"So did you have fun tonight?" Nick asked when they arrived home.

"It was good. We have great friends."

"You look great." Nick pulled her to him.

"You don't look bad yourself." Sara splayed one hand on his chest and wrapped the other around his neck and kissed him.

Nick slipped his hands around her waist under her coat.

"What are you doing two weeks from Friday?" Nick inquired.

"I would say working, but since you're asking I presume you have something else in mind."

"How would you feel about coming to Texas for a long weekend to meet my parents, and probably most of my other relatives?"

"You want to take me to Texas?"

"I told you you'd love it and my family will love you."

"Nick can we even get time off work?" Sara asked.

"I talked to Grissom, you have enough leave stored up that could go on a world cruise and still have some time left over."

"That's a slight exaggeration." Sara corrected. "It's only 6 weeks."

"Grissom says we can have the time off. We catch a flight to Dallas after work and come back in time for our shift."

"You really want me to meet your family?"

"You're already part of the family. But it would be nice for you to meet them."

"Can I think about it?" Sara asked.

"Sure. I have the paperwork, you just need to sign it and Grissom needs to know by tomorrow."

"Okay." Sara agreed. She gave him a kiss. "Now I'm going to need someone to help me get out of this dress. Do you think Greg is available?"

"If you asked him Greg would probably drop everything he was doing and speed over here. But since I'm already here, why don't you let me help you."

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Sara said with a grin.

Sara got up a few hours later and picked up the trail of clothes that they had left on the floor. She sat on the couch and stared at the book for a few minutes before picking it up and blowing the dust off.

She slowly took the lid off.

"Sara?" Nick said when he got up.

"Hey." Sara looked up at him.

"You opened it."

"It was time."

"Are you okay?" Nick inquired.

"I'm fine." She sighed.

"Want some company?" Nick offered.

"That would be good." Sara replied. "You should know about my family before I meet yours."

"You'll come to Dallas?"

"I'll come to Dallas." Sara confirmed. "Although we're going to have to find someone to feed the fish."

"I think you can get slow release pellets for when you go on vacation. If not I'm sure Warrick can drop by and feed it."

"Okay." Sara handed him a picture.

"Is this you?" He asked.

"I was five."

"You were a cute kid. And that's your brother?"

"River."

"Your brother is called River?" Nick questioned.

"My parents were Hippies. You don't think my real name was Sara did you? I changed it before I got to Harvard."

"What was it before?" Nick asked.

"I'm not sure I should share that information."

"I'm going to find out eventually." Nick told her.

"Stardust."

"Your parents named you Stardust?"

"Unfortunately."

"How do you get from Stardust to Sara?"

"My grandmother who died when I was five always called me Sara; she didn't think anyone should be called Stardust. Her name was Sarah with an H."

"Stardust." Nick repeated.

"If you tell anyone I'll kill you and I know how to hide a body."

"Why don't you show me what else was in the box?"

TBC