Disclaimer: If I owned it, season six would be full of the shameless flirting of season one. Igor the pony-on-a-wooden-stick belongs to my best friend, Jess.

A/N: I try so hard…but I can't write anything other than fluff! Hope you enjoy it anyway.

A Pony Named Igor

Sara has been certain for quite some time now that life only ever gets harder as you go along. She wonders what people have to do in order to have it easy; sign away their souls?

Happiness, she used to think, was not some permanent state that people strive to attain but a brief ecstasy that comes and goes. It's easy to believe on the hard days and she didn't think it was possible but now she finds the cases with children involved even more difficult to deal with. It's the guilt, perhaps. She likes to believe that she'd give up her own home in order to save every parentless, abused and lonely kid but she isn't that selfless.

Nick is a fan of the saying 'you can't help others until you help yourself' but that's bullshit because Sara knows Nick helps everyone before he'll even consider his own needs. Karis is like that, too, the rare child that won't throw tantrums when things don't turn out according to their plans and takes care to tidy up after they play. Most of the time. Nick says Karis takes after her, but that's bullshit too because Sara still throws tantrums and only tidies for hygiene reasons.

Karis Stokes is pure Nick through and through. Like the way she never stops talking, can ramble on for hours, how she carefully catches spiders in order to set them free in the garden and how every time she says, 'I love you', Sara's heart feels like it's breaking inside her chest.

She's twisted in her bed covers now, thumb curled in her mouth and breathing softly. They'll have to break that habit soon.

'You used to watch me before she came along.'

Sara turns to see Nick leaning against the doorway, his head cocked to the side. 'Jealous?'

'Hell, yes. It's all good for her.' He thinks of finger painting, swings, lots of candy and cookie crumbs on his sweater. He runs a hand through his hair and smiles tiredly at her. 'I'd love to go back to that.'

'Mm,' says Sara, who wouldn't ever dream of revisiting her early past.

Those were memories best left forgotten. When they'd found out about Karis, Sara had promised to give her daughter the wonderful childhood she'd never had no matter what.

Nick distracts her from these thoughts by placing his arms around her from behind, pulling her towards him to place a trail of kisses along her neck.

'What's the matter?'

'Huh? Nothing-nothing,' she replies, letting her head fall against his shoulder.

'You're a terrible liar, Stokes,' he growls into her hair.

'I'm not, I'm really good at it. How was work?'

'The usual. Terrible.'

Sara smiles. It was one of the long running jokes they shared; sometimes all they seemed to do was gripe about how work was such a pain in the ass but there was nothing else either of them would rather be doing. Sara just liked to whine, which Nick should have minded but didn't. He used to tell her it was better to tell someone about all the things that are bothering you, but she only tells him half the things because the rest are kind of silly and she dwells on trivial matters too much anyway.

'Tell me about it,' she says as he follows her towards their bedroom.

'Well the case wasn't that awful. Cath is just having a tough time at home with Lindsey and Warrick is annoyed at her about something. The tension was just awkward.'

Sara squeezes out toothpaste onto both of their toothbrushes. 'Glad I wasn't there.'

Later on they are both in bed reading when Sara puts down her novel and shuffles closer to Nick. He pretends not to notice so she bites him lightly on the shoulder.

'Not tonight honey, I'm tired.'

She shoves his arm quite hard. 'That wasn't what I was asking, you prick.'

'So you're finally going to tell me what's been bothering you tonight, then?' Nick raises an eyebrow.

'Karis wants a pony for her birthday.'

'Ah.'

'I always wanted a pony,' Sara informs him solemnly.

'No you didn't.'

'Yes, I did! Ages before I wanted a chemistry set.'

'You mean, you haven't always been a little nerd?'

Another hard shove. 'Nick…'

'We'll get her a toy pony, all right?' he says. 'One of those ones with the pony's head on the end of a wooden stick. Call it Igor and she can ride it around the house, feed it grass clippings and pretend it's hay…that kind of thing.'

'Lindsey rides, she wants to be like Lindsey. And you grew up with horses, don't you want her to experience that?'

Nick begins to smile. 'Sar, are you asking for a pony for Karis, or for you?'

'I know,' she sighs. 'It's kind of stupid. We can get her a kitten, if one of us can remember to feed it. Lindsey has a cat, right?'

He kisses her on the nose. 'You know, she's not going to stop loving us if we don't give her what she desperately wants. She's not a teenager yet.'

Sara curls into Nick's chest, stealing his warmth and letting the even rise and falls of his breathing calm her. 'I'd like her to have everything.'

'She's got everything. You and me. And soon she'll have Igor.'

'That's a terrible name for a cat.'

'I was talking about the toy pony. We can get her both.'

'Oh.'

'That's what I called my first horse.'

'That's a terrible name for a horse as well. That's just a terrible name.'

Nick chuckled, the movement reverberating pleasantly against Sara's ear. 'I bet Karis will think it's great.'

'I'd like to think she inherited my good sense of judgement and style, thank you.'

'Are you happy? Have you had the last word now, so I can finally go to sleep?'

'Yes,' Sara smirks and closes her eyes. 'I am happy.'

Fin.