It hadn't been as simple as just leaving PD. By the time everyone had gotten to congratulate him for taking down a serial killer (and shook his hand till his arm started to get sore), Nick felt like he was living in a dream, or something... Good or nightmare, he wasn't sure yet, but that was the only way he could think to describe it.

But when he and Sara finally got out, it felt like hours passed them before they said anything. Nick kept Sara pinned closely against his side with one arm, and Sara kept Nick pinned closely to against her with both. He smiled to himself frequently. They wandered aimlessly as they went wherever they were going. The busy city lights were full swing, as always. The sun was finally going down, at the end of what had seemed like an endless day...

Somewhere near a fountain he didn't recognize, Sara launched into the tale of everything that had happened while he'd been in the slammer. She laughed so casually, but by the end of it, Nick found he might actually have been the lucky one.

Sure didn't feel like it, though... he mused.

He'd been able to sleep, and they'd fed him okay. Sara, it looked like, was approaching God only knew how many hours without sleep. As she came to the end of her story, they stopped to look out over the vista. She put her head down on his shoulder. He squeezed her in a little tighter.

"Greg made friends with the housekeeper, though," finished Sara. "Catherine said he did really good on this case."

Nick took a deep breath. "Good. I'm glad to hear it. Always thought he'd be a great addition to the team."

She lifted her head to grin playfully at him. "You did not."

"Nope," Nick gave in immediately, head shaking. "Nope, I surely didn't." He turned his head to meet her eyes. "Still glad it turned out for him."

"Me, too," said Sara. She returned her head to its original position. "I just hope I don't have to work with him too often."

"Why's that?"

"It would feel too much like babysitting."

"Do you think so?" asked Nick with genuine surprise. "He was good in the lab."

She nodded. "True, but it's much harder being out there."

"I suppose." Absentmindedly, he played with her hair. "I think it adds to the fun, though." And after a few moments, "Doc says he's never going to retire."

"Really? When did he tell you that?"

Nick hesitated. He could tell, even now, the subject of his imprisonment would soon become taboo. "When he came to see me."

It seemed, already, it had. Sara stiffened against him. "He did?"

"Yeah..."

Nick paused, and pressed his lips against the top of her head, fingers still stroking. "He said you weren't doing so well, while I was gone."

Sara paused, as well, but eventually, shook her head. "He was telling the truth."

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Sara."

Her head snapped up, and her expression was one of confusion. "Why are YOU sorry?"

"I'm sorry that you had to see all that... I know, it's not easy." He shivered, slightly. "I thought I'd be better prepared for it, if it ever happened, but–"

Two of her fingers silenced him suddenly. "Nick... stop. It wasn't your fault."

"Well, no," he replied, muffled. "But–"

"–'but', nothing." Her eyes hardened, and with her other hand, she pulled his head closer by pushing on the back of his neck. "It wasn't your fault."

Inside, he was partly exasperated. Sara just never understood these kinds of things, did she...?

He pulled her hand away from his mouth. "Sara, listen... It wasn't all that bad. It was shocking, and... yeah, I didn't enjoy it. Let's not do it again anytime soon..."

There was a mild stab of regret in his stomach when her expression changed from one of determination to fear.

He amended. "Well, okay... let's not do it ever again. But, you gotta understand..." He took her hands in each of his, and looked down at them. His left thumb caressed her right knuckles... and he looked back up into her eyes. "I really shoulda kept it together a little more, you know? My team needed me. They was all out there, fighting the good fight. They shouldn't have been worried about me."

She opened her mouth to protest.

"So, from now on," he continued loudly, "...I promise not to put you through things like that."

She leaned back on one foot. The way her eyes were surveying him, it made him feel kind of uncomfortable. She didn't say anything...

And finally, he couldn't take it, anymore. "What?"

With surprising speed and strength, she turned her hands palms-up, and her fingers locked around his wrists. She lifted them up by their eyes. Her thumb traced miniature markings that were still on his wrists. He sighed once more to see her eyes watering.

"You see these?" she demanded, shaky-voiced. "Do you see these, Nicky?" Then she put both of his hands together, held them to her chest, and pressed her forehead into his. "These are there from the handcuffs that were on you. Because you did the right thing."

He looked at his feet sheepishly.

But she pushed up with their hands to force him to look at her again. "I don't ever want to see that again."

His lips trembled. "I'm sorry..." he repeated in a whisper. "I'm sorry, I just– I couldn't let her die."

"I'm not concerned about her. I'm concerned about you. And you've got to stay with me, Nicky."

He could feel his composure slipping. He looked away...

"Promise me: you'll do everything you can. Whatever it takes."

He looked back. "Yeah," he said after a moment.

"Promise me, Nicky," she insisted.

"I promise you, Sara." He lifted his right hand, like he was swearing in court. "Everything I can. Whatever it takes."

She melted into his arms, then. And while he held her to him, her hands gripped the front of his shirt.

"Ms. Sidle?"

They both spun to their side.

Looking at them was a woman and a man. Nick was confused, but Sara left him to go to them.

"Gina!" she greeted, surprised. "Harry!"

To his further confusion, Sara and the woman named Gina hugged each other.

"We were just on our way home," chimed in the man. "We thought we'd... stop and see how Mr. Stokes was."

The usage of his name connected the wires in Nicky's brain.

"We got the call from Captain Brass," said Gina. "We hear he's out."

Sara giggled, and then pointed to Nick behind her, where he was scratching the back of his head, nervously.

Gina followed her indication, and her mouth fell open when her eyes landed on Nick. "Oh..."

Nick raised a weak hand. "Hi, there. I'm Nick Stokes..."

Sara released Gina and stepped back. Both Harry and Gina came up to him slowly.

Then, Gina held a tentative hand out. Nick looked at it, and then shook it. Next, Harry.

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you, so much, for the risk you took for me. For us..."

"Thank you, Mr. Stokes."

"No problem," replied Nick, automatically. He caught sight of Sara raising her eyebrows and looking away in the corner of his vision. Oh, you know what I mean.

"We, uh... we have something for you. A gift. A way of saying 'thanks'."

She held up an orange piece of paper, folded in half. Nick accepted it with a smile, and opened it. He was painfully aware of Sara observing him for his reaction.

When he saw it in full, he there was a sharp stabbing in his chest with the break he took in.

It was beautiful... He looked it up and down several times...

But finally, he raised his head again, and folded it in half.

"Thank you," he sobbed once. "I'll keep it with me. Always."

Sara's face split into a wide and always-toothy grin.

Gina hugged Nick, once and for a brief moment, then pulled back. Nick shook hands with Harry again.

"Thank you, much, sir," he added.

Harry patted his shoulder once. "Thank YOU."

As they stepped back, Sara stepped forward, and retook her place beside him.

"Well, it looks like you two are busy, so... we'll let you go," said Gina.

"Oh. Yeah, we're kind of... enjoying his first night out," replied Sara.

"Yeah," affirmed Nick. "But, hey, come see us, sometime. We're almost always down at the LVPD. We could all go to dinner together, or something."

Gina and Harry exchanged smiles. "We'd like that," she said.

"You two have fun," said Harry. "Get your rest, Mr. Stokes."

"Nick. Mr. Stoke is my father."

"Your father's technically the Honorable Judge Stokes..." interjected Sara playfully.

He cocked his head to the side and jutted his lips out in mock thoughtfulness. "Well, yeah... I suppose, if you want to get all technical."

The four of them laughed, and when they were done, Gina and Harry continued on their way with waves.

As did Nick and Sara, his card clutched tightly in one hand. He knew he'd be able to live up to his promise to Sara much easier, now. The little piece of construction paper would be his always-helpful reminder.

They came to a bench a few minutes later, where Nick suddenly felt a pain in his leg.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed.

Sara jumped. "What?" she asked, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"Oh..." Nick limped to the edge of the bench and sat down on it. "Sorry, pain in my leg. I rolled off the bed in the holding cell..."

"What? How did you manage to do that?"

He shrugged. "I just fell asleep, and I woke up when my leg suddenly hurt."

She looked at him for a moment, then shook her head. "Nicky..." she scolded.

"What?" he answered defensively. "Those beds are small."

"Oh, yeah," she pretended to admit.

A build-up of laughter replaced his stoney seriousness. "Too small to be comfortable in."

But she wasn't biting. "Why didn't you try curling up? Or lying on your stomach, or something?"

"I did. That's how I fell on it. I was curled up tighter than a hedgehog." Thinking about it reminded him he also had a stiff neck... "My whole body's tense, actually..."

She touched it, carefully. "Why didn't you tell me all this before we came walking out here, hours from our cars?"

"Our cars are at PD," Nick pointed out. "We can take a taxi, I've got a few bucks."

Sara blinked. "Wait... that's good, because I left my money back at PD, too..."

For some reason, this caused Nick to burst out into laughter. He leaned back against the bench and held his stomach.

"Oh..." She hit him halfheartedly on the arm. "That's right, keep laughing, big boy..."

"I'm-I'm– I'm sorry, Sara. It's just... that's so like you."

"It is not," she argued.

"Oh, no, of course not." Nick raised his hands in surrender. "Never."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, okay. Maybe I've done it two or three–"

"–hundred–"

"–times, but–" Then his interjection caught up with her, and she glared at him. "Very funny, Nick Stokes."

"Aw, come on, now." He pulled her back over to him and left a kiss on her cheek. "I'm sorry."

"It's not funny."

"You're right."

"It wasn't funny."

"Surely wasn't."

She was giggling. "Don't ever do it again."

So was he. "I'll try my best."

When they stopped, she put her head down on his chest.

And they stayed like that. For another unknown, untraced, and unremembered period of time, they stayed just as they were. Nick resumed his stroking of her hair. She kept her fingers gripped tightly on her fist full of his shirt. The sun was almost completely set, now...

"I, um... I had a chat with Grissom."

Nick hesitated. Grissom was the last person he really wanted to hear about, at the moment. "Yeah?" he replied anyway.

He could feel her tensing up. "Yeah. I was... talking to him about Lady Heather." From above her, he could still see her eyelids flutter when his fingertips brushed across a particular spot on the back of her head. "He asked me about our walks."

"Yeah, funny story... Doc Robbins asked me, too."

At this, she sat up. "Oh?"

"Yeah. He told me you showed him a picture?"

She looked at her fingernails. "I did."

Using his thumb and forefinger, he turned her vision back to him. "I didn't know you had one."

While she reached into her pocket, he reached into his.

They presented each other with the same picture.

Their fingertips connected, and Nick stared in Sara's eyes, while she stared right back.

"What did Grissom say?" he asked, softly.

"He, uh... he asked me why I was so broken up about this whole thing."

There was nothing but her. For the moment, everything around him seemed to either fade or put greater emphasis on her. Nick's hand raised itself to the side of her warm face... "Yeah?"

"Yeah..." She brought her hand up to rest her palms on his chest. Her other still held his shirt.

He began to pet her cheek. "And?"

"I told him about the night we went star watching."

He couldn't resist smiling a little at that. "Yes?"

"Yes," she repeated. "He called it 'romantic'. Kinda pissed me off..."

His smile grew wider. "Is that so?"

She wasn't resisting the gentle pressure he was putting on the back of her neck. Bringing her in to him. Her lips were moving closer to his, inch by inch, every second. Her arms were beginning to snake around his chest.

"Yes. He wasn't getting it."

"Mmm." He twisted his head to the side.

"He never gets it." So did she.

"Never..." he whispered.

With one more stroke to the side of her face, their lips at last connected.

The taste of her set his chest ablaze. He wrapped his arms up around her body, and was pleased that she joined his efforts in pulling her into his lap entirely. He leaned back, bringing her with him till his arms were setting loosely around her waist, while each of her legs surrounded him. Their lips meshed seamlessly, over and over again... and in that moment, it was Nick's unwitting and unknowing turn to feel like the last of a jigsaw puzzle piece, clicking into place.

Straight out of the box he felt that he'd only just now escaped... even though he'd been in prison all day, and gotten out a few hours ago... Nick had always known where he belonged. Where he wanted to be. And that was exactly where he was, now.

They probably would never have separated. But a gust of wind blew around them so fiercely that she shivered, and ducked down against his body.

And he closed his eyes, and did his best to shield her from the wind with his arms. He moved his fingers along the edges of her face, where it lay against his neck. With his other hand, he caressed the small of her back.

It took another burst of chilling wind to get her to say that she was ready for that taxi.

When they stood up, Nick immediately pulled her back up against him – he didn't want to take her home, and then have to leave her, to separate from her...

But he still hailed the cab. Still told the driver to take them to her place. Still opened the door for her when they got there.

She leaned down and spoke into the backseat. "Thank you, Nick." And she reached out to touch his chin. "For everything."

"You're welcome," he said back, and then he took her hand. "Thank you for not giving up on me, Sara Sidle. It means a lot."

He kissed her fingers, and she smiled, and began to retreat. He pulled the door shut, and turned his head stoically forward.

"That's one hell of a woman," commented the cab driver. "You're a lucky man, there, uh... Nick, is it?"

"That's right. On all three counts..."

But as the cab started to pull away, there was a sudden knock on the window.

Nick looked over to see it was Sara. Her grin was back, full force. From the front seat, the driver rolled the window down.

"Nick...?" she tried.

"Yes...?"

She fidgeted, her fingers on one hand clamped tightly around the other. "Stay with me tonight?"

It took just a moment for the realization to sink in. But when it did, Nick clambered out of the back seat to join her on the sidewalk. "You sure?"

"Absolutely."

This time, when he kissed her, it was softer, and sweeter.

"That's good," he joked, afterwards. Something had just occurred to him. He pulled his wallet out and opened it. "All I got is a twenty."

"What a coincidence," said the cab driver. "This is a $19.99 ride."

Nick held the bill out between two fingers, never taking his eyes off Sara. "Keep the penny."

"Will do. Every little bit helps. You folks take care, now!"

The sounds of the cab driving away were muffled, lost to his ears while he followed Sara up the steps.

"Try to be careful with me, big boy," she said, smiling widely, before they entered. The key turned, and the door opened. She flicked a light switch on without taking her eyes off him. "It's been a while."

He flicked his eyebrows once. "I'll be chivalrous as a king."

He walked into her outstretched arms, lifting her off the ground, kissing her neck, and kicking the door closed behind him.

Sara's fingers twisted the lock closed. "You do that," she said blissfully, as he crossed the room with her in his arms.

And they fell together, arms wrapped around each other, onto her couch. Where the rest of the celebration... and eventually, the much-needed rest... finally took place.

I'll probably write more CSI stories, so I guess I should get it out of the way right now that I'm not a fan of Sara and Grissom together. I think they're both great characters on their own (although I prefer Sara to Grissom), but I've just never been into the idea of them having a romance. Not even when I only used to catch sight of the show every once in a while.

The creepy "pin me down" scene from Invisible Evidence really didn't help... or the fact that one can't put either Sara or Grissom's names in any search engine on the internet without an image or a reference of some kind from that scene appearing in some way.

I'm not going to say I'll never write a story where they're involved with each other. But I'd likely use it as drama fuel or background. I mean no offense to anyone who does like them in a relationship with each other. And I apologize to one of my reviewers from the first part of this story, who was hoping for a Sara and Grissom ending. I appreciate that you cared about my story enough to have your own hopes for its outcome – it means a lot to me. :)

This is just how I feel about it. From me, you could probably expect a lot of Nick and Sara. There may or may not be other couples, I don't know yet.

That said, I hope everyone either enjoyed the story, or at least one part of it, either the case or the character drama. And thank you, especially, to JennaTN, for your kind reviews.

No idea what type of thing I'll do next, or when. Thank you for reading, everybody. :D