Disclaimer: Don't own any of this. Just borrowing it for a moment to feed the imaginative & hopeful minds of snickers fanfiction readers.
Update: I'm back again to update. I'm not even sure if anyone is still reading this… Geez, I hope so. Life is what happens when you're busy making plans, or so they say. Anywho, back story is Burden of Proof. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
On the very first morning of living in Nick's house, Sara got a very rude awakening. Granted, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon, but she was still on graveyard time. Nick had clearly already adjusted to a "normal" schedule.
Stumbling bleary eyed out of Nick's spare bedroom, she followed the ruckus to the patio doors where, glancing through the screen, she found Nick making repairs to his deck. Hammering. Singing. And more hammering. He didn't have that bad of a voice. It was kind of nice, she thought, as he sang into his hammer while placing a nail. She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and headed toward the kitchen in search of coffee.
As she was starting a fresh pot of coffee, a sweaty Nick appeared through the doors.
"G'mornin' sunshine." He said with a big grin.
She "harrumphed" with emphasis and returned to her task, opening the refrigerator door to retrieve the creamer.
"Coffee before talking." He laughed lightly and pulled the door open further to grab a bottle of water.
"God, Nicky, you stink." The smell made her eyes open a little wider and she suddenly realized that her new roommate was stripping off his shirt and wandering into his living room in just a pair of low-slung athletic shorts. "Sorry, Sar" he called from the other room. "It's hot out, couldn't be helped."
Setting down her cup of coffee, she leaned against the counter to thumb through the days paper. She may not have brought her scanner to Nick's, but she could still keep up with current events.
Sara's XXXL t-shirt that had been turned into pajamas had creeped up every so slightly and Nick couldn't help but check out her ass. He'd done it before. He just hadn't had quite this nice an opportunity. He shook the thought out of his head. Thoughts like that are those of "healthy" and "normal" men. But his shrink would probably tell him that he was rushing himself into a false sense of normalcy. Ugh. Nothing like dragging out the pain and suffering.
Suddenly, Nick was overcome with a mischievous feeling. The smell returned and suddenly Sara was enveloped in a wet, odorous, disgusting Stokes hug.
"UGhhh Nick…seriously. Gross… let me go." She whined trying to get out of his grip.
Laughing, and squeezing tighter, "No, Sar, it's okay, I know you just really wanted a good morning hug. …I could sense it."
Letting her go, he stepped back and watched as Sara turned around to face him with her arms hanging out at her sides and a fiercely disgusted look on her face.
"Oh, Nicky, I do love a good morning hug." She stepped forward putting one hand on her hip and bringing her other hand up to poke him in the chest for emphasis as she said, "but you'll pay for this later."
He tried his best to keep the 'I'm-so-pleased-with-myself' smirk off his face, but lost it when Sara started to laugh.
"I can't believe that you sing Foreigner into hammers What have you got up next, Journey?"
"Sure, Sar, make fun, but soon, you'll be singing right along." And as if on cue, Nick's iPod speakers emitted the first few notes of what Sara knew to be every frat boys swan song.
She just gestured toward the speakers and pursed her lips to prove her point. Nick just ignored her and started singing as he headed back outside…
"Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world…she took the midnight train going anywhere…" and he turned around singing into his clenched fist as Sara laughed and headed up to cleanse herself of Nick's sweat.
By the time Sara had gotten out of the shower and was clean, Nick was rearranging the furniture on his deck and cleaning up the tools he had strewn about in his morning task.
Walking outside carrying a fresh bottle of water, she handed it off to him and smiled. "All finished?"
"Yup. 'Bout time, too, since Warrick and I finished most of the heavy-duty work months ago."
"Didn't Greg help you with that?"
"Uh, you could call it help. I guess." Garnering a gap-toothed smile. He explained. "Sar, he's a bright boy, but not the handiest guy on earth. I mean, come on, you've seen how much time he spends on his hair."
"Oh, the pot calls the kettle black…"
"I will have you know that it only takes me 15 minutes to get ready." Sara crosses her arms and narrows her eyes a little. "And I look this good every time…" Classic Nick.
"Okay, well prove it. It's my first day off. Let's do something fun and unrelated to all things work. Starting with you showering."
"Oh, you joining me, Sar?" He waggled his eyebrows at her. "That'd be fun."
"Yeah, but I said unrelated to work." She winked at him and headed inside, calling back, "go get cleaned up while your favorite roommate makes you a fabulous lunch."
He smiled the smile she'd dreamt about for weeks. "On it boss." And he disappeared upstairs.
Meteorologists were quacks. No better than palm readers or the chiropractors.
By the time Nick had emerged from the shower, gotten dressed, and trotted downstairs, the first rumblings of thunder could be heard from the fast approaching dark clouds outside.
Sara was busy setting out the sandwiches she had made and filling up glasses with freshly brewed iced-tea. She frowned when she saw Nick.
"Stupid weather." She said as she walked the plates over to the coffee table.
"Did'ya have something in mind for today?" Nick raised his eyebrows.
Sara gave him the most earnest frown she could muster. "Putt-Putt." She said with a sigh.
Nick gave her a pitiful look and put his hand on her shoulder. "That would've been fun. We'll go another day. Today we can just go through my movie collection, eat lots of junk food, and stay up late. "
She laughed, "oh, so like a junior high sleepover."
He waggled his eyebrows.
"Eat your lunch, Nicholas."
Hours later, the two had fallen asleep while watching Walk the Line, despite Nick's protestations that it was his favorite movie. At least the favorite that didn't have guns or bombs or a gratuitous boob shot. Suddenly, Sara was startled awake by Nick's voice. It wasn't his voice that startled her…it was his tone. Frightened. Weak. With shaking voice and inadvertent twitches, Nick was fighting something in his sleep at the other end of the couch.
Climbing to the floor and crawling to his end, she gingerly placed her hands on either side of his face and as calmly as she could, she spoke his name.
"Nicky… shhhh….Nicky it's okay. Just wake up." He thrashed a bit more and she felt hot tears on her hands still on his face. She moved to sit on the edge of the couch.
Speaking just above a whisper, she leaned to him taking his hand in her right hand and began to stroke his hair gently with her left. "Nick, sweetie, it's okay. I'm here. Wake up." She could feel the sting in her own eyes.
"It's just a nightmare…"
And then his eyes shot open and looked wildly around until he found focus in Sara's dark orbs.
He gasped for breath and squeezed her hand. Closing his eyes tightly, he brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Sara leaned up to give him some more space. She blinked the newly forming tears from her eyes, took a deep breath, and squeezed his hand."
She could see his chin wrinkled up and watched as he took a ragged breath. Reaching up to wipe the tears from his cheeks, she took his other hand away from his eyes. A moment later he opened his dark brown eyes, darker from vulnerability, and whispered a 'thank you' to her.
She gave him a knowing look, leaned down, and kissed him on the forehead. Retreating ever so slightly, she looked him straight in the eye. "You don't have to hide from me. I already told you, I'm not going anywhere."
He gave her a small, quick smile, before he felt more tears threatening to fall. Looking at the ceiling and then finally back to Sara, he nodded awkwardly and let out a slow breath.
"Are you having them a lot?"
He nodded. "The doc gave me some pills…I don't want to take them…I just…"
"You don't have to explain… It's okay." She put her hand gingerly on his chest. "I don't like medicine either." She smiled.
"You're the only medicine I need." He said pointedly. She saw some errant tears in his eyes.
She smiled, "and you, my sweet Nicky, are going to watch a chick flick with me." She winked. And he groaned grabbing for the pillow under his head. She heard a muffled "noooooooo" under the pillow.
"Don't worry, I'm getting beers now."
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I'm overly critical about my writing and I'm not super pleased with this chapter, but I have future ideas. Needed to get this moving again.
If you like it, let me know )