"Are you going to marry Uncle Nicky?" Fiona looked at Sara with all of the innocence and precociousness of a five year old, her expression completely serious as she settled herself in the backseat of Nick's Denali. As far as she was concerned, Sara was perfect for Nick.
Sara felt her stomach churning as she considered just how she should answer that question and she didn't dare look over at Nick who had just slid behind the wheel. She and Nick had only started dating and while she wouldn't deny that she felt that he was definitely the kind of man she could see herself with, she didn't want to jump to any conclusion about where their relationship was going to end up.
Nick was flabbergasted at the question and his mouth opened and shut a couple of times before he got a sound out. "Uh..." If he said 'no', he wondered if Sara would wonder what his intentions really were, and if he said 'yes', she might get the idea that he was more serious at this stage than he really was.
It was Natalie though that managed to string a coherent sentence together. "Fiona, honey, Uncle Nicky and Sara just started dating; they have to date for a while before they'll know if they want to marry each other."
"Oh." Fiona considered that for a minute while Nick tried to concentrate on driving and Sara glanced out the window. "When you're done dating, are you going to marry Uncle Nicky?" It all seemed perfectly logical in her five year old mind that if this was all it took, that she wouldn't mind having Sara for an aunt.
Sara felt sick to her stomach. She wasn't sure if it was nerves, or if it was the realization that if she'd had her way initially, there would have been a lot more questions from this particular five year old and the rest of Nick's nieces and nephews that she wasn't prepared to answer. "I don't know." There was a slight waver in her voice as she felt bile rising up in the back of her throat.
Nick glanced over at her, hoping that she wasn't taking his niece's little interrogation too seriously, even though he was starting to feel like his shirt collar was a little too small. "What Sara is trying to say, Fiona, is that we have to like each other as much as your mom and dad do, and sometimes it takes some people longer than others to know...dating is sort of like...like...uh, well, trying out for the Nutcracker..."
Natalie snorted and glanced at Sara and gave her a sympathetic look.
"Do you mean that you have to go to an audition to get married?" Fiona asked sounding a little worried.
"No...not quite...uh, it's more like each date is like seeing what each of us likes about the other person, and maybe if we like each other enough, we get the part." Nick wasn't sure that he was making a lot of sense, but he wanted Fiona to stop asking questions.
"Oh, like 'American Idol'!" Fiona squealed from the backseat.
"Only you don't get to vote, honey." Natalie scolded with a bit of a smirk at how Nick had managed to get himself out of a potentially sticky situation.
Sara felt like her head was spinning and now she was sure that it wasn't just from the line of questioning; she'd wondered about the latte she'd had earlier that day and now all doubt about the age of the milk in it was removed as she let out a bit of a whimper. "Nick?"
Nick glanced over at her and his eyes widened slightly as he realized that she looked pretty pale. "You okay?" Sara didn't get sick, but that's exactly how she looked at that moment.
"Can you pull over?" Sara didn't want to throw up all over the interior of the vehicle; she spent enough time in it for work that she knew she didn't want to smell what was going to make an appearance any second if she couldn't get out first.
"Yeah, just a sec." Nick quickly changed lanes and then pulled into the parking lot of a gas station. Before he could come to a complete stop, Sara had bolted from the vehicle and made it as far as some landscaping between the sidewalk and the parking lot before throwing up.
Natalie was the next one out of the SUV and concern was etched all over her face as she wondered if meeting her and Fiona was too much too soon for Sara. She rested her hand on Sara's back and rubbed it in soothing circles. "If Fiona's questions were too much, I'm really sorry...she always has been a bit too curious for her own good sometimes, she just says whatever happens to be going through her mind."
Sara shook her head. "No, I think it was a latte I had earlier." Her head was swimming and as much as she had been looking forward to spending some time with Nick and his sister and niece, all she wanted at that moment was to go home and lie down for a while.
"Sar?" Nick was clearly concerned as he slipped an arm around her waist, his hand brushing her hair off of her face. "You doing ok?" He had seen Sara throw up a few times, but usually it was because of some bodily fluid that had a smell that couldn't quite be described with words.
"No." Sara squeaked out. "I feel sick." She hated that she sounded as weak as she felt.
"No kidding." Nick glanced over at Natalie and gave her a look that clearly communicated that this was not a normal occurrence. "You want me to take you home?"
"Yes." Sara started to sniffle at how ridiculous she felt. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." Natalie insisted. "You can't help when you don't feel well...I'm just sorry that we won't get to spend more time with you." Her smile was sincere; she could tell from the time that she'd spent with her and Nick so far that there was something different about Sara; and she liked it.
"Nat's right, Sar...we'll just take you home and get you settled and I'll come by and check on you a little later." Nick was propelling Sara back towards the Denali and feeling worried that she had come down with more than just food poisoning.
"You don't have to check on me, Nick." Sara's protest was weak at best. As much as she wanted to appear as the strong independent woman, it was nice to have him care.
"I want to check on you." He smiled at her. "And if you need something before I come by, I want you to call me, ok?" He made sure that she had her seatbelt fastened before he closed her door.
Natalie had watched this interaction as she climbed back in next to Fiona and couldn't keep the smile off of her face at just how tender Nick was; yes, this relationship was definitely different than the other relationships of his that she'd been privy to.
Nick slipped behind the wheel and glanced back at Fiona. "We're just going to take Sara home because she's not feeling too good right now, Fiona, then we'll go get your French Fries, ok?"
Fiona wrinkled up her nose at Nick; she had seen the entire exchange outside. "I don't think I'm very hungry any more."
