Chapter 17 – Thunderstorms

It had been raining all week, almost non stop. It didn't really rain very hard, but it never really stopped. Sara had taken George Shempsky's file home multiple times, trying to figure out where this guy was hiding. On her night off she sat down and tried to figure it out. She sat down and wouldn't get up for hours on end. On that one night when it rained especially hard, Nick came over to help her. He had been very kind to Catherine and Sara over the past few days, protecting them and making sure they were always alright. Charlotte was ecstatic and sat next to Nick the entire time, talking Nick's ear off.

When it was time for Charlotte to go to bed, she didn't want to go. Sara let her stay up for a little while but then insisted she go. Just as they were getting ready, the thunder and lightning started. It flashed on and off, scaring Charlotte. Sara managed to get her into bed and she walked downstairs, where she had the file laid out on the dining room table. She sat down across from Nick as the sifted through pictures, reports, and lab results for what seemed like the millionth time. They weren't working ten minutes when the power went out.

"Ah, crap," Sara said looking up at the lights.

Nick smiled at her. "I don't think I have ever heard you swear," he said sounding impressed.

"Oh, come on. I swear all the time," Sara said getting up to get candles in the dark. She took a barbeque lighter out of the drawer in the kitchen and lit a few on the fireplace and in the dining room. She got out a flashlight and took out more candles from drawers, lighting them all.

They tried to read the file for awhile longer but gave up deciding it was too dark by candlelight. They went into the living room and sat down in front of the big front window to watch the storm, talking loudly over it. They weren't there long when Charlotte called from upstairs.

"Mommy!" she called, "I want the hall light on!"

Sara apologized to Nick and took the stairs two at a time to go talk to Charlotte. She explained that the lights were going to stay out as long as the storm was there outside. The lightning flashed and the thunder clapped and Charlotte wouldn't let Sara leave. She really hadn't experienced many thunder storms and Sara hadn't had a chance to tell her about them. She took Charlotte downstairs, wrapped in blankets, to sit on the couch with her and Nick.

She cuddled up to Sara as they both talked about the thunder and lightning. Eventually Charlotte became more at ease and she got used to it. Sara brought her back upstairs as she started to dose off.

"Cute kid," Nick said when Sara came back down. The storm was still blowing at full force so they had to nearly shout over the noise. Sara smiled at him.

"What do you want to do? We can't work." Sara pointed out.

Nick nodded and looked around the room. His eyes fell on a wooded chess board on the corner table. "I could kick your butt in chess," he suggested with a smile.

Sara smiled and shook her head. "I don't think so. I am the master at chess," she said, sitting down and moving the chess board to the coffee table. She had gotten this board as a wedding present. Alex and her used to play when they couldn't sleep at night. Sara had gotten very good at it.

They played a long game. Both were very good, but Sara beat him in the end.

"Ha Ha!" she shouted, pointing at him.

Nick shook his head and folded his arms. "Nice." He looked at Sara and smiled. She smiled too and they looked at each other for a few moments, both studying each other's eyes. Nick realized what he was doing and spoke first.

"I think I should probably go," he said, starting to get up.

"No, wait. Nick you can't leave," she said standing up herself.

"Why not?" Nick asked looking at her.

Sara put her hands on her hips. "Have you not looked outside? It's really dangerous to drive in a storm like this."

Nick looked out the big front window. "Yeah," he said. He turned to look at her again. "Rematch," he said with a lot of enthusiasm and a huge grin on his face.

"Ok," she said with the same enthusiasm and sat down to rearrange the pieces to restart their game.

The storm had subsided by about 1 in the morning and Sara let him go then. By that time they had played 9 games, 7 of which Sara had won. He left saying that he would beat her eventually. After she closed the door after him, she leaned against it and smiled. She had barely stopped smiling since he had come over. She shook her head at the thought and went upstairs to go to bed.