Author's Note: Sorry about the delay again! Exams were last week and I had to get my history mark up! Ok here's another one. R&R and tell me what you think.

Chapter 56 – Knee Deep in People

It took a little while for the crying to stop. Sara felt so bad about how bad Nick felt and couldn't believe she had let it get that far with Trevor. She promised him and herself that she would never ever even think about that kind of thing with any other guy again. Never.

Nick went into work and Sara stayed home with Lindsay and Charlotte. She went to bed but didn't sleep much. She got up around seven to get the girls up and get them to school. For the past few weeks she had made a habit of going into work after they were in school and she didn't have to be watching them. There were two murders and a rapist case open and those were only the big ones on the night shift, so everyone was pulling overtime. Sara went straight from the school to work and got to work right away. She was only there about ten minutes when Grissom ran after her with an assignment slip.

"You have a 419 in the desert."

"Wonderful," Sara said sarcastically, but with a smile.

"And you might want to take your waders," Grissom said as Sara turned away.

"What? It's in the desert…"

"Yeah, in a well. They found a body when they were fixing it for one of those construction things…take Warrick with you…he should be wrapping up that murder case."

Sara was already turned around and acknowledged him with a hand in the air. It took her a few minutes but she found Warrick in a layout room staring at a t-shirt. Sara smiled and creeped up behind him very quietly.

"Medium velocity spatter?' she asked suddenly making Warrick jump.

Clutching his heart he gave her a stern look. "That wasn't funny."

Sara smiled. "Yeah it was." She held up the slip. "We got a live one."

"A live one?"

"Well…not exactly," she said looking at the slip again. "A decomp just past Sloane road."

Warrick looked at the t-shirt on the table. "Ok," he sighed. "Give me three minutes. I'll meet you in the break room."

Five minutes later Sara had the car packed and was pulling out of the parking lot, arguing with Warrick about why she got to drive.

"You have been up all night and I just got here."

"So? You know better then me I can run for longer then one shift without even being remotely tired."

"Same with me."

"But you haven't been here for an entire shift yet."

"Which is exactly why I should be driving," Sara said with a smile and a glance in his direction.

Warrick rolled his eyes and turned on the radio. They sat in silence the entire drive. When they got there they were met by Brass and a few other cops. They were pointed in the direction of the well and Sara and Warrick took a look. They could clearly see the skeleton sitting up against the wall. By the smell of things he or she wasn't just sitting in water. Brass told them the coroner had come and gone, giving them the ok to go down there. Sara clapped her hands together and announced she was going down. This was the kind of thing she loved to do. Getting knee deep in your work was usually just a figure of speech but to Sara, it meant exactly that.

Warrick took pictures and samples from around the well while Sara harnessed up and got ready to go down. Sara touched down fifteen minutes later with a nasty squishing sound as her feet sunk into the smelly sludge at the bottom. She was down there all of ten minutes when her cell phone chirped on her belt. She answered it on the fourth ring, having to take her gloves off first. It was Charlotte's school. Of course as soon as they called Sara got a little nervous.

"What happened? Is Charlotte ok?" she asked in a panic.

"Oh, well, not exactly," Mrs. Montgomery, the school's nurse said. Sara waited for her to go on. "She was complaining of a stomach ache a few minutes ago and, well, she just…vomited." She said 'vomited' as if the word would grow arms and strangle her as soon as she said it.

Sara let out a sigh of relief. Mrs. Montgomery was confused. "Is that a good thing?"

"Oh, no…I just thought something worse might have happened," Sara tried to explain herself. She knew she didn't get it, but Sara had a new problem to worry about. Her daughter needed to be picked up from school and she was knee deep in people goop.

"Who is it?" Warrick shouted from above Sara's head. She looked up.

"Charlotte's school. She's sick."

"Who are you talking to?" Mrs. Montgomery asked.

"My partner. I'm a teensy bit…occupied right this second…"

"Well what could be more important then your daughter?" the woman asked as if she was contemplating robbing a bank.

"Its not that…I'm just busy and I can't get away." Let's not explain the people goop to the judgy woman. "I'm going to make some arrangements and then I'll get right back to you." Sara hung up before the judgy woman could say anything. Sara stood there, trying to figure out what to do. As far as she knew everyone was busy and her cousin had gone out of town.

"What's up?" Warrick asked.

"Someone needs to pick up Charlotte…I kind of can't leave just yet." Sara threw up her arms.

Warrick thought about this. "Catherine?"

"She has that 419 in Henderson."

"…Well, what about Nick?"

"Well, he…" Sara thought. What about Nick? "Good idea," she said opening her phone again. Nick answered after two rings.

"Stokes."

"Hey Nicky…could you do me a mega-huge-only-this-once-favor?" she asked quickly.

Nick paused. "What?" he asked and she could tell he was smiling.

"Could you pick up Charlotte from school? She just got sick and I'm…busy."

"What are you doing?" Nick asked after a beat.

"I'm sifting through knee deep human sludge looking for evidence," Sara said with a smile.

"That's my Sara," Nick said with a bigger smile. "I'll leave right now."

"Oh, really?" She was relieved. "That would be so great. Thank you."

"No Problem. I'll see you at your place." And he hung up. Sara did too. She paused a second then said, "Ok, I need to finish up here so I can get home."

Sara and Warrick worked for the next hour on the person in the well. Sara was pretty sure it was a man but couldn't be absolutely sure. She took lots of samples and was pulled out of the well. When she got out she was relieved to breathe in air that wasn't swimming with decomp. She quickly finished up and told Warrick to keep her updated, quickly heading back to her place.

When she burst through the door it had been an hour and a half since the school had called. She crept upstairs and stopped short when she heard talking coming from Charlotte's room.

"…love her?" she head Charlotte whisper.

"Yes," Nick said quietly.

"Because mommy told me that she loves you," Charlotte said. She sounded tired.

"Well, that's good," Sara could tell he was smiling, "Because we are going to get married."

"Yeah. And then you are going to live here?"

"Yes."

"With me?"

"Yes."

"And mommy?"

"Yes."

"And Chester?"

"Yes."

"And…and…with my toys."

Nick laughed a little. "Yes. I think you should go to sleep. Do you feel better?"

Sara smiled. He was so great with her. Could she ask for anything more? She went up the last two steps and rounded the corner into Charlotte's room. Nick was sitting on the floor next to Charlotte's bed. Charlotte was lying in bed with her Pocahontas pajamas on, her head resting on the mattress next the Nick's head, Chester folded loosely in her arms. Sara walked in just as Charlotte closed her eyes. She crept into the room, sitting against the nightstand on the other side of Nick.

"Hey," she whispered, giving his a quick kiss as she sat down.

"How was the knee deep human sludge?" Nick whispered.

"Lots of fun," Sara said sarcastically. She looked over at Charlotte. She had her eyes open again.

"Hi mommy," she said. It was obvious she was extremely tired.

Sara reached up and pushed some hair behind her ear. "Hi pumpkin. Go to sleep and you'll feel better." Charlotte took Sara's hand in hers and closed her eyes again. Sara turned back to Nick. "Thank you so much for picking her up."

Nick shrugged. Sara smiled again. She just looked at him for a moment. She still couldn't believe he was hers for the taking. She was about to say something when Nick's phone rang. Charlotte jumped and looked up as Nick got up off the floor and answered it. Sara heard him say, "Dad?" just before he turned the corner into the hall.

"How are you feeling?" Sara asked Charlotte.

"Siiiiiiick," Charlotte whined. Sara smiled and told her to try and sleep. She sat with Charlotte for a few minutes before curiosity came over her. She left the room quietly, going to see what that phone call from Nick's dad was about. She found him at the kitchen table, his head in his hand, the phone lying forgotten in front of him. He looked very upset so Sara sat down beside him, resting her arm on his shoulder. She knew he would tell her what was wrong without her having to say anything and, sure enough, he spoke not three seconds after she sat down.

"My mom is sick," he said quietly. She could tell from his voice that he was trying to hold back tears.

Sara didn't know what to say so she asked a question. "How sick?"

Nick shrugged and looked at her. "I don't know! She collapsed at work and now she…she's slipping in and out of consciousness. My dad told me he wanted the whole family there…" Nick stopped when his voice cracked and Sara pulled him to her. Sara had never actually met Nick's mom but when Nick had called his parents to tell them he was engaged she had gotten to speak to her. She had been crying so it was a little hard to understand her but she had been very kind to Sara. Calling her 'dear' and telling her she had to meet the family. She rubbed Nick's back and tried to say comforting things. After a minute or two Nick pulled back and kissed Sara's forehead.

"I'm going to go home and pack. I'm going to be on the next flight out of here." Sara nodded as Nick stood up and made his way to the door. She stopped him right as he was putting his jacket on.

"I'll see you when you get back." She kissed him and gave him a comforting hug. "I'll miss you." He gave her a half hearted smile and walked out the door, leaving Sara standing there, worrying about his mother.