Chapter 13

The sun was hovering half over the horizon as if it didn't want to leave. Sara didn't blame it one bit; it had been a perfect day. She couldn't have asked for a better day or for someone better to have shared it with. Sara glanced over to Nick as he watched the locals light the bon fire. The growing flames alighted his sun-warmed skin and reflected in his eyes. She sighed deeply, contentedly and he turned his head at the sound. She smiled at him before leaning over and kissed him. Lightly scratching his head just above his ear, she looked deeply into his eyes for a long moment. "I'm in love with you," she whispered to him.

The glow in Nick's eyes had nothing to do with the flame of the bon fire. He swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that prickled behind his eyes. "I love you too Sara."

The luau began, they drank frothy pina coloda's, and Nick ate some of the roasted pig while Sara ate vegetable kabobs, chunks of pineapple and passion fruit. The passion fruit Nick teased her about, whispering in her ear that if she got any more passionate he would need a truss. She teased him right back laughingly saying he had better gargle before he kissed her with his roast pig breath. Defying her, he kissed her right then, licking the droplets of passion fruit juices off her lips.

The beat of the Polynesian drums picked up, Sara and Nick broke the kiss to find three men with flaming batons dancing in front of the bon fire.

As the fire dancers moved to the other side of the circle that had formed around the bon fire, several girls in grass skirts moved through the crowd gathered on the sand, volunteering people to come up and join them. Sara recognized the cashier from the gift shop as she came up and grabbed Nick's hand, pulling him to his feet and wrapped a grass skirt around his waist.

Sara laughed until tears streamed down her face watching Nick attempt to hula, and wished for a video camera, so that she could have shared this with Catherine and Warrick.

"Hawaii? Sara's in Hawaii? With Nick?"

"Yeah," Brass cleared his throat. "Nick popped for the plane and the hotel. Sara did some shopping," he continued, purposely omitting exactly where Sara had shopped.

Grissom stared, uncomprehending. "Why would they go to Hawaii?"

Brass rubbed his forehead. "Uh," he began and licked his lips. "Look, she was pissed, right?" Grissom nodded solemnly. "Well, you know what they say about a woman scorned."

"I didn't scorn her," Grissom defended himself.

Brass held up a hand like a stop sign. "No, but you pissed her off. She probably just wanted to piss you off, and Nicky was the likely choice. Not as if you'd be jealous if she was in Hawaii with Hodges."

Grissom rolled his eyes. "True. Anything else?"

Brass cocked his head. "Looks like they went to the beach this morning… Nicky bought some towels and sunglasses for them at the hotel gift shop." Brass said, hoping his friend's powers of deduction would be mottled by his emotions and that the skilled CSI wouldn't see he was omitting something. There was no way in hell Brass was about to tell Grissom that the woman he loved had gone to Victoria's Secret and the man with her had bought a box of condoms.

Grissom tossed down the pen in his hand; it landed on the desk with a clatter. After a moment, he stood up.

Brass' eye's narrowed. "Where you going?"

"Home," Grissom said and walked out his office door.

She was exhausted; barely able to keep her eyes open as Nick's hand gently stroked her spine. Pressed next to him, with her head against his chest, Sara could feel his words reverberating as he spoke, his breath whisping against her ear, dancing through her hair. Lying there, his body was warm; his presence comforting, Sara felt something she never really had before. Safe.

She matched her breaths with his and let his voice glide over her body as she listened to the love in his voice as he told her about his family.

"That was probably the best Christmas…" Nick's voice trailed off and Sara knew his mind was a thousand miles and years past, reliving the day he'd just finished telling her about. The story sounded like a cross between a Walton's reunion and a Police Academy movie, and Sara was a bit jealous of Nick's large and loving family. "What was your best one?" Nick asked, and Sara felt the words, didn't really hear them.

"Hmm?" She asked, feeling very cozy and sleepy.

He exhaled out a breathy half laugh. "I asked you what your best Christmas memory is."

"Ummm," Sara mumbled and yawned widely. "One year my foster father got a bonus at work and drove us down to Disneyland. It was practically empty; we hardly had to wait in line for anything."

Nick pulled slightly away from her, just enough so he could look at her. "Sar, what do you mean you 'foster father'?"

And suddenly, Sara was wide-awake.

"Hawaii? Nick's in Hawaii? With Sara?" Warrick's disbelief seeped into his voice.

"They're…" Catherine ran a hand through her hair; the lifted strands caught the rays of the dawning sun streaming through her living room windows. "On their honeymoon," she finished quietly.

"Well I'll be damned. He finally did it," Warrick said in awe of his friend.

"Did what?" Catherine questioned as she sat down on the sofa next to him, curling her feet under herself. She took Warrick's arm off the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her own shoulders.

"Com'on Cath, Nicky's been in love with Sara for over a year now. Looks like he finally did something about it."

Catherine put a hand on his chest and pushed herself up. "What?" she asked, giggling with the thought.

"Yeah, he hid it well." Warrick used the arm around her shoulders and pulled her back down. "I don't think he even admitted it to himself for a long time."

"How'd you find out?" Cath asked, and felt Warrick's shrug underneath her.

"He's my friend, I saw the way he looked at her, how he treated her. I'd known for a long time…" he took a deep breath. "But Nick got drunk that night Kelly Gordon killed herself, and finally told me."

"Ah, yes," Catherine sighed at the memory of nursing both men's hangovers the next day. "So," she began again after a moment, "are you pissed he lied to you about having to go to Texas?"

Warrick shrugged again, taking stock of his emotional reaction. "Nah, I'm sure he's planning on confessing when he gets back. Especially if they've both got the tan's I think they're gonna have, he'll have to confess."

Catherine thought she detected a slight wisp of something in his voice. "Jealous?"

"What?" He cocked his head trying to see her face, to gage if she was joking or not.

"Are you jealous he's in Hawaii with a beautiful woman?"

Warrick paused before he answered, formulating the right words. "Of Hawaii, maybe. But," he said and wrapped his arm tighter, pulling her into his lap where he could look her dead in the eye. "I've got the most beautiful woman in the world right here."

Sara took a deep breath, and wondered if her last moment of happiness had passed without her noticing. She couldn't even look him in the eye. "I was in foster care because… Nick," she said and breathed again, hoping he would tell her to never mind, it didn't matter what had happened so long ago. "My mother stabbed my father. Killed him. She went into prison, I went into the system." She swallowed hard, exhaled a deep, wet breath, and waited.

Nick was watching her face as she told him, felt her breath rush over his skin when she was done. He felt her tremble slightly as she waited for him to absorb her words, take in their full meaning.

Sara raked her teeth over her bottom lip, chewing on it absently as she waited for Nick's reaction to the fact that she was the daughter of a murderer. Her eyes searched wildly for something to focus on, and she felt the give of the mattress, as Nick shifted his body. This is it Sara's mind whimpered. He's leaving.

So it was with surprise and relief when instead of climbing out of the bed, Nick pulled her closer, his arms wrapping tightly around her, as if she was hanging off the edge of a building and he was her only ally against gravity.

"Oh, baby," he whispered into her ear. "I'm so sorry that you had to live through that."

Sara's mouth opened a bit in her shock. He wasn't leaving. He was holding her. Not just her hand, as the social worker had, as her foster mother had. As Grissom had, He held all of her, as if he wanted to take some of her pain for himself. He held her, and he let her cry.

TBC ...

a/n: Thank you for the reviews, (even the one that wasn't very pleased with the last chapter) Happy Holidays to you all, I'll post the next chapter soon. Sunset