"Saved by the bell," he said as he stood and picked up a candy bowl on a small table lining the entrance of his house. "But don't think you're off the hook that easily," he called back to her as Sara stood up and followed him, eager to see the little kids.

She put the glasses back on the bridge of her nose just as Nick opened the doors with an admirable imitation of Mario's line "Hey, its-a me: Mario." The few parents behind the hoard looked amused with the greeting; the moms looked especially pleased with Nick despite the horrible facial hair. The kids just impatiently shouted "Trick-or-Treat." Nick nodded and shrugged off the kids' reaction. "Fair enough," he laughed as he handed out the candy to a few kids. Then he glanced over his shoulder at Sara, finding her standing there with a soft, delighted smile on her face as she scanned the faces of the children. He reached his arm back and around her shoulder, pulling her beside him in the entrance way and held the bowl in front of her.

She looked over at him with a big grin as she took over the role of candy-supplier. "Thank you," the kids all shouted once she had placed a few items in their bags. They had just finished with the first group and were about to shut the door when a new group ambled up the driveway shouting the traditional greeting. Nick continued to hold the bowl as Sara dished out the treats.

It was only when they closed the door a few minutes later that she noticed Nick still had his arm around her. He steered her back into the living room with the intent of finishing off a conversation he was very interested in. "So where were we before we were so rudely interrupted? … Ah, yes--"

"Sitting on the couch about to put in a movie," Sara supplied, flopping down onto the couch as she said it.

"No… no, I don't think that's it…" he pretended to ponder some more. He scooted right next to Sara on the couch and let a big obnoxious grin appear. "Oh right! You were about to answer my question."

"Or cleverly evade it…" Sara quipped.

He wasn't fazed. "Nah, I think you were going to answer honestly."

"Too bad there's no real way to find out for sure. Guess we'd better just agree to disagree and put on a movie," she shrugged with her suggestion.

"…or I could pose it again and assume that whatever you answer this time would have been the answer last time…" he had a determined look about him.

"That could work, except you know what they say about people who assume…"

"…that they're attractive?" he asked hopefully. Sara could help the laughter that escaped her throat; Nick grinned proudly at the reaction.

"That they're asses," she retorted with half of the proper saying.

His grin turned somewhat sheepish, "…attractive asses?"

"Doesn't actually specify," she laughed again.

"I guess I'll just have to take your opinion then," he sighed.

Sara shook here head, bemused, and got herself a few extra moments to think. Then, suddenly, she saw the opportunity to grab the upper hand, "Why?"

"…'cause you're the only one who's here…" Nick replied, confused and cute.

"No, I mean, why do you want my opinion this badly?"

"…'cause you're the only one here," he repeated slowly.

She smiled knowingly and Nick felt his stomach curl into a ball with worry. "Fifteen minutes ago your ego was alive and well, your inflated head barely squeezing into your cap, but now you're hounding me to rate you. Where'd the confidence go? Nothing happened between then and now that would have given you doubt. So I reiterate, why do you need my opinion?"

Now it was Nick's turn to panic. "I, uh… well, uh, because… 'cause you won't give it to me," he answered finally. Well, sort of answered. She looked at him quizzically, clearly waiting for some elaboration. "It started as a simple question and then you wouldn't answer it… so you created the doubt, and now I need reassurance."

"Nope. If you just needed reassurance, you would have gotten it by the mothers you had swooning outside your door a minute ago," she crossed her arms and watched him expectantly. "Why do you care about what I think about you?"

He mirrored her stance, "I'm not gonna answer your question when all you've done is avoid mine."

"Well, at least we got our answer: I cleverly evaded it. So now that that's settled…" Sara tried to shift topics once more, "…what movies are we going to watch? You promised me scary ones."

"I did, didn't I?" He had all night to finish off that conversation, and truthfully he was a little unnerved now by her return question, so he took her lead and switched his attention to the movies sitting on top of his television. He had gone out a few days ago and rented some of the older horror movies from the local Blockbuster. The few he picked up combined with the newer ones in his own collection made a total of eight options. As he announced the title of each film he showcased it in a style reminiscent of Vana White, "We have Friday the Thirteenth, Nightmare on Elm Street, IT, Sixth Sense, Saw, The Exorcist, The Shining, and finally Psycho."

"The Freddy and Jason movies aren't scary." Sara crossed off two options. Nick tossed them to the loveseat which had held his hat for him earlier; apparently it was the storage couch. "I've seen Sixth Sense too many times for it to be scary. No to The Shining. AndI've seen Psycho, and hated it." Those three joined the others of the loveseat.

"I guess that means our movie marathon tonight consists of IT, Saw, and The Exorcist. Let's watch Saw first. That's the creepiest movie," he shook his head in amazement as he summarized the plot in his head. He began to open the DVD case when Sara spoke up.

"No, let's watch The Exorcist first. I haven't seen that movie in ages," she smiled as she recalled how becoming possessed had become her number one fear after she watched it for the first time.

Ever the peace keeper, Nick spoke up with a solution: "How about we compromise?" He was about to suggest watching IT first but Sara interrupted him.

"Okay, take off your shirt and put in my movie," she beamed up at him.

He laughed, "Wanna see me shirtless, eh? So then I am attractive?"

Sara shrugged, "Don't read too much into it. I just thought that's how you compromised around here… by removing an article of clothing." He found her proud smile so endearing and her response so funny that he conceded and popped in her video. He walked over to his light switch and twisted the knob so the room was dimmed to a setting which would normally be deemed romantic, but under the circumstance he could pass off as scary. Before settling in right next to Sara he grabbed one of the bowls of candy and brought it over so they would have something to munch on during the movie. He picked up the remote in front of him and turned on the movie. Once the opening credits started across the screen he sat back, placed the bowl of candy in his lap, and this time he didn't bother the back of the couch, he placed his arm around Sara's shoulder instead.

A/N: Sorry, the next update won't be until Thursday or Friday... I have a midterm tomorrow that I had no idea about so I'll probably be up all night studying and then end up sleeping away most of Thurdsay. But as always, please review this chapter, it might be the pick me up I need after I get done with that bloody midterm.