Sara's mood shifted as she drove the Denali out of the parking lot, her liveliness was gone and instead laid a form of unspoken sadness. Nick was not slow in observing this change but said nothing until he could no longer take the deafening silence that formed between them.
"Hey Sar, are you ok?"
"I'm fine Nick." She spat back, holding back words she did not know she held within her.
Shocked at the harshness in her words, Nick replied calmly a few minutes later. "I know when you're not ok, I can sense it Sara. We're friends; you know you can talk to me about anything."
Taking in Nick's hurt and genuinely concerned expression, Sara replied almost in a whisper, "Everything's fine Nick." Turning away her attention from Nick, Sara parks the car at the crime scene, shuts off the ignition, and finally turns back to look at him, "Don't worry about me."
Both walked in silence side by side as they approached the crime scene. Ducking under the tape with ease, they carefully approached a drenched, beat red David sitting within the shade of his truck.
"Hey David, you ok? You look a little ill." Sara asked concerned, putting a hand delicately on his shoulder. "Why didn't you sit in the truck with the air conditioner on?"
"Well I would Sara but its busted…please tell me you have some water."
Opening his kit Nick grabs a water bottle out and hands it to David. "Never leave home without one in this heat."
After taking a long swig off the water bottle David says,"Mind if I just cart this body off. I'd really like the comfort of a shower and a bed at the moment."
"Yeah, I'll just go take some photos and the DB is all yours."
Sara placed her kit on the ground and walked over to the body taking various angles of the crime scene in its undisturbed state. The smell was one thing she was not sad in seeing go.
About an hour later Sara and Nick had collected just about everything that looked remotely like evidence in about a fifty yard radius. They had barely spoken and only did so when they hopped back into the Denali after loading their kits and evidence bags into the trunk.
The air conditioner on high, sweat dripping from every inch of their bodies, Nick finally broke the silence, "You need to care more about yourself Sara."
Taking offence quickly Sara replied, "What the hell is that supposed to mean Nick."
"It means that you care more about others than you do yourself, and you forget yourself somewhere in the middle."
"I do not."
"Really so when was the last time you slept, or did something for yourself?"
"How is that any of your business, Nick?"
"Because I'm your friend and I care about you Sara, can't you see that?"
Sara does not respond and instead turns toward Nick, looking him straight in the eye. "I do care about myself Nick but it's just easier for me to take care of others."
"So, when you stayed with me after I was kidnapped, it was just taking care of another. It's easier that way because you don't actually have to feel anything."
"I've been through so much; I know how to take care of someone, because I do so like I wanted to be treated. And trust me Nicky I feel a lot more than you'll ever know."
A/N: So I pulled a cliffy. I promise to get to the bottom of it, I swear. I have three stories I am trying to keep up with and it is excruciatingly hard when my life does not stop beckoning me away from my writing.
Hope you all liked this chapter. The next chapter is already written, so your reviews are influential, I'll update it either later tonite or tomorrow afternoon. Which would you prefer?