Disclaimer: No. I wish.

Here it is! The Second Part of the conclusion!

Now you can see why I cut it in half..it was huge!

I know it's taken a while for me to get this on here, I've been kind of off in one-shot land with Marriage of Two Minds and You Can't Take It With You. I poured all I had into this part of the conclusion, so I hope you find it enjoyable!

Now...the exciting end to Black Sweat!

Chapter 8- Final Confrontation

The night had worn on, but the moon was still bright as it shown down over the Las Vegas Crime Lab. The moon has been known to make people do strange things, entrancing them under the soft glow of the night.

And, on the night of this full moon, Nick Stokes found the urge to hide in a utility closet.

Barely moving and steadying his breath to keep his hiding place secret, Nick had stepped into what he thought was the most private room he could find. While he was working with Catherine on their case, he'd been mentally crossing off all the rooms of the lab in a desperate attempt to find the right arena to confront Sara alone. Having ruled out the break room (too much traffic), the morgue (too many dead bodies), and Grissom's office (too awkward), Nick had settled on the place no one goes. Understandably so, as the faint smell of bleach and formaldehyde permeated the air and various cleaning supplies were strewn about in a haphazard way around the tiny room. Wedged between some kind of mop and a basket full of squeegees, Nick cracked the door open just a bit, waiting for his prey.

Earlier, he had been working out the details of his plan while simultaneously interviewing various surgeons, nurses, and attending assistants. He'd found the best way to find her would be to page her from the DNA lab, which was situated conveniently right next to his current hideout. Having done so five minutes earlier, Nick began to feel the common twinges of nervousness unfolding in his stomach. He didn't want to take such drastic measures with his situation, but after thinking about her for hours and becoming a stuttering, incompetent fool in her presence, he'd felt that this was the only way he could get his answers. He needed to know if their night together meant something to her, as he was pretty sure it meant a great deal to him. She'd changed him in the strangest, most fulfilling way he'd ever experienced, and he needed to know that what happened was real; he wanted to know if they shared the same sweet memory. He could feel the heat rising up again, crimson creeping in vine-like twists on his neck. He'd gotten used to the feeling hours before, but he wanted to finish it once and for all.

My Lord, he thought, How long does it take for Sara to walk from the morgue to the DNA lab?

He'd artfully dodged her for the rest of shift after he'd switched assignments with Greg, avoiding every area he thought she would be in. He'd crafted his final confrontation for hours, and he didn't want a small conversation with her (or another public embarrassment) ruin his chances of making an impact on her. Maybe she didn't get it, Nick thought as his mind began playing on his doubts, Maybe she blew it off. Would she blow a case off? No. Why am I worried about this? Focus, Nick, focus. He closed his eyes and shook his head

Suddenly, he saw her.

A determined and purposeful Sara Sidle strode to the DNA lab, obviously immersed in thought. Seizing the right time, he quickly threw the door to the utility closet open, grabbed Sara's wrist, and pulled her inside with deft agility and speed. He hadn't been so close to her since their night, and as his hands grabbed her waist to keep her from tumbling into the box of squeegees, he momentarily forgot his situation until an obviously angry voice boomed out of the darkness.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Nick turned on the overhead light of the closet, finally getting a clear glimpse of Sara's flustered and twisted features. He was prepared for the anger, and the fact that he was less than a foot away from her and still standing forced him to crack a small smile. God, she's even sexy when she's upset, he thought as he touched his finger to her lips, silencing a bout of ranting from his enraged and perplexed coworker.

"Sara," Nick said in a soft voice, "I need to talk to you."

"Well," She responded with a hint of ice in her inflection, "It'll have to wait, I just got a page for DNA results. And why are we in the supply closet? What is going on? I demand an explanation—"

Sara was silenced once again by Nick, who again touched his finger to her thin, reddened lips. Nick was enjoying the situation in a weird, convoluted way, but he centered back on his sole purpose and proceeded to answer her questions one by one, as if they were in the interrogation room and not the dingy hall closet.

"I sent you the page," Nick admitted to her, locking his eyes with hers, "and this is the only place I can get to you where without worrying about other people. I wanted to talk to you about us alone."

"Us?" Sara quirked an eyebrow at him, sending Nick's determined resolve to waiver in the depths of the dank, smelly room.

"Yes, us. I need to know about you and me."

Nick stepped back as far as he could from the girl who had been pushing his buttons all night, but it only amounted to a few meager inches. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the soft sable ribbon, his only evidence shining in the dim light. Sara's eyes widened as he gently grasped her right wrist and slowly placed the ribbon on the palm of her hand. She stared at it for a moment, and looked at him, searching his face for something to say.

"I found that on my front door this afternoon," Nick said huskily, "Do you know who might've left such a beautiful accessory in my apartment?"

"Oh my god," the words escaped from Sara's lips in a continuous stream of gibberish-like speech as her eyes shifted from Nick back down to the ribbon. She began to slide her fingers up and down the ribbon slowly, causing Nick's breath to hitch and his mind to flash back to the scene that occurred the previous night at the front door of his apartment. She remembers was the only thought coursing through Nick's tired, spinning mind. She smiled and looked back up at him.

"I know why I'm here," She said with an amused yet sultry tone, "Greg mentioned that you were having problems dealing with a 'certain situation' and that you needed him to cover for you."

I swear I will kill Greg later, Nick thought as he let out a large sigh and shifted his weight to keep some sort of physical poise in the cramped space without breaking a limb. Although he'd stepped back, his hand still hadn't left Sara's waist as she had found a comfortable position leaning on a wall that was conveniently bare. She smiled up at him as he stepped closer to her once again in an effort to relieve himself of the awkward physical constraints of the closet. After a moment of shuffling, Sara smirked as she broke the silence.

"But, hearing what Greg said, I realized you needed an explanation of everything from the beginning, and answers as to why I left you this afternoon."

I swear I will take Greg out for breakfast later, Nick thought as he looked deep into Sara's eyes again, confident he could finally figure out the mystery of her disappearance.

"Since I've come to Vegas, my entire life has been caught in this shroud of work. I've spent my whole life without play, and two nights ago I decided I was going to do something about it." Sara bit her lip as she clenched the ribbon in one hand and supported the other on Nick's shoulder.

"So, how do I come into the picture?" Nick raised his eyebrows in confusion. He'd been inhaling the bleach fumes for so long that his mind wasn't working as well as it should've been. Either that or it was Sara's hand tracing small, nervous circles on his shoulder that drove his mind to thoughts other than his present state. He hadn't decided which.

"Well," Sara sighed slowly, preparing her confession, "I'd heard you talking with Warrick about how you were going to be spending the evening with your friend over at the Palms. And, I decided that last night was going to be the night that I finally get to do something outside of work. I told Grissom I was taking the day off, and I just went for it."

"But," Nick inquired, "Why me?"

Sara let out a low giggle before inhaling deeply.

"Because," Sara replied, "I can't help but finding you attractive. I like you, Nick. And, I figured that if I'm going to go out and live life to the fullest, I might as well go all the way with it. I was tired of hiding in the shadows, and I've learned with my previous love-life experiences that I need to be aggressive. I've always found you sexy, Nick. I just…needed the right time to express it."

"Sara," Nick choked. He couldn't believe what she'd just admitted. Feeling dizzy and smug, Nick continued to question her.

"If you like me, then why did you leave this afternoon without so much as a 'See you at work later'?"

"Because I was afraid of what would happen, I guess," Sara bit her lip and began to glance around the room in an effort to avoid Nick's fiery gaze, "I felt like I'd…I don't know…taken advantage of you or something. I know it sounds crazy, but I didn't want to wreck what we had. And, well, I wasn't sure that everything was mutual."

"Sara," Nick said dryly, "I thought you would've known by the third or fourth wave of our…encounters that I was serious." Nick smiled at her, attempting to assure her that he wasn't joking.

"I know, but, I'm not always like that Nick," Sara's voice took a serious tone, causing Nick to snap into rapt attention and listen to every word that came pouring out of her mouth, "I'm not always this…temptress. I'm a science nerd, and I'm unorganized and I eat too much takeout and I work too hard."

"I know all of that, Sara," Nick stated, "I find you just as amazing with messy hair and a lab coat as you are in that tight black dress."

Nick took the opportunity to lean closer, pinning Sara to the wall that she had been resting on.

"Sara," Nick said softly in her ear, feeling the shivers running down her spine, "I've always found you unbelievably sexy. It just took me last night to realize that everything I want I can have. And, I want you."

With that, Sara proceeded to grab Nick by the his shirt and fused her lips with his in a kiss so passionate that it would have put all the other kisses they had shared the previous night to shame. Nick immediately responded, grabbing her waist tighter, relishing the feeling of their bodies together.

Sara's hands snaked through his hair as Nick felt her smile against their kisses. Effortlessly, their kisses became deeper and deeper as hot tongues clashed and bodies moved as close as they could together without toppling anything over in the unruly closet. Sara shuddered as Nick began a trail of kisses from her ear down to her collarbone, urging her to call out his name so the whole lab would know of their intimate meeting.

Nick felt like his whole body was thrown into an oven and he didn't want to get out. He loved the feeling of Sara on his lips, and he lost himself in the scent of her hair as he reached her earlobe, sucking and tugging on it with his teeth. He wanted her to moan, to cry out, but he knew better. They were in the closet, and getting caught would mean big trouble for the both of them…

Suddenly, they both jumped as pagers buzzed off simultaneously, ambushing them with their vibrations. Nick looked at a red-faced and heated Sara and couldn't help but let a low laugh escape from his lips.

"They found the guy." Sara said as she read her page out loud, "Wait…how long have we been in here?" She shot him another puzzled look, obviously nervous about the suspicion of the team.

"I don't think it matters, darlin'," Nick smiled, "Would you like to come with me to breakfast at my place after shift?"

"What do you think?" Sara said sarcastically as she leaned into him for another hot, bruising kiss.

"Sweet Christ woman," Nick said in the aftershock of the last kiss, "You surely know what you want, don't you?"

"I guess I do." She replied, flashing Nick a flirtatious smile.

They cautiously moved from their positions towards the door of the utility closet, stepping over a forsaken bottle of cleaner and a mop that they hadn't known they'd knocked over. Nick opened the door, ushering Sara out in an expression of modern chivalry. She looked in his eyes and laughed before walking out into the hallway.

"Oh, and Sara?" Nick asked, "I have one more question."

"Really?" Sara turned around to face him, "Ask away."

"Okay," Nick said as he closed the door to the hallway and walked up to meet her, putting his hand on the small of her back. He leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Where did you learn to dance like that?"

The full moon began to wane above the Las Vegas Crime lab, ending its cycle. Nick Stokes always knew the full moon had special powers, and it seemed that they were on his side in the past 24 hours, changing his life for the better.

El FIN!

I hope you had as much fun reading Black Sweat as I had writing it, and nothing could make me happier than to hear your response in a fancy review!

Oh...and I have a slight epilogue that I might put up...any thoughts?

Thanks readers for putting up with my cliffies, evilness, and generally nutty tendencies. You've made my first fic memorable!

--LMS