Sam was standing in the bathroom, staring at the broken mirror when she heard the front door open and close quietly. The remaining pieces of the mirror revealed her reflection as choppy and distorted because of the spider web pattern that now covered the glass. She had been wondering what happened to it, but figured she could worry about that later when she heard someone calling for Nick from the kitchen. Sam walked over to the room and saw who she presumed to be Catherine putting newly bought groceries into the fridge. Sam stopped just short of entering the kitchen, unsure of what to say or do.

Catherine looked up as she closed the door to the fridge. "You must be Sam," she said with a small smile. "I'm Catherine." She went over and extended her hand to Sam, who shook it silently. "Is Nick okay?" she asked.

Sam shook her head. "Not really. He was having severe headaches and got sick to his stomach a few times. He was really shaky and light headed. He's been asleep for a few hours though, hopefully he'll be better when he wakes up."

"I shouldn't have left him by himself," Catherine said, shaking her head. "My daughter called, needed a ride, and I just got caught up. Luckily he was smart enough to call you."

"He didn't call me," Sam said, feeling the need to explain why she was here. "I just came over because I felt so bad about hitting him and I wanted to see him to be sure he was okay, but he's not. I was just going to leave, but-"

"He wanted you to stay," Catherine said, finishing her sentence for her. Sam nodded slightly. "You look like you could use a drink," Catherine said before fishing two beers out of Nick's fridge.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, I guess I could." She followed Catherine into the living room where they sat on the couch. Catherine handed Sam one of the beers with a smile. "Thank you," Sam said softly, clearly distracted by her thoughts.

"I was sorry to hear about Jeff," Catherine offered, trying to keep a conversation flowing.

"Thanks, so was I," Sam said. "I never thought something like that would ever happen to such a nice guy. But I guess you know that better than anyone else, being a CSI."

Catherine nodded in agreement. "Yes, unfortunately I do. Bad things happen to good people."

"You must hate me," Sam said suddenly, catching Catherine off guard. "I mean, you and Nick are obviously close friends, and I almost killed him. Like he hasn't been through enough out here."

"From what Nick told me about what he said, he deserved it," Catherine said. "I wasn't overjoyed that he was in the hospital again, but I can't say that I would have done anything different if I had been in your position. I have no idea what either one of you are going through. Normally, I would be judgmental and dislike you, but it seems like he's done his fair share of damage to you as well."

Sam sighed as she took a sip of her beer. "It was all so uncharacteristic of him. When I found out that I was pregnant, I was so scared to tell him. We were young, not married, didn't have an excess of money, and I was afraid he was going to be mad. My hands were shaking so bad and I kept stuttering when I told him, and he couldn't have been happier. I was freaking out about everything, and he was so great. He calmed me down and told me everything was going to be fine, and I believed him. Everything should have been fine."

Catherine genuinely felt sorry for the woman sitting next to her. "I'm so sorry you lost the baby," she said. "I can't even imagine what that was like."

"After the doctor's appointment where I found out I had a miscarriage, I went home and couldn't stop crying. Nick came home and I was such a wreck that I couldn't even tell him what was wrong. He just sat there hugging me and letting me cry hysterically for hours until I finally calmed down enough to nod or shake my head as he asked me what was wrong. I couldn't form a sentence, he had to play a guessing game to find out that his kid had died before they had even been born. And still, he was so great. We hadn't told our families yet, so I had no one else to go to but him. I wouldn't have made it through that first week without him. Then, once I started getting better, we started fighting. We didn't know what else to do, we were both so scared and vulnerable," Sam said softly, tears slowly falling from her eyes.

"Have you forgiven him for leaving?" Catherine asked.

Sam shook her head. "No. We didn't handle what happened the right way at all, if there is a right way to handle something like that. I don't know if I can ever forgive him, but I don't know what to do. These last fourteen years I thought I hated him and that I moved on, and then I saw him and that all changed. As mad as I am at him and what he did, I can't help but think about all the great things about him that was all I knew for eight years." She brushed the tears away. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you all of this. I shouldn't have come here, I should just leave."

Catherine stood before Sam could. "No, you shouldn't. You should stay. I know Nick, and I know that when he wakes up, he's going to want you here. It's about time you two handled everything you've both been keeping bottled up inside for the past fourteen years. The only thing that can help either one of you is each other."

Catherine walked over to the door and opened it, about to leave, but stopped when Sam spoke. "What if he doesn't want to deal with what happened in the past?" Sam asked.

"Knowing Nick, he won't want to," Catherine replied with a laugh. "So you'll have to force him. He's stubborn and hates dealing with his feelings, but he needs to. If he knows how much you care, he'll give in. Trust me."

Catherine smiled before she walked through the door, closing is silently behind her as she left. Sam remained sitting on the couch, completely unsure of what to do next. She was afraid to stay because she didn't want to fight with Nick anymore, but knew that that was inevitable. Tensions and emotions were running so high that there was no way to avoid another confrontation if they were expected to talk about the reason their lives had fallen apart. She knew that if she stayed here and talked to him and kept being around him that that would only make her want to be with him again, and she didn't think that was for the best for either of them. She didn't think it would work; they had been through so much and then it had all just been thrown away.

Sam was shaken from her thoughts when she heard the sound of glass shattering. She was confused at first, but then heard Nick stirring in his room and assumed that he had dropped the glass of water she had put by his bed for him. Her assumption was confirmed when she walked into Nick's room and saw him sitting up in his bed, looking down at the floor where pieces of shattered glass were in the pool of water.

Nick looked up when Sam walked into the room with a puzzled look on his face. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice soft and quiet, still laced with sleep.

Sam sighed. She should have known he probably wouldn't remember much, if anything, about the night before. "I've been here since late last night. I came over to apologize for hitting you, and you were really sick and having a lot of trouble because of the concussion so I stayed to make sure you were going to be okay."

"Oh," Nick replied. "Thanks."

Sam smiled. "It's the least I could do, this is my fault after all."

Nick shook his head. "I can't really remember anything, but I know that it was my fault. There's no way you would hit me if I didn't absolutely deserve it. It's always my fault." When Sam didn't reply, Nick asked, "What did I do? Or say?"

Sam looked away from Nick. "It doesn't matter now," she said, shaking her head slowly. "There's no point in bringing it up again."

"Which means there is," Nick replied. "If it didn't matter, you would have just told me what I did, told me I was an idiot, and left. But you didn't, which means whatever I did was really bad. I'm sorry for whatever it was, but my apology would be more genuine if I knew what I was sorry for."

"Do you really need anything else to be sorry for?" Sam asked before she even thought about what she was saying.

Nick hung his head. "Thanks for everything you've done," he said. "You can leave now."

Sam scoffed. "You're kicking me out?"

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Because we're fighting, again," he replied. "And it's only going to get worse, just like it did the other night. I don't remember what exactly was said, but I know we fought. We always fight. I'm so sick of fights, I hate them. I don't want to fight with you anymore, which means I can't be around you anymore."

Sam rolled her eyes. "So instead of trying to fix whatever is wrong with us, you just want me to leave so you can pretend nothing ever happened, just like you have for the last fourteen years?"

"It won't do any good," Nick said. "You don't want to forgive me, you never will. You'll never get over what I did, back then or the other night. You won't even tell me what else you're mad at me for."

Sam looked at Nick right in the eyes. "I told you that you were the worst thing that ever happened to me, and you told me that that meant losing the baby was the best thing that ever happened to me."

Nick opened his mouth to continue arguing, but then immediately snapped it shut when what Sam had just said sank in. He felt his throat tighten at the thought of what had happened to the baby, and his stomach churned at the notion that he had used that incredible heartbreak against her in an argument.

"You're screwing with me," Nick replied, his voice shallow and weak. "I didn't say that."

Sam scoffed. "Of course you didn't, you're perfect. You never do anything wrong. You never lie or pick fights for no reason or up and leave your entire life and family just because you're too messed up to deal with your problems."

"I didn't say that," Nick repeated, trying to ignore everything Sam had just said.

Sam locked eyes with him. "Yes you did, that's why I hit you. And I'm not sorry for that anymore, you deserved it."

Nick shook his head as he tried to swallow, but couldn't because of the lump in his throat. He couldn't have spoke even if he had had anything to say, which he didn't. Instead he threw the covers off of him and tried to stand up, but once his feet hit the floor and he tried to stand he felt a massive head rush and everything went back. He collapsed weakly backwards onto the bed behind him, his legs hanging off the side of the bed as he squeezed his eyes shut and gripped the sheets beneath him against the awful pain in his head.

"Please don't leave," Nick said through clenched teeth. Before Sam could reply, he kept talking. "You don't have to help me or anything or even care about me anymore but just stay until I can think and talk and I can make this better."

Sam shook his head. "You can't fix this Nick."

"I know," Nick replied. "I know I can't fix it but I can make it a little better, but if you leave, I know I'll never see you again and I can't take that. Please, just stay."

Sam couldn't see Nick's eyes, but heard the genuineness in his voice. Against her better judgment, she mumbled "Fine," before walking out of his room and back into the bathroom where she leaned forward against the counter, bracing herself with her hands against the cool marble. She looked into the broken mirror as tears fell from her tired eyes, shaking at the thought that what was under the shattered reflection was more deeply damaged than what was on the surface.

Sorry for the time lapse in between updates, I've been busy with vacations and work. Thanks for continuing to read and hopefully reviewing!