Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this story, and an extra thanks to those of you who left a review. This is the penultimate chapter. Let me know what you think of it.

Chapter 9

Nick sat patiently waiting for the arrival of the remaining members of the team. He had been the first to arrive at the lab that evening. It was relatively unusual for him to come in that early but that day was an exception. He'd been rattling around inside his house all morning, practically twiddling his thumbs as he waited for his phone to ring, or for a knock on the door. Neither happened. He tried sleeping but his brain was too active to rest. He did eventually manage to get maybe an hour or so after he dozed off as some boring documentary lulled him to sleep. So when he woke up he chose to head into work to maybe make himself useful.

Nick straightened himself up slightly as he heard high-heeled shoes clicking against the titled floor, but as the woman turned the corner it wasn't who Nick was hoping it would be.

"Evening," Catherine greeted as she walked into the room a few minutes later.

Nick looked consumed by his thoughts and only responded with a nod and half smile.

Catherine gave him a look. "Are you okay, Nicky?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Nick insisted.

"Are you sure? You look kinda...," Catherine trailed off as she gave him the once over, noting he looked somewhat dejected as he slouched in his seat. "...down."

"Didn't sleep very well, my AC has packed it," he lied. "I'll be alright when the caffeine kicks in."

The truth was he was anything but fine. He had been going out of his mind most of the afternoon, almost wearing a hole in his carpet from all his pacing. All he had going round and round his head were things like 'what if she's had an accident?' or 'what if she's lying dead in a ditch somewhere?' He needed to know that she was alright. Nick had tried to call her so many times that afternoon but she hadn't picked up, nor had she answered the door when he went round to see her. She was driving him slowly insane, though that wasn't a new thing by far. But this wasn't the good kind of insane he had grown to enjoy. He was starting to be really worried about her. And then he only freaked out even more when his mind went into overdrive about all the reasons she might have had for not answering his calls if she was fine. Had he said something or done something wrong? The sooner Sara arrived at the lab the better.

So the part about him not sleeping very well wasn't a lie, just the rest of his statement was artistic license. He'd tried but sleep wouldn't come. He'd tried as soon as he got back from the diner just after midday, but his head was too full of questions. A while later, as the sun was hanging high in the sky - it wasn't particularly unusual for him to be falling asleep around that sort of - he tried to drift off to the land of nod but again all he achieved was counting all the blemishes on his ceiling wall and concocting yet more theories as too what had happened to Sara. That's when he decided to go into work early, convincing himself that he could survive on caffeine for a night. He'd sit and wait for Sara to come in, because if he was thinking rationally he knew she was fine. She was always one of the first people to come in so he figured he wouldn't have to wait long. But Catherine was in first, not that that was illegal or anything, it was just frustrating. Nick felt as though Sara was doing this on purpose, purposely taking her time to come in. But just because she wasn't the first one in didn't mean she wouldn't be the second.

Catherine proceeded to pour herself some coffee, keeping a weary eye on her colleague. She hoped it was just a case of the weekend blues, but in reality it probably had something to do with Sara. Everything with Nick had something to do with Sara.

Next in the room came Greg. He initially looked cheerful and seemed to have almost a skip in his step, but that grounded to a halt in the doorway when he spotted Nick sitting at the table. He was much more subdued as he shuffled into the room. Nick let out an impatient sigh and rolled his eyes as Greg sat a few chairs away from him. What was taking Sara so long?

Along came Grissom a few minutes later, but only briefly enough to poke his head round the doorframe and yell, 'if you see the sheriff, tell him I'm not here yet.' And then he disappeared again. He reappeared about ten minutes later, assuring the three members of his team that had assembled early that the crisis had been averted but didn't choose to elaborate. Warrick entered the room shortly after, and Nick's face fell upon seeing him.

"Sorry to disappoint," Warrick teased as he made his way towards the coffee maker.

Nick smirked in response and fixed his eyes on the doorway again, like they had been for pretty much the entire time he'd been sitting in the break room.

Grissom flicked through the newspaper in front of him, though he wasn't particularly interested in reading it. He stopped to check his watch, and then glanced over at the clock on the wall for verification of the time.

"Has anyone heard from Sara this evening?" he spoke up.

"No, I've not. Don't know about the rest of you...," Greg shrugged.

"It's not like Sara to be late," Warrick commented.

"She's not late yet," Catherine insisted. "Shift doesn't technically start for another few minutes yet so she's still got time. She'll probably be here any minute now."

Grissom's cell phone rang before the silence ensued amongst the others. Nick sat low in his chair as he continued to stare down the hallway, waiting for Sara to arrive. He was beginning to wonder what was taking her so long, and hoping that everything was okay. He was sure everything was fine but still, he couldn't help but fret for her. It was in his nature to care and worry about her, he couldn't help it. He had these deep set feelings towards her that only compelled him to fear for her safety. It was only natural for Nick to be protective over the woman he loved, he thought so anyway. He sat nervously twitching his fingers and absentmindedly gazing off into space.

Grissom hung up and turned to address the room. "We have a double 419 at the Bellagio, a potential murder-suicide. Brass isn't convinced it's that straightforward so wants some clarification. Catherine and Nick - I'd like you two..."

"Sorry...," Sara interrupted, looking somewhat embarrassed as she entered the room. "Car trouble."

"That's quite alright," Grissom nodded.

Sara snuck into the room, shuffling round her colleagues as they sat round the table. She reached the end of the table and pulled out the chair to sit herself down, avoiding eye contact with Nick as he smiled widely at her.

"As I was saying, I'd like you two to handle this. Brass will meet you there," Grissom continued. "Warrick, you're preparing for your court case tomorrow, correct?"

"Unfortunately," Warrick grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"Get Sara to help you. You worked it together, didn't you? So far it's a slow night so you should at least put your intellect to good use," Grissom insisted.

"What about me?" Greg wondered. "Am I doing paperwork?"

"You get to work solo," Grissom handed Greg over a piece of paper. "Smash and grab at a liquor store."

"Now, Griss, you and I both know you aren't supposed to have favourites," Catherine teased.

"We could swap?" Greg offered.

"No thanks," Catherine smirked, before turning her attention back to Nick and their case. "I'm gonna go check my kit is fully stocked then I'll meet you outside?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah. I'll be there in ten. There's just something I've got to do first."

Catherine turned and left the room, whilst Nick looked over at Sara who was discussing the court case with Warrick. He knew that his face had lit up like a Christmas tree as his eyes fell on his female colleague. He never meant for it to happen, it just always did, always had. But Sara hadn't seemed that pleased to see him that evening. Nick naturally assumed that maybe she was a little stressed out after having car trouble and then being late for work so she was just focusing on the task at hand. He loved that about her. He loved her passion and enthusiasm when it came to exploring every possible angle of a case. She really was one of a kind.

Nick shook his head back to reality and moved across the room. He cleared his throat as he came to a stop in front of them.

"Can I, uh, talk to you for... for a minute?" he stumbled over his words nervously.

Sara's face instantly fell and her eyes narrowed. She seemed to be almost glaring at him.

"I'll give you two a few minutes," Warrick said, standing up. "I need to go find the case files anyway."

Once Warrick had moved past them, Nick took a step closer and smiled at her. "Are you okay?"

Sara gritted her teeth. "Fine."

"That's all I wanted really, to know if you were okay. We were supposed to meet at the diner yesterday after shift but you didn't show up so I got a little concerned. Did you get any of my messages, my texts?" Nick questioned.

Sara didn't respond, merely clenching her jaw to prevent herself from saying something she would regret.

"I hung around the diner for a good hour waiting for you, then I waited all morning for you to call me back. I just wondered what had happened," Nick stated, looking glum.

Sara just stood there with a blank yet irritated look on her face, flatly refusing to acknowledge him in anyway.

"If I've done something wrong, please just tell me," Nick continued. "I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you."

"I know all about the bet you made," she stated, narrowing her eyes.

Nick looked surprised. "How...?"

"Greg told me," Sara replied, folding her arms over he chest.

"Whatever he said, it isn't true. It's not what it sounds like," Nick was quick to try and explain his actions.

"So you think I'm incompetent too?" Sara glared at him.

"No, not at all...," he stuttered to get his words out.

"How did you think I wouldn't find out about it?"

"I never thought about that, I'll be honest with you," Nick admitted. "I've barely even thought about since I stupidly agreed to it. I would've thought that you wouldn't need to know about it because it didn't really concern you."

"But it was about me though, wasn't it?" Sara raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I suppose so. But not in a horrible way," Nick insisted.

"No, not at all," Sara agreed, a sarcastic tone lacing her voice. "Just in a 'what she doesn't know won't her' kinda way, right?"

"Yes... No...," he fumbled over his words.

"Yeah, so it's fine to bet over me but only as long as I don't find out," Sara glared at him once more.

"That's not true, Sara. It was nothing like that," Nick insisted, shaking his head. "It was just a bit of..."

"Fun?" Sara assumed. "Do you find it fun playing with someone else's feelings?"

"Of course not..."

"I can't even begin to tell you how hurt I feel right now," she stated, the emotion coming through as she spoke.

"Please, just let me explain. It really isn't what you think," Nick insisted, sounding desperate.

"Oh, I'm dying to hear this," she insisted sarcastically, keeping her arms folded over her chest in a defensive gesture.

"It was stupid, yes, but not hurtful, at least that was never our intention. Warrick found out that I had feelings for you years ago, he said it was obvious, that I was rubbish at hiding it... anyway, my point is he told Greg and then Greg started hassling me about it, saying I'd never do anything about it. Then he came up with this bet that I wouldn't say anything to you within a week," Nick tried to explain. "It was nothing, it never meant a thing to me. I never once entered my head when we were holding that bomb."

"So, what? Was this some sort of perverted way of competing to see which of you could sleep with me first?" Sara narrowed her eyes again. "If you'd have lost the bet would he have got a shot?"

"No! It was nothing like that, I swear," Nick insisted.

"That's supposed to mean anything to me?" she raised her eyebrows.

"It was a meaningless prank. He was just trying to help, in the only way that Greg knows how," Nick continued. "It's was just a kind of incentive..."

"Surely I was enough of an incentive? You thought you'd confess these feelings that apparently everyone else on the planet knew about but me, and I'd just go weak at the knees, flutter my eyelashes at you, drag you off to bed..."

"No! That was never...," Nick insisted sternly.

Catherine had come back looking for her assigned partner on her most recent case, noting the heated discussion going on between him and Sara. "Nicky, you coming?" she interrupted.

Both Nick and Sara snapped their necks in the direction of the voice. Nick instantly let out a sigh. "Yeah... I'll be right there. We're almost done."

"There's nothing else to say, Nick," Sara stated with a glare, quickly turning and walking away from him.

The way she looked at him now, with such disgust and disappointment, though she was probably bordering on hatred too, made his heart sink. He'd known that there was every possibility that she would decline his advances, and he knew that it would have probably broken his heart, literally left an empty void in his life, but she was crushing him and all his hopes and dreams with just a look. He figured that now his chances of being with her were slim to nonexistent, and that hurt even more. Worse still, because yes it could be worse, Nick had no one to blame but himself. He'd went about things the wrong way, he knew that now. But there was nothing he could do to change that now, he didn't have a time machine to go back ten days and make everything right again. He had messed up, and ruined everything. When he'd spoken to his father, Nick could see it in his eyes that he didn't really believe him when he'd said that he could potentially ruin everything by confessing his feelings for Sara, Nick assumed that his father probably thought he was overreacting, and he wished more than anything that that been the case. He could stomach the rejection, just about, but the way she was looking at him, that he couldn't take. Everything they had before was gone, ruined. Their friendship; gone. Their working relationship; nonexistent. Their future together; not even a glimmer on the horizon. He knew the risks, but figured they were worth taking. He'd wanted to test the waters in a sense, see where things would go. He knew things could have gone horribly wrong but stupidly he believed everything would be alright in the end. How naive of him.

It was the fact that he had come so close. When she agreed to go out for breakfast with him, Nick had almost literally hit the roof with joy. After everything that had happened between them, all her avoidance and anger towards him, he had honestly thought that maybe, just maybe, everything would work out alright for them in the end. She'd given him hope. He'd gone into the diner and sat in the booth that Sara would always choose if she got the chance; it was just off the centre, but more to the left, towards the back. Sara had stated many times that people who came in and just shuffled off to the back out of the way we're just rude, so the middle was sensible compromise. So for whatever reason Nick chose to sit in that same booth, though he wasn't sure what he hoped to gain from it. Maybe Sara would be flattered by his thoughtful gesture and they'd be off to a great start before she'd even sat down. That may have happened if she would have turned up. Nick sat thinking as he waited, and waited, for her to push open the stiff glass door, mulling over what it was that made this particular booth special. He figured it was just one of her many quirks that made her unique, made her different from all other woman he had ever met.

And that was perhaps one of the best ways he could describe her; different. She was unique, a limited edition. Sara was special. She was always kindhearted and goodnatured, always had her heart in the right place. She was always up for a laugh and forever great company to be with. She would always effortlessly flirt with her male colleagues and used her outstanding intelligence for the greater good. That was his Sara in a nutshell, though he hated defining her in such simple words. His Sara. His amazingly beautiful Sara. He smiled in spite of himself; if she could hear him she would most likely slap him across the face and give him some kind of feminist lecture. Women weren't objects to be collected or won, used or abused, or be taken for granted in any way shape or form. That was just who she was. Sara had had a less than average childhood, though Nick never knew any of the minor details and didn't want to pry, and she'd had some bad experiences with men in the past. But Nick liked to think that everything that happened in her past made her who she was, as it did most people. Yes, she was defensive and reserved when it came to her feelings and emotions but that was only because she'd been messed about with in the past. Nick had been lucky enough to be able to see underneath all that, get behind her wall and see her for who she really was. She was simply incredible. Though there was a lot more to Sara than just her cute gap-toothed smile and her endless knowledge of everything forensics related. She brought out the best in him, made him a better person. And he hoped that he'd get the chance to repay the favour if she were to give him the chance. But he'd always been doubtful. To Nick she was way out of his league. To Nick she was so far out of his league she was in a completely different ballpark altogether. But stupidly he'd thought that they could have had something really special together. They had so much in common already, yet they had enough differences to intrigue the other. The possibilities that their future together had seemed endless once upon a time, but now Nick was finding it incredibly difficult to be even the slightest bit optimistic.

"Nicky? Nicky? Is everything okay?" Catherine called, startling her friend as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Nick forced a smile. "Come on then, that crime scene won't process itself."

As Catherine and Nick made their way to the carpark, Sara dawdled down the corridor, absentmindedly frowning as she walked. She found Warrick laying out the folders and files in the A/V lab, the only vacant room that was relatively out of the way.

"Everything okay?" Warrick looked up upon hearing her enter the room.

"Yep," she said simply, shrugging as she pulled out a chair.

Warrick shook his head and decided not to press the issue. "Okay, so I gathered up all the files on the Marie Walker case, as well as Lisa Scott, Robyn Mitchell, Riley Clarke and Tara Redmond. I've also requested that all the evidence be sent up so we can check over everything, make sure we didn't miss anything."

Sara just nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look as if someone's just told you your dog is dead," Warrick stated. "Cheer up; you're the lucky one who doesn't have to get up on the stand tomorrow."

"I don't feel very lucky right now."

Warrick let out a sigh and smiled sympathetically in her direction before taking a seat at the table. "Where do you wanna start?"

"I'll take Lisa. She was the first victim to be found, seems like the best place to start," Sara stated, sitting down and pulling the folder towards her.

Warrick followed her lead and opened up the first file he came across, Tara Redmond. They needed to go over the details of the case to be able to precisely answer any question from the defence or prosecutor. They had had quite a lot of practice, and Warrick personally found it helpful to have someone there to help make sure he knew all the facts of each individual murder, was able to identify even the tiniest of similarities between them, and maybe even do a little bit of roll play, with Sara quizzing him in her best authoritative voice and scrutinising his every word as only a defence lawyer can. He had the district feeling Sara wasn't in a very good mood and seemed quite distant, and he thought she even looked ready to burst into tears at any moment.

Meanwhile, Catherine and Nick were en route to their crime scene on the strip. Catherine glanced over to see her colleague daydreaming as he gazed out the passenger side window.

"Is everything okay between you and Sara?" she asked curiously.

"Uh huh," Nick nodded absentmindedly.

"Have you two had a chance to work out your... problems...?" Catherine wondered, not quite sure how to phrase it.

"Honestly? I have no idea," Nick replied, still looking out the window.

Catherine just nodded and chose to drop the subject, sensing that he didn't want to divulge any more information and she was getting a very strong vibe that he wanted her to change the subject. It was just as well she decided to turn on the radio, Nick really wasn't in the mood for idle chit chat.

A few hours later, Catherine and Nick returned from the crime scene, laden down with DNA swabs, bullet casings and fingerprints to be analysed.

"I'll get right to it," Mandy nodded.

"Thank you," Nick smiled, handing over the fingerprint samples before making a move for the door.

"Oh, by the way, Greg's been looking for you," Mandy called out.

"Really? I'll keep an eye out for him," Nick lied and forced a smile.

Truth was, at that moment in time if Nick never saw Greg again it would be too soon. If it wasn't one thing it was the other with that man, though Nick thought of him as more of a child at that moment. He knew it wasn't all Greg's fault, but maybe it was easier to blame someone else other than himself. At least now he could understand why Greg had looked so skittish in the break room when he saw him sat there. It was all making perfect sense now. Nick was seething with anger for his younger colleague, who he had considered a close friend. But what were they now? Great question. So not only had deciding to tell Sara how he felt for her wrecked everything they had, it was also having an effect on his other relationships with close friends and colleagues. Great, just bloody great. And now said person who Nick was mad at came round the corner and headed straight towards him.

"Hey... Hey, Nick...," Greg jogged to catch up with his friend who'd instantly turned away from him.

"What?" Nick gave him an unamused look.

"I've been looking for you," Greg started.

"And I've been avoiding you," Nick stated and tried to push past him.

"Wait, Nick, please. Let me explain..."

"There's nothing to explain," Nick insisted, pleading with his eyes for him to stop talking.

"There is, of course there is," Greg exclaimed. "I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for what happened. I don't even know where to begin. It just sorta happened, just sorta came out. You have to know I never meant to say anything, you know that right?"

"Whatever, Greg. Just please stop talking about it now. I really don't want to talk about this else I'll probably end up saying something I'll regret," Nick tried to explain. "So please, just forget about it."

Nick managed to move past him at last, and went to start walking down the hall in the direction he'd been going.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Greg insisted sincerely. "Maybe I can try and talk to her..."

"You've done enough, don't you think?"

And with that Nick walked away.

Greg sighed as he watched him leave, his face falling in despair.

"I told you this would end badly," Warrick stated confidently from the doorway of the ballistics lab.

"What do you want, a medal?" Greg snapped.

"I should have put a bet on how this would turn out," Warrick continued, folding his arms over his chest.

"What are you, the tree of knowledge?" Greg glared.

"Maybe now you'll finally learn your lesson," Warrick gave him a look.

"I didn't do this on purpose, did I?" Greg huffed.

"Still, interfering can get you into a lot of trouble," Warrick insisted.

"Well, I'm not interfering ever again. From now on they're on their own."

Sara appeared behind Warrick and cleared her throat. Warrick turned to look at her, silently waiting for her to continue.

"I'm gonna go down and speak to Al about our vics," Sara stated softly.

Warrick gave her a smile. "You know where to find me when you're done."

So Sara made her way downstairs to her new found haven in the cold confinements of the morgue.

She pushed open the door a gave a sheepish smile to Doc Robbins, who was sitting thoughtfully at his desk. "Hey," was all she could think of to say.

"Good evening," Doc Robbins nodded, placing the pen in his hand gently down on top of the open folder in front of him.

"I bet you're getting sick of seeing me," Sara stated, smiling slightly in spite of herself.

"Not at all," Doc Robbins insisted.

"It's just nice being down here. People don't judge you, and I'm not just talking about the dead bodies," Sara let out a low breath.

"I'm not in this business to judge people, Sara. Neither of us are."

"But that's what I do upstairs everyday. That is practically my job, to judge people. I'm constantly judging people and making assumptions about people who I don't know and who I don't ever plan on knowing. But for a brief moment our lives collide, and I have to be on tender hooks the whole time, secretly making assessments about everyone around me. But most of the time I'm thinking the worst of everyone I meet anyway so what does that even matter?" Sara rambled. "I thought I was a good judge of character but it would appear not."

"Would you like to talk about it?" Doc Robbins guested to the empty seat next to him.

"You mean you don't know?" Sara asked, somewhat sarcastically.

"I heard about what happened between you and Nick...," Doc Robbins stated, assuming that was what she was getting at.

"Of course you did, who doesn't know?" she questioned rhetorically, sitting down.

"We try not to make a habit out of talking about you, or anyone else for that matter," he offered.

"Who'd David hear it from? Henry? Hodges?"

Al let out a sigh. "Hodges."

Sara rubbed her eyes. "Well, I guess it's not exactly a secret. Just as well, really."

"We could talk about what happened if you want to, if you want to get something's off your chest?"

"I'm supposed to be able to read people, but I had no idea Nick had these... these feelings for me," Sara sighed. "How didn't I realise? How did I not notice something was different?"

"You know weren't looking for anything," Al offered.

"That's not good enough," she insisted. "For so many years... for so many years he's just been right there, right next me, solving case after case, night after night... sitting next to me in the diner, just laughing and joking and enjoying each other's company, and this whole time... How did I not know?"

"At least you know now..."

"But then I hear about this stupid bet that he made with Greg and it makes me doubt everything," Sara interrupted. "We were going to talk, and I thought that maybe we could sort something out, maybe see where things went... I don't know. I don't know know what I thought. But now that I know about this bet that they made I'm wondering if he actually meant it, if he actually wanted to say anything. Or worse, did he actually mean it? Or is he just stringing me along?"

"Maybe you should concern yourself with your own feelings for him and work out how you feel about him, going on the basis that Nick isn't the type to lie about something, anything really," Al suggested. "Forget about everything else that's happened and focus on whether you feel the same way for him."

Sara squeezed her eyes closed and leaned back in the chair slightly. She cleared her throat before she spoke again, "I'd come down here to go over Daniel Westwood's victims. It goes to trail tomorrow. If you've got the time..."

"Just give me a few minutes to find my reports," he replied.

A short while later Sara returned to her usual surroundings of the lab, the ever common sharp lights and static whirl from various machines still present. She made her way into the layout room in the hopes of finding Warrick sitting hard at work at the desk, instead she found Nick slumped over some evidence.

Nick lifted his head upon hearing someone enter, assuming it would be Catherine, but he quickly straightened himself up as he realised it was Sara. "Hi...," he smiled nervously.

She quickly turned to leave, sighing as she did so.

"Sara, wait," Nick called out.

She stopped short of the exit and reluctantly turned to face him.

"Please, stay," Nick pleaded. "Give me five minutes, please. That's all I'm asking for."

Sara shrugged, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Fine."

"I'm so sorry," he started.

"Only because you got caught," Sara narrowed her eyes at him.

"No, that's not true," Nick shook his head. "I'm sorry because it was stupid and if I could take it back I would."

"Your confession or the bet?" Sara clenched her jaw.

"The bet," he replied. "I'd be lying to you if I said I was sorry for telling you how I feel about you."

"So was it just because we were holding a bomb or...," Sara raised an eyebrow, keeping her arms in their defensive position.

"Partly, I guess," Nick nodded. "I figured that if I wasn't going to say anything then, when we were dicing with death, then I don't know if I ever would have. But I promise you, I never thought about the bet, we were a little bit preoccupied."

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it," she insisted.

"You trusted me once," Nick commented with sad eyes.

Sara looked over at the clock on the wall, ignoring his comments. "You've got about three minutes left."

"You're mad at me, I get that. I'm sure I'd be mad too," Nick began. "But can't we just have it out or something? Shout at me, tell me you hate me, anything. Just stop this, stop avoiding me."

"You should have thought of that first," she insisted.

Nick's heart sunk.

Sara looked him in the eye. "Why me?

Nick looked perplexed. "What do you...?"

"You could have any woman you want, Nick, why pick me?" she elaborated.

"I didn't pick you, Sara, that's not how it works. I had no control over it."

"But why not someone else?" she asked again.

"Because I want you, no one else," Nick smiled slightly, looking determined.

"But why?" Sara snapped.

"I love you, isn't that enough?" Nick announced.

Sara raised her eyebrows in both shock and surprise before narrowing her eyes. "Don't you dare say that if you don't mean it. In fact don't even say the L word at all."

"I do mean it, Sara. I know you've been burned by men in the past but this time it'll be different," Nick tried to explain himself.

"This time? There is no this time because there is no us, and there isn't ever going to be," she snapped, narrowing her eyes. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"I... I can't help how I feel," Nick told her, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him.

"But you can help the words that come out your mouth," Sara countered.

"Please, if you just give me a chance to explain...," Nick protested.

"You had your chance," she shook her head at him.

"Just give me...," came Nick's half-hearted attempt.

"No! You used me!"

"That's not true," Nick tried to defend himself, rather pitifully even to his own ears. "You're not listening to me. If you just let me..."

"No. We're done. Everything that we had is gone. Everything we had before doesn't exist anymore. We're not friends anymore," Sara stated.

"Don't say that," Nick sighed, his eyes full of sorrow.

"I mean it, Nick. We're done. We'll be professional during working hours, inside this building, but outside, I want nothing to do with you ever again," Sara insisted.

And with that, she was gone. Nick watched her leave, his sad eyes gazing out the doorway. Leaning back against the wall, his shoulders slumped and head low, he rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Well done, Nicky," he mumbled through a sigh. "Well done."

Thank you for reading. This was another long one, but that's how I like it. Only one more to come. Please review.