Sara was surprised at how easily she fell asleep considering the level of anticipation she'd been feeling since she'd decided that this was the night she wanted to take her relationship with Nick to the next level. Within a few minutes of crawling under the covers and molding herself against Nick, she fell sound asleep.

Nick on the other hand, was exhausted but had difficultly letting himself relax enough to go to sleep, given what she'd just told him. So for a long time, he just lay there watching her sleep and stroking her hair as he memorized every nuance of her face. He'd never taken the time, or had the opportunity before to count the freckles that danced across her cheeks, or had really been able to appreciate up close and personal the way her eyelashes fanned out across her cheeks, or the way when she was like this she seemed the very antithesis of the strong spitfire of a woman he knew when she was awake. Here in the land of slumber she looked vulnerable and so feminine. Nick thought he could just about watch her sleep forever when he felt his eyelids start to get heavy and then he finally slipped off to sleep himself with visions of Sara dancing in his head.

Sara woke to a rather odd sensation, at least odd in her subconscious. She had the distinct impression that there was a hand splayed out across her abdomen and that there was a warm body spooned against hers underneath her comforter. It took her a few moments, but then as things started to slide together and wakefulness overtook her, a smile began to spread across her face at the fact that Nick had curled himself against her and put his arm around her as they'd slept. The fact that they'd just slept gave her a satisfaction that she really couldn't give a name to, as if just his presence there with her gave her a sense of security and belonging that she hadn't ever really had before. Nick was one of her best friends, he was her boyfriend and her smile widened a little more as she realized that very soon he would be her lover as well.

Nick nuzzled her ear as she began to stir. "Hey, beautiful." He'd come to the conclusion that despite what Sara would probably say, she was one of the most beautiful women he'd ever known, and her beauty went far more than skin deep.

Sara let out a contented sigh as she leaned back into him, letting her hand come to rest over his. "Hey." This felt so natural and so right to her just being there with him in the quiet of those first few moments of waking up and she realized that somewhere along the line, she'd begun falling for him and she determined that she was going to just let herself keep falling because she had confidence that this man was worth the risk.

"Did you sleep ok?" Nick whispered a bit huskily.

"Yeah. You?" Sara turned in his embrace, smiling as she looked into his eyes.

"Yeah." Nick's hand came to rest on her hip and he couldn't help but caress her skin as he leaned down and softly kissed her.

As he pulled away, Sara slid her hand up to the nape of his neck and pulled him back for another kiss. As she broke the kiss, she felt his arm slide around her waist, pulling her against his body. Sara's hands splayed out against his chest as she smiled at him. "I had some time to think yesterday…" She smirked at him and then glanced over at the box of condoms.

His eyes followed where hers were going and he let out a hearty chuckle. "Apparently. Nice guess on the size by the way."

She had a coy expression on her face. "It was an educated guess." She had certainly taken advantage of the opportunity afforded to her as his girlfriend to study the way his clothes clung to certain parts of his anatomy.

Nick laughed again and arched his brows suggestively as he pulled her a little closer, his hand slipping up the back of her t-shirt. "You've been checking me out." An observation the both pleased him and puffed up his ego a bit.

"Yes, I have." Sara smiled as she slid her arms over his shoulders and then in a bolder move, she slung her leg over his hip and then pulled him into a kiss.

Nick wasn't sure why he was so surprised at the fire in her kiss and then when he began to return it with equal fervor, Sara suddenly pulled back. Nick quirked an eyebrow at her curiously. "Anything wrong?" He sincerely hoped that she wasn't having second thoughts now.

Sara shook her head and whispered huskily. "No." A smile played out over her lips and passion burned in her eyes as she looked at him. "I want you to make love to me, Nicky."

"I want you so much." Nick needed no further encouragement as their lips connected again in a hungry kiss.

There was no rushing in their movements, each of them wanted to savor the moment, to savor the sensations as they discovered each other in a new way. Soft touches gave way to gentle caresses and then more deliberate ministrations. Hungry kisses turned into a passion infused ones. And then the moment, the sweet moment came and it felt like heavenly bliss.

Sara lay there in Nick's arms, their legs tangled intimately together as the waves of pleasure began to ebb. She wasn't sure she'd ever really experienced anything like this before. Certainly she'd had her fair share of sex, but never in the context of a relationship where she felt truly respected, truly cared about. The experience for her had been unparalleled.

Nick could not erase the dopey grin from his face as his fingers trailed up and down Sara's back. In a word, he thought that she was amazing. Not because of what they'd just experienced together, but because he was definitely falling hard for her; probably already had fallen for her and he just couldn't stop smiling.

They both probably would have kept laying there underneath the covers like that indefinitely if the shrill ring of a cell phone coming from the general direction of Nick's pants hadn't intruded on the blissful silence.

"You should get that." Sara insisted knowing that it was probably work and since it was only a few hours until the start of Nick's shift he really should be getting up and getting ready to go soon anyway.

"Maybe they'll go away." Nick grumbled good naturedly as he reached his hand around the floor until he came up with his phone, still in firmly in its holster on his belt which was attached to his jeans. He smirked as he pulled the phone off and dropped his pants. "Stokes."

Sara wasn't sure why, but she felt compelled at that moment to begin kissing her way up his neck towards his earlobe. Regardless of the fact that she knew he was going to have to leave soon, she really didn't want him to go quite yet.

"Rick, I completely forgot. I'm sorry man." He let out a chuckle as Sara was doing her best to try and distract him. "Uh, no, I'm not at home right now…" Apparently, Warrick was sitting in Nick's driveway wondering why he wasn't ready to go hit the batting cages before work. He chuckled again. "Yes, and she's a hell of a lot better looking than you too, but I'll tell her you said 'hi'." Nick ended the call and quirked an eyebrow at Sara who had finally stopped kissing his neck to look into his eyes. "Warrick says 'hi'."

"I gathered as much." She smirked and molded herself a little closer to Nick. "I take it you forgot you had a previous engagement?" She hoped that Nick might be convinced to stay a little longer.

"But not a more important one." Nick smiled at her before resting his hand on her hip and rolling her onto her back. "I still have a few of hours before I have to be at work…"

His implication was clear and Sara smiled as she reached up and cupped the back of his head, pulling him down into a soft sensuous kiss

Author's Note: Now I know some of you may find yourselves disappointed at the lack of 'details' in this chapter, but I wanted to keep the story within its current rating. Besides, I'm sure your imaginations are so much better at filling in the blanks than any words could be.