A/N: Okay well thanks to everyone who reviewed. For this chapter I did things a bit differently. I know how long it takes me to update sometimes so I talked with MrsEads and let her write this chapter. I have to say that she did a wonderful job. I feel that a big THANKS should go out to MrsEads because if it were me writing this chapter I would have NOT gotten it posted this soon.

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"So, we still haven't been able to get it out of Lexie where she came from. I mean, how did she get here? It's not easy for a girl her age to take a cab or something like that, you know," Sara said, sitting down at the table in Nick's kitchen.

"Well, have you just asked her?" Nick asked. "I haven't."

"Well, no," Sara admitted. "We'll have to ask her when she wakes up."

A beep from the coffee maker told them the coffee was ready, and Sara stood up to pour two cups. She was having a bit of trouble with it, though, as she couldn't get the carafe out. "Nick, it's stuck or something; I can't get it out," she said.

He stood up and joined her. "That's because there's a button here that you have to press." He stood behind her and placed his warm hand over hers as he pushed the latch at the top of the handle and pulled the carafe out.

"Thanks," she said. "Umm, where's the cream and sugar?"

"I'll get it," Nick said, opening the fridge for the cream and reaching into the cupboard next to it for the sugar. Sara opened a few cupboards until she found the mugs, and pulled down two of them without looking at them. Nick placed the cream and sugar on the counter next to the mugs.

"How do you take it?" she asked.

"Cream, no sugar," he said. "It's okay, I'll do it," he offered.

"No, you sit down. I know how to do it," she said, almost like an independent child would when offered help.

"Alright, alright," he said, raising his hands in surrender as he backed towards the table, sitting down.

A moment later, she brought the mugs over and handed one to Nick.

"Hey, you picked my favourite one," he said, pointing at his mug. Sara peered closer at it and saw that it was a mug with a picture of a bunch of people. Looking closer still, she saw that it was Nick's family, probably taken before Rachael's falling out with their parents. Nick had his arms around his mom and a sister and was smiling his crinkly smile. Sara thought he must have smiled a lot as a child to have all those laugh lines. His dad looked stern. Probably was an old-fashioned dad, Sara assumed. None of his sisters looked alike, and neither did Nick to his brother. They were outside, on the front porch of a house or something, and you could just tell it was a hot day.

"You don't look like any of your siblings," she commented.

"No, we were all adopted," he revealed.

"Really?" Sara asked in shock.

"Yeah," he said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Rachael's older than me, but I was adopted first. See, she was actually a foster child living with us for a while, but then my parents adopted her officially after they did me."

"How old were you?" Sara asked.

He shrugged. "When I was adopted? I was adopted at birth, but when we adopted Rachael…hmmm…apparently, I was young enough not to remember anymore."

Sara nodded. Just then, they heard soft shuffling coming from down the hall. "I guess Sleeping Beauty's up."

They turned to face the end of the hall, and sure enough, Lexie came out of her room and approached them.

"Hi, Lexie," Nick said. "Did you have a good sleep?"

She nodded and rubbed her eyes.

Nick patted the empty chair next to him and said, "Have a seat." Lexie plodded her way over and plopped down on the chair. "What do you want for breakfast?" Nick asked her.

She shrugged. Apparently, she still wasn't too talkative.

"Would you like eggs?" Nick offered. Lexie shook her head. "Toast?" he tried again. Still, Lexie shook her head. "Pancakes?" Lexie's eyes lit up and she nodded her head vigorously. Nick stood up and began to pull things out of cupboards, thinking that maybe once they got some food into the little girl, she'd open up to them.

He was right. As he placed a plate with a few pancakes on it in front of her, he found out that Lexie was all too eager to tell them everything they wanted to know, all with her mouth full. Meanwhile, Nick made pancakes for he and Sara.

"So, how did you get here?" Nick asked.

"Momma showed me your house once. I have a good memory," she said proudly. "And our house isn't too far away, so I walked here. But I had to go through the ravine, and I got all muddy."

Nick was shocked to hear that this little girl trekked through the ravine at that time of night alone to his house. "That was very dangerous, Lexie. You shouldn't do that kind of thing," he scolded.

Lexie hung her head in shame. "I know," she said, "but I had to get here."

"How come?" Nick asked. It had been quite a while since Rachael had died, so there was no real urgent reason for her to come to his house.

"Because there was a strange man in my house," she explained. "Momma told me not to talk to strangers, so I ran away."

"There was a strange man in your house?" Nick exclaimed. "Did he try to hurt you?"

"I don't think he saw me," she explained.

Nick was relieved. "I'm so glad you're okay," he said. Now the CSI in him was coming out. "What did he look like?"

"He had a tattoo on his arm."

"What was it a picture of?" Nick asked. Tattoos could be one of the best identifying marks.

"It was a heart and it had my Momma's name in it, but it was crossed out," she said.

Nick exchanged a knowing glance with Sara. This man could be Lexie's father.

Lexie continued, "He had brown hair and it was this long." She held her hand up near the top of her ear to show them what she meant. "And he was really tall," she added.

"Was he taller than Nick?" Sara asked.

"Yeah, like this much taller than Nick," Lexie said, holding her hands out about six inches.

"Was he fat or skinny?" Sara asked.

"Really really skinny," Lexie informed them. "And his nose was just like Sara's, but more man-ish," she added.

Nick and Sara were surprised at how well she was describing this man. Lexie was right, she did have a good memory.

"Lexie, we have quite a few friends who would be very interested in hearing this story. Would you come tell them what you told us?" Nick asked, referring to his coworkers at CSI.

Lexie nodded as she took another bite of pancakes.

Just then, the phone rang. Standing up to get it, Nick picked the phone up off the hook and said, "Hello?…Yes, I still have her…Alright…Can we meet you at the Las Vegas Crime Lab in forty-five minutes?…Sounds good…Okay, thank you." Nick hung up the phone and said to Sara, "That was Social Services. They want us to meet them at CSI in forty-five minutes to give them Lexie."

Sara nodded. "I have to get home and change, then," she said.

"Can you take her with you?" Nick asked. When Sara raised an eyebrow curiously, he explained, "Grown male, little girl, alone…it just doesn't look good, that's all."

"Oh, come on, Nick. You'd never do something like that," Sara pointed out.

"I know that, and you know that, but Social Services might not see it that way," Nick said.

"Oh, sure then," Sara said. "Lexie, come on, sweetie, we're going to go to my house, okay?"

The three of them went to the entry and as Sara and Lexie prepared to leave, they thanked Nick for his hospitality and for breakfast.

"Don't mention it," Nick said. "It was my pleasure to dine with two such lovely ladies," he added, smiling.

"Well, thanks again," Sara said, blushing. "We'll meet you at CSI later."

"Yeah, see you then," Nick said. As the two ladies left, Nick closed the door behind them and sighed. He looked around his entryway and kitchen and sighed.

Sitting down at the table with a cordless phone in his hand, he dialled his parents' number, prepared to give them the bad news about Rachael.

"Hello?" Jillian answered.

"Hi, Mom," Nick said with obvious sadness in his voice.

"Nick…what's the matter?"

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