Nick caught up with Sara just outside the Tangiers hotel. She wouldn't stop just by him calling her, so he reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Sara! Please! Wait!"

She turned around to face him. "What?"

"I – I think we should talk."

"So… talk. I've already told you my side."

"Let's go for a walk," he said, offering her his hand. She took it, entwining her fingers with his. Just as they started to walk, a woman came rushing out of the front doors of the hotel.

"Hey! Nick! There you are!" she said as she approached the pair. Her name was Madison Johnson, a woman of about 5' 7" with red hair. When her eyes fell on Sara, Madison turned to Nick again. "Who is she?"

"Sara Sidle, and you are?" Sara said, raising her hand to indicate her presence.

Nick, sensing the growing tension, stepped in. "Sara and I work together. We were just going to go for a walk. I'll talk to you later, Maddie."

"No, I'll do better than later. How about never again?" Madison said, then turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Nick, I… I didn't mean…" Sara said, but her voice trailed as Nick took her hand again. As they began to walk, hand in hand, he began to speak.

"Sara… Sara… I don't know if I want to deny these… these…" he paused, searching his mind for the right words. "I don't know if I want to or if I should deny these feelings that I'm experiencing. I know that I think of you as more than a friend, but…"

"I know that I must have taken you by complete surprise when I told you what I did tonight," she said, and he could only nod. "Maybe we should take a break, so you can thing. I have Monday and Tuesday next week off, so I won't talk to you till I come back to the lab."

"But…"

"Nick, you need time. I understand. I've felt that way before. Plus, I've waited almost five and a half years to talk to you about this, why can't I wait a few more days, right?" With a slight, gentle squeeze of his hand Sara walked to the curb and flagged down a cab. As she slid into the back seat she glanced back at him. "See you later, Nick."

As the yellow car drove away, Nick Stokes stood on that suburban Las Vegas sidewalk, feeling very much bewildered and confused.

Sara went home. She believed, truly and with all her heart, that Nick would come around now that he knew how she felt. But there was always that chance that he wouldn't. 'No,' she told herself, 'no. He will come to see. We'll be together, and it'll be great…'

Nick was in a sort of daze all the way home. Sara loved him. She actually loved him… it was so hard to believe. He'd known she was special, but he'd never thought it'd go this far. This was the first time that he could remember not knowing what to do about a relationship. Trying to get his mind off the situation, Nick sat on his couch, turned on his laptop, and turned the TV to ESPN. SportsCenter was on, and highlights of the Packers/Vikings game were showing.

Soon after, his cell phone rang. It was Warrick.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nick, where are you?"

"I'm at home... er... I got kind of bored at the party."

"Oh, well we just left and we're going out for pizza. Want to come with us?" Warrick asked.

"Um… nah, that's okay. You guys go on ahead," Nick said.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Okay. Later."

"See you."

Nick set the phone down and turned back to the TV, where NBA preseason highlights were showing now. He watched them as his computer connected to the Internet. A few seconds later an instant message from one of Nick's old high school friends popped up. Nick turned to the keyboard and became engrossed, however fully, into the conversation.

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Yes, I know, very short. I was/am in the process of writing what I want to come next and I had no way to connect it to chapter 1... but this came to me while I was taking a test on The Old Man And The Sea (Ernest Hemingway), so I decided to connect chapters 1 and 3 this way.

Please R & R! Thanks much!