Chapter 17

Monday December 27th, 2010
Voyager of the Seas
Schooner Bar
2:15 p.m.

They cut the cake, and the top tier was placed in a box and whisked away to a freezer on ship, to be returned to them at the end of the cruise and shipped back to Vegas. 'For their first anniversary of course' had been Sara's response when Catherine looked at her in question. The garter was tossed, the blue one, not the Jacob heirloom, and was caught by Aramis. A second bouquet that Sara had was tossed in the wings; she announced she wasn't going to toss her bouquet, that's what the few gallons of silica gel in four sealed containers were for waiting in her and Warrick's suite. Warrick had merely shaken his head and packed the containers when she'd gone on about them. The tossing bouquet landed quite scarily enough in Lindsey's arms, causing Sara to exchange a look with Mia.

After the bouquet was tossed Warrick pulled Sara over to the piano, and had her sit down next to him on the bench. Smiling he trailed his fingers across the keys before starting a tune, and then he began to sing the Kenny Rogers song "Write Your Name".

"I can't help smiling when I look at you,
To keep from going crazy is all I can do.
I'm so defenseless with you so close,
The walls have crumbled from my body and soul."

"Write your name across my heart.
I want the world to know that I am yours forever.
And I will wear it like a shining star.
Write your name across my heart."

"To you my life is an open door.
Everything I have is yours.
I'll try to give you everything you need,
But as far as love goes, there's a life-time guarantee."

"Write your name across my heart.
I want the world to know that I am yours forever.
And I will wear it like a shining star.
Write your name across my heart."

"In all my thoughts, in all I do, in all I say,
I belong to you with every breath I take..."

"Write your name across my heart,
I want the world to know that I am yours forever.
Write your name, across my heart."

"And I will wear it like a shining star,
Write your name across my heart.
Across my heart.
Across my heart."

When he finished the song, Sara took both of his hands in hers and placed a kiss on his fingertips, mouthing a 'thank you' silently. Rising he pulled her to her feet, before leading her from the room as James took over the piano once more and the other couples in the room continued to dance. Giggling they made their way up to the fourth deck, and as they passed cabin 6610 Sara paused. Warrick glanced back at her before looking at the door.

"It's quiet in there."

"Very quiet. I would guess that is a good thing though," he countered delicately. "Come on Sara, she's fine. She'll call if she needs you, you know that."

"I know," nodded Sara, glancing at the door she gave a swift nod before smiling at him. "Where were we?"

"Running away from the rest of our friends," Warrick grinned before they continued down the hallway to their cabin.

Just shy of an hour after she first paused outside Liz's cabin, Sara was there once more. Knocking once she waited patiently. Warrick was checking in with the wedding planner, making sure everything was taken care of after the wedding and such, giving her some time to see Liz before they headed into town for a few hours. Reaching up she played with the pearls she still wore as she waited. No longer dressed in her wedding dress, that was in a nice dress bag and waiting to be wrapped in a box and packed safely away when the returned home, she was comfortably dressed in a white knee- length sundress and sandals. But her hair was still the same, well no tiara of course.

"Sara?" asked Nick quietly in surprise when he opened the door.

"Why, hello there," Sara smiled when she saw him.

"Hey," replied Nick "What are you doing here?"

"Checking to make sure Liz is okay. She is okay, isn't she?" she asked giving him a pointed look.

"She's fine Sara," reassured Nick. "Look, why don't you come in and see for yourself," he offered stepping back to let her in the room.

Sara looked at him a moment before shrugging. Slipping past him she smiled softly when she saw Liz sound asleep on the bed. Moving around the bed she carefully laid the pale pink ribbon, and the charm attached to it on the stand next to the side of the bed Liz was on. Turning she walked over to Nick, "Present when she wakes up, the other girls pulled out their charms so she got the one that was left," she explained in a hushed voice.

"Come here," said Nick walking over to the balcony doors. "We can talk out here without worrying about waking her," he said sliding the door open.

"Thanks," Sara nodded as she moved out on the balcony. "So, I take it you know I'm not facing impending motherhood," she began as she leaned against the railing.

"I do," admitted Nick. "Liz is not happy about the way I found out though."

"Oh?"

"Liz did tell me that I'm the father but she's not happy that Catherine is the one that pretty much put the thought into my head in the first place. I had no idea she was even pregnant. I just noticed that there was something different about her, well, having not seen her since I left Vegas in June and having not seen her on the cruise until this morning. It was Catherine that told me she was pregnant and that Liz told her it was your child she was carrying, but she believed Liz was lying. That the baby was actually mine."

"Catherine is a dead woman," Sara mused. "Look, I can bet you two are going to tell Cath off, hey I'm all for it. But, if possible, kindly do it when Lindsey isn't around. She already blames herself for Catherine finding out and finding out that Cath did tell you..." she trailed of with a shrug.

"We'll try," agreed Nick. "I make no guarantees but we'll try. Listen, Sara, I wanted to ask you something. Liz said something about a scare a few days ago. Do you have any idea what she was talking about?"

Sara sighed heavily and leaned heavily against the rail, staring off out at the horizon. "The day Cath found out, I wasn't there. Lindsey told me and Warrick what happened...they were shopping; the three of them, and Lindsey saw something and thought it would be perfect for the baby. She's not used to having to watch what she says; truth is none of us are. The rest of us just have a few years of added...practice, at watching what we say when the need arises...

"They tried to play it off, saying they were talking about Zoë's pregnancy, and that Liz was carrying for me, but Liz still started panicking about Catherine knowing and you finding out...by the time I got back from my own excursion...she had gone into a complete panic. She went into false labor, a bad case...I sent Lindsey for Warrick and the Doc, she only found Rick. I didn't want to leave her, and she didn't want me to leave, but I convinced her that she would be okay with Linds long enough for me to run to Warrick's and my cabin and I called down to the infirmary to tell them we were bringing a woman in possible labor. By the time I finished the call, Warrick was there, and he carried her down to the medical area. They were able to stop the labor, give her something to calm her down...but she came close to going into full labor...If she had...she might have lost Nicole," Sara trailed off softly.

"Damn it," cursed Nick under his breath as he grabbed the railing hard enough to turn his knuckles white. "That's it," Nick swore. "I'm going to find Catherine..."

"Nicky," Sara began, reaching out to touch his arm and stop him from doing anything. "She's on shore, and you can't just go storming out of here. You'll wake Liz..."

"Is this some sort of innate talent of Catherine's? I mean, does she set out to try to destroy everyone's happiness?" wondered Nick. "What does she have against Liz that would make her do something like this?"

"Nick...I'm not defending her...but Catherine probably never thought that telling you would cause this, or even imagined that simply being there that afternoon would lead to what happened."

"Sara, after talking with Liz this afternoon, I understand why she didn't want me to know. It was her place to tell me, not Catherine's. I think Catherine better be prepared for the next time she and Liz are in the same room together."

"You and me both, but you guys can't kill her. You can't exactly plead temporary insanity...on the other hand, if she were to fall of the ship that would be more believable...but really, memory serves me correctly you thought you could never kill someone, just like me. And I doubt Liz could either..." she trailed off with another shrug.

"Believe me Sara; I'm going to do everything I can to make sure Liz doesn't do anything she might regret. The last thing I want to happen is a repeat of what you described. I plan on doing everything I can to make sure that nothing happens to cause Liz to lose our daughter," reassured Nick. "Isn't Warrick waiting for you?"

"Yeah, he is," she answered as she glanced towards the room. "Nick, you hurt her again..." she warned him severely.

"Don't worry, Sara. I have absolutely no intention of ever doing that again. We've talked a bit about what happened and I'm going to make sure we talk about everything that happened between us. We're going to start fresh. Work on our friendship with no pressure for anything more, I promise," commented Nick.

"Good," Sara nodded. "Have a good night, Nicky," she added gently as she rose from the railing and made her way through the room to the hallway.

Liz woke not that long after Sara had left and she and Nick spent the rest of the afternoon talking, getting to know one another again. Nick and Liz shared dinner together in her room, continuing their talk. Nick agreed to Liz's request and stayed the night with her in her room even though Liz had never had the beds separated back into two twin beds, meaning that they shared the one queen sized bed. Nothing happened of course, except for Nick holding Liz while she slept.

Tuesday December 28th, 2010
Voyager of the Seas
8:05 a.m.

"You ready for this?" asked Nick quietly as they made their way into the dining room.

"Yes," replied Liz.

"I realize you're upset with Catherine, I am too, just promise me you won't let it effect you," urged Nick worriedly.

"I promise, and if you think I'm not able to handle it you have my permission to get me out of here anyway you have to," Liz told him with a smile. "Shall we?"

Nick nodded, taking Liz's hand and leading her over to the table where the rest of the group was sitting and talking, that is until they caught sight of Liz.

The only one who didn't see her coming was Catherine; sadly, she should have been the one to see them...so she could run the other way. Well, her and the newlyweds, who weren't there just yet...

"Catherine," came the cold greeting from behind her.

Everyone saw the look of 'oh shit' that crossed Catherine's face before she turned to look at Liz and Nick. "Hi," she greeted with a smile, glancing between them.

"You have some nerve you know that?" commented Liz. "I can't believe you. I thought you learned your lesson back in Vegas this past June. I guess I was wrong."

"Liz, please...I didn't mean to...okay, yes, I wanted to give Nick the idea that you were pregnant so he'd go talk to you. It's obvious you two cared about each other, and I thought...well, I wanted to see at least a few more people in our insane party happy and...you're going to yell at me now, aren't you?" she asked in a resigned voice.

"Did it ever even occur to you that I might have my reasons for not telling Nick? My God, Catherine, I had my reasons for keeping this quiet and you had no right to even hint at the idea that Nick might have been my baby's father. That was not your place. It was mine. And how would you feel if you'd been wrong? What if this child really had been Rick and Sara's? What then? How would you have felt knowing that you raised Nick's hopes only to have me destroy them?" demanded Liz

"I was wrong, I should have stayed quiet...but as for your last point..." Catherine began glancing over at Nick. "I never had that problem; it was never a question of if the child you carried was Sara and Warrick's...I already knew the answer was no. Unless the three of you thought to find a donor and all the madness there during the insanity of Sara being nearly killed, and everything else that happened in those first few weeks," she continued keeping her voice low.

"Huh?" Greg spoke up confused.

"That still doesn't give you the right to stick your nose into my business. Whether you knew about Sara and Rick is beside the point here Catherine. You interfered with something that had nothing to do with you. I almost lost my baby because of you," hissed Liz as she and Nick sat down at the table.

"What?" Catherine asked shocked.

"Don't answer, Love," Sara spoke as she laid a hand on Liz's shoulder. She and Warrick had arrived about the time Catherine was mentioning through a weird explanation that she knew about the doctors being unable to harvest any of her eggs. "Morning, everyone," she continued as she stepped away and headed towards her seat. Everyone looked at each other confused before taking seats, Catherine sinking into her own before looking between Liz and Sara in confusion, "She nearly lost the baby Friday, Cath. The stress, doubled by the events in town in St. Maarten," Sara clarified.

"Oh my God," Catherine managed to get out, a look of complete shock, then complete remorse coming over her countenance. Before anyone had a chance to say anything, their waiter for the morning showed up.

"She'll have the pancakes with bacon," Sara offered when he had reached Catherine who was still staring in shock off at...well, it was anyone's guess what she was looking at.

"She does like pancakes and bacon right?" Greg asked when the waiter had left.

"I hope so," Sara shrugged before looking at Catherine. Slanting her head she looked at the other woman before tilting her head farther, "Umm, does anyone have smelling salts? We might need them; I think she passed out sitting up..."

"I say we put ice cubes down her back," Greg suggested. "Smelling salts are too messy."

"I have a better idea," Liz said as she stood up from her spot and walked around the table, stopping behind Catherine. Leaning forward she picked up Catherine's water glass and proceeded to pour it over the other woman's head.

"What the..." Catherine began sitting up suddenly. "Erik, you're a dead man..." she began before blinking and looking around.

"Erik?" Jim asked with a smirk.

"Delko?" Warrick and Sara echoed before looking over at Liz.

"Is there something we should know about things in Miami so we can warn Calleigh?" Sara asked with a smirk.

"No," Catherine glowered at her. "He just thinks it's funny to pour water on me when I occasionally fall asleep at work..."

"Well, in this case you deserve it," jeered Liz.

"I think you owe both me and Liz an apology, Catherine. You had no right sticking your nose into something that was none of your business," commented Nick as Liz retook her seat next to him.

"I am sorry," Catherine replied sensitively as she looked over at them.

"Thank you," replied Liz. "Don't expect things to be like before, Catherine. You've hurt me more now than you did when we first met so it's going to take more than just an apology for me to believe you truly are sorry."

"I don't expect any different," she answered.

Saturday January 1st, 2011
New Orleans, Louisana
Café Pontalba
5:08 p.m.

The last four days of the cruise passed rather uneventfully, after the confrontation at breakfast on Tuesday, Catherine steered clear of Nick and Liz, and they her. That afternoon saw the basketball tournament, which the group was pleased to say they won. Wednesday saw them docking in the Grand Caymans, and everyone went their separate ways for the day, some staying on ship, others just exploring Georgetown, many going on excursions to beaches, including Nick and Liz who spend the time just talking and being together; and Sara and Warrick disappeared for the day on an excursion by themselves at a country club. The next day saw them in Cozumel, Mexico, and everyone pretty much avoided excursions and just explored the town before heading back to ship. Friday, New Years Eve, they were at sea all day, and everyone pretty much split up and just enjoyed the ship for their last full day, only seeing each other at dinner and to celebrate the ball dropping that night, which was shown on the TVs in every room from New York, and everyone gathered in the boys' rooms as they were connected and open, the boys being Bertie, Aramis, and Nate. That morning they had docked and departed the ship, many of the group heading off for flights home, leaving the core group from Vegas, along with Nick and Lindsey, who was going home for the rest of her winter break, to explore New Orleans. Liz had shown them around town, before they stopped at the Café for an early dinner, plans to head to the airport for a late evening flight in the back of everyone's minds.

"So we heard you talked with Jim," Sara began after a while as she looked over at Nick.

"I have," admitted Nick with a nod.

"You coming to Vegas then?" Greg piped in.

"I am. I start a week on Monday," replied Nick.

"So, things are going to get all rearranged when we get home then," Mia mused. "Phi's going up in the world, Sara's coming back...Liz is back on swing, and then you're coming. We're going to get back and leave those left behind trying to figure out up from down," she continued with a laugh.

"That we are," agreed Liz. "Especially since I don't know how much longer I'll be out in the field with this little one," she mused rubbing her stomach.

"Very true," Sara agreed with a smile. "And you are to go on maternity leave as soon as my goddaughter says she wants you all to herself," she added with a wink.

"Don't worry Sara, I will," replied Liz with a smile before her smile faded and her face paled as she watched two men enter the restaurant.

"Liz?" Sara asked concerned.

"It's nothing," gulped Liz. "I'm fine."

"Well, well, well, look who we have here, Jason. If it isn't our favorite little cheerleader," sneered one of the men Liz had seen enter moments earlier as the pair walked over to their table.

"Excuse me; did any of us invite you over here?" Sara asked as she looked up at the two men, recognizing the one being talked to from a picture she'd seen of MacIverson in the book that was sort of a who's who of CSI supervisors nationwide.

"We have every right to come and talk to a former...colleague. Isn't that right, Baby?" Michael said with a leer at Liz.

"I'd suggest you back off buddy," suggested Nick coldly

"Or what? You're gonna make me?" laughed Charles Wilson, a level three New Orleans CSI.

"Yeah, actually, I am," replied Nick as he started to get up from the table only to stop when Liz put her hand on his. "Nick, don't," pleaded Liz quietly.

"Take the hint and leave please," Sara began as she looked between the two men. "You were colleagues, you aren't now."

"And what, you are?" asked Charles sarcastically. "She's not exactly the smartest card in the deck if you know what I mean. She's only good for one thing and one thing only."

"Actually I'm one of the shift supervisors from Vegas," Sara began pissed.

"So am I," snarled Nick.

"And for your information, she's the night shift supervisor, which she earned because she is exceptionally intelligent. Unlike any of you who would let such a great CSI get away from them," Sara added with a slight smirk.

"She's a supervisor? Who'd she have to sleep with to get that job?" sneered Charles.

"Nobody," Sara growled. "I'll have you know that over half our supervisors are female, including our assistant director. And none of us had to sleep with anyone to get the jobs. Vegas actually gives jobs based on your intelligence and abilities, like the rest of the nation. Except your city of course," she added with a hint of disdain as Warrick reached over to squeeze her knee and keep from doing anything besides talking.

"Is everything alright here?" asked the Maitre D' as he stepped up to the table.

Everyone remained silent a moment, before Jason shook his head. "No, everything is fine. Just ran into an old colleague and was saying hello. Come on Charlie," he continued giving Liz one last look before glancing at Sara and seeing her glare. Turning, the two men left and Warrick assured the Maitre D' all was fine before he left as well.

"You okay?" asked Nick quietly as he leaned in and squeezed Liz's hand.

"That's a very good question," admitted Liz quietly, a slight waver in her voice.

"Need to get some air, Honey?" Sara suggested tenderly.

Liz shook her head, "The last thing I want is for them to see me away from the table," she said quietly. "I just...I wasn't prepared to see them again...Charlie especially."

"It was him, wasn't it?" asked Nick in concern

Liz nodded slightly in reply.

"Bastard," hissed Nick as he started to rise once more.

"Nick don't, please. Just leave it alone," begged Liz as she grabbed his hand stopping him once more.

"I don't like it, Liz," commented Nick looking down at her.

"I know, Nick, but it's in the past. Can we please just leave it there? If not for me, than for Nicole?"

"Fine. We'll leave it in the past, for both you and Nicole," answered Nick sitting back down.

The others watched the two of them in concern, glancing over at Warrick and Sara for an idea of how to proceed. With a slight wave of their hands, the subject was dropped by everyone else, "You sure you don't want to run to the ladies room with me?" Sara offered one last time.

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Liz with a small smile. Sara nodded before rising, and taking Liz's hand they made their way to the restroom. A few minutes later they returned, Liz looking a bit better, and the group quickly changed the conversation and finished dinner before leaving to get to the airport. Liz was more than ready to get out of the town she once called home.