Holidays at the Stokes Place

Pairing: Nick and Sara (Of course! I wouldn't have it any other way)

Now that 2005 has arrived, how are Nick and Sara greeting the first full day of the year?

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Sara, Nick or any other mentioned character on CSI. If I did own Sara and Nick, they would have been hooked up and hitched already! (Writers of the show: take notice!) However, I do own Nick's family.

Happy 2005

Nick and Sara were still sleeping peacefully on the first day of 2005. He had his arms around Sara's waist and the covers were messed up slightly. They were watching a slate of British comedies after sneaking out of the family celebration. In the middle of The Young Ones, they had drifted off to sleep.

"Well, look at this," Tom said as he entered Nick and Sara's room. "My kid brother and sister-in-law are still sleeping."

"Tom, leave them alone," Audrey said. "I think it is cute that Nick and Sara are sleeping like that."

Nick started to stir and groan. His eyes were stilled closed and he was still holding on to his wife.

"Tom, let's get out of here before Nicky and Sara wake up," Audrey said. "I don't want them to start screaming at us."

Tom and Audrey left the room before Nick or Sara woke up. Nobody needed to deal with the aftermath if Nick and Sara caught Tom and Audrey looking at them waking up. It was likely that Cynthia and Thomas would rush upstairs to find out what's going on.

A few moments later Nick woke up and sat up on the bed. Sara was still asleep and he was careful to release his hold on her as not to disturb her. He got up from bed to look out the window. It was daylight and it blinded him slightly. He slowly went back to bed, but not to sleep. He sat and looked at his wife's sleeping form and smiled. She looks so peacefully innocent while she sleeps, he thought.

"Nicky, what time is it?" Sara groggily asked with her eyes still closed.

"It is now 12:16 in the morning, Sunshine," Nick said. "We have been asleep for about nine hours."

Sara slowly opened her eyes and saw Nick sitting in bed flashing his gorgeous grin at her. She silently chuckled as she sat up. He pulled her in an embrace and they kissed.

"I want to wish you a very Happy New Year," Nick said.

"Happy 2005, Nick," Sara said. "Wow, we are in a new year already."

"Yeah, this is our first new year as a married couple," Nick observed. "Last New Year's Day, we were we already engaged."

"My first as an actual member of the Stokes family," Sara said.

Nick smiled and he was about to get up from bed. He noticed she was pouting and he remained seated.

"What is it now?" Nick asked.

"Stay here with me a while longer," Sara said.

"I don't think so, at least not for long," Nick said. "We have to go for the annual New Year's Day Brunch with the rest of the family. Mom and dad made reservations at 2:30 at that restaurant where we had our wedding reception."

"Yum, that food was awesome!" Sara said. "I am sure their brunch would be just as delicious!"

"That is a favorite place of the family's," Nick smiled. "Sierra, Zoƫ, Michelle, Eliana and Madison all had their Sweet Sixteen parties there. It was the place where we had our wedding receptions. My siblings and I treated our parents to dinner to celebrate their 40th anniversary."

"I am looking forward to that brunch," Sara said. "How long do you want to stay in bed?"

"Oh, let's stay in bed for another fifteen to twenty minutes," Nick said. "Then we hit the showers. Is that fair enough?"

"Yeah," Sara said. "I want the shower first!"

"No, I want it first," Nick said. "Besides, you were first yesterday!"

"You win!" she surrendered.

"How about we go together," Nick said. "We could kill two birds with one stone!"

"Nicholas Anthony Stokes!" Sara screamed, gave him a hard swat in the leg and he winced. "No way, forget it! What if your parents and siblings barge in on us?"

"Now you are acting like a high school girl," Nick said. "Okay, if you are so concerned about family barging in on us, let's wait until we get back to Vegas and do it."

"Fair enough," Sara said.

Before either one of them could say or do anything else, Nick's cell phone rang.

"Stokes!" he said.

"Nicky, this is Jim Brass," the voice on the other line said. "How have your holidays been?"

"Hold on, I am putting you on intercom so Sara can listen and participate," Nick said as he turned in the intercom feature in his phone. "I am sorry about that."

"That's okay," Brass said. "I just wanted to say hi and how are your holidays."

"We are enjoying them," Sara said. "How have yours been?"

"Pretty decent," he replied. "Grissom, Catherine and Lindsey invited us to their house for New Year's Eve. It was a lot of fun, but I can imagine how yours was."

"When you have New Year's at Stokes Manor," Nick philosophized with a chuckle. "You can't get bored easily."

"Maybe the entire team should go to Dallas for New Year's," Brass laughed. "Oh, another reason for my call is to find out when you will be flying back to Vegas and the time your flight leaves."

"We are returning January 4," Nick said as Sara went to look for their tickets. "Our flight leaves at 12:08 PM and should be in Vegas at about 4:54 PM. Why do you ask?"

"I am going to pick you up at the airport," he replied. "Warrick told me that he took you to the airport and that you need a ride back home. I volunteered."

"That's nice of you," Sara said. "Thank you, we appreciate it!"

"You are welcome," Brass replied. "I have to get going. Ellie is here and we are going to the Olive Garden for lunch."

"Have fun!" Nick said. "We'll see you Tuesday. Later!"

"Later!" Brass said and they hung up.

Nick immediately got out of the bed after replacing his phone on his night table. He went to the bathroom and started showering. Sara was still sitting in bed watching something on the Food Network. When Nick emerged with a towel around his waist, he reassured Sara that there was still a lot of hot water for her. He kissed her gently and gave her the robe and hair towel. She went to the shower while Nick watched the Discovery Channel and then flipped it to Animal Planet. He dressed in a pair of grey dress slacks and a light blue button down shirt. He put on his favorite aftershave. It would be a while before Sara wearing her hair towel and robe entered the room. She put on a knee length black skirt and a floral print blouse. She put her hair in a ponytail, went real light on the perfume and wore only eyeliner, mascara and lipstick.

"Woohoo, Sara, you look like you are about to have a day in the town," Nick said.

"You don't look bad yourself," Sara said.

"Nick, Sara, we are waiting for you!" Thomas shouted from downstairs.

Nick and Sara put their shoes and headed downstairs to meet his parents, three oldest siblings and their families. They were all on their way to meet the rest of the family to enjoy a delicious brunch and welcoming 2005.

TBC