Nick and I had a son, who else would I name him for?"

"Um, well I guess I don't know. Grissom I suppose would be the obvious choice, or your father?

"Neither Grissom or my father mean as much to me as you do Nick. Look if it's a problem just think of it as another middle name. Nicholas is a common name…"

"No, no I'm…well I'm actually very honored that you would name him for me Sara. It was just a surprise I guess." Nick smiled at her then turned his attention back to the road. They shortly turned into a parking lot; the atmosphere in the vehicle was still thick from their previous conversation when Matt decided to make his presence known once more.

"Mommy can we get pancakes?"

"I don't know baby. They may not have pancakes here." Nick held up his hand.

"Oh but they do Matt. They have the best chocolate chip pancakes on the planet!"

"Chocolate chip pancakes?" Matt asked confused.

"Sara! Are you telling me this child hasn't had chocolate chip pancakes?"

"No he hasn't. We don't eat a lot of sweet foods."

"Well that's going to change today." The three headed into the restaurant looking very much like a happy family.

Later that afternoon they were at a park near Nick's house, Matthew was playing on the slide and Sara and Nick were watching from a nearby bench. Sara had nearly forgotten their earlier conversation but it still lingered on the back of her mind, and Nick's as well.

"Sara, why didn't you tell me earlier how you felt?"

"I told you I tried. And it was just very hard for me to deal with the aftermath of that I guess. I ran away and I shouldn't have."

"Sara, um what would you say if I asked you to stay?"

"Stay?"

"Yeah to stay here in Vegas, I could help find you two a place to live. Heck you could live with me if you wanted. I just don't think I can go three years without seeing you again. And I have to say that I am smitten with that little boy. I just realized how much being away from you tore me up. I missed you terribly Sara. More then even I realized." Sara's hand was covering her mouth and tears were slowly running down her face. She just nodded her head and then threw herself into Nick's embrace.

"Thank you." She mumbled into his now damp shirt. "I have missed you so much Nick. It has been so hard."

"Well we can't go through something like this again can we?"

"No, never."

"This isn't going to be easy Sara. But I know I want you back in my life on a permanent basis. I don't know how I would react if I couldn't see you all the time again."

"I won't leave again Nick. Certainly not the way I did before." Matt came running over nearly bowling himself over.

"Momma!" Sara was startled by her sons shout. She had been looking at Nick for a while and not Matt, so she was surprised to hear him.

"Hey baby, how are you?"

"Can we get ice cream?" Sara eyed him and then nodded. "Woohoo!"

"Hey Matt, before we go can I talk to you?"

"Yup," he replied and sat in Nick's lap.

"What would you think about living here?"

"Where?"

"Here in Las Vegas. Would you like that?"

"With Nick?"

"No, sweetie we would have our own house."

"But you would get to come see me whenever you wanted to," said Nick.

"Granma and Granpa too?"

"No, they will stay at the Bay, but they still aren't too far away. But Grandpa Gil is here and so is Nick and you will make a lot of other friends, because you will be in preschool soon. What do you think?" Matt shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok." He said with a smile.

"Good," replied Nick. "Let's go get ice cream!"

On the way back to Grissom's they picked up a paper to see if there were any apartments not too far from work that were a reasonable price for Sara. They set up in the living room on the coffee table. Nick started glancing through the paper while Sara put Matthew down for a nap. Sara walked back into the living room with a smile on her face. Nick smiled back and motioned for her to join him.

"Did he go down ok?"

"Yeah, he was worn out from the park. I knew he wouldn't eat much of that ice cream. Have you found anything yet?"

"Nope I just started looking. Do you think Matt will transition well?"

"Yeah I think he will be fine. He's only three so there shouldn't be a huge transition for him."

"Good. I wouldn't want him to have problems." They looked through the paper but didn't find anything suitable for Sara and Matthew.

"Great," said Sara. "I guess I'll just stay with Gil a little longer."

"Well actually, why don't the two of you stay with me?"