Disclaimer is back in Chapter One, but I'll reiterate that I don't own any character from the show "CSI."

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After crying silently in the downstairs bathroom for five minutes, Sara wiped the train tracks of tears from her face, wriggled her arms loose, and slowly let the door open. She gravitated towards the bright, soothing voices coming from the kitchen—the girls and Nick.

They were giggling and laughing, things she hadn't expected from the world-weary teenagers. Most of the dishes and things had been put away, too. "Hey, Sara," Grace smiled, twisting in her chair. "We invited Nick over for dinner."

"Really?" Sara replied, looking at Nick, who just raised his eyebrows and smiled bashfully. "When? I hope you two can cook."

"We make a mean risotto." Jules said, "Also, chicken tacos, and chicken Parmesan. That's about it, though. Whaddaya want, Nick?"

"Whatever," he said. Seeing Sara's confused look, he continued, "Greg and Warrick already got roped into this too."

"There's a night that all four of us aren't working?" she said skeptically. "That didn't happen even when we were on the same shift."

"Friday night."

"Friday? This Friday?"

"Yeah. You're still off, and Greg doesn't work until eleven. It's Warrick's night off, and I switched Sofia for that night."

"Why?"

He smirked, "She wanted to. She called me yesterday. It just really fit in with the dinner plans perfectly, then."

"She just wanted to switch? Why?"

"Yeah."

"She didn't give a reason?"

"She was glad to. She thinks Nights it the Creepy, Weirdo Crime Shift." Sara couldn't argue with that—Sofia had said that before. "Plus, it's nice to work with Grissom and Greg once in a while."

Sara laughed too. "Glad I'm not working. You and Greg on the same shift would be like being on Frat Row."

"Thanks," Nick sounded mock-wounded.

"Do you guys think we can get the house into shape by then?" Sara smiled at her cousins.

"Psht. Of course," Grace said. "You just stuff everything upstairs."

"Speaking of food—dinner, anyone? It's almost five."

"Let's just order food—what do you guys want? I don't have any takeout menus from around here, but I know pretty much every takeout category in Vegas."

"Italian?" Grace said as Jules said, "Thai?"

"You two decide." Sara said. "I'm not going to get in the middle of this. There's everything, even weird things like Greek."

"I've never had Greek," Jules said, "Let's order it.

Grace wrinkled her nose. "It's probably stuff like feta cheese and fish on lettuce."

"Let's try it."

"Let's not. We've got to consider what Mom can eat."

Jules looked taken aback. "Shoot. Subway?"

"Probably," Grace nodded. She turned to Sara. "Subway nearby?"

"Yeah, there's a strip mall with it about a mile or so from here."

"Is Mom sleeping?" Grace asked.

Nodding, Sara replied, "Yeah. I left her alone; she said she needed to get some rest."

Grace nodded, "She sleeps a lot nowadays."

"Yeah. Should we bring her back something?"

"Probably. And if you have anyplace that sells canned soup, we need to swing by there and get that. I can't find any of our canned food boxes. Mom loves canned soup."

"Well, hey, you guys are getting ready for dinner, and I need to get ready to meet with Kevin." Nick said.

"The Kevster's back in town?" Sara smiled wickedly. She hadn't made the connection—three years prior, Nick's college buddy had been in town, gotten drunk while out for drinks with Nick, Sara, and Warrick, and had regaled Sara with obnoxious, masochistic stories about his college days.

Nick smiled ruefully. "Yeah. I'll tell him you say hi."

"You do that," Sara said.

Getting up, Nick squeezed Sara's shoulder, and said, "Have a good few days. I'll see you guys on Friday night."

"See ya," the teenagers smiled. Nick knew they thought he was cute. He left them deciding which subs to buy, deciding to give them the pizza-and-beer-only-when-it's-Moving-Day lecture later.