AN: Thanks for the continued support, here is the next chapter.


Chapter 8: An unexpecting discovery

After sending the team where he wanted them to be, leaving one at the lab with Grissom, Nick and Sara headed to the crime scene, where it all went down.

As Nick was driving, the air between them felt somber, so Sara cleared her throat before speaking. "We haven't really had a chance to speak since finding out the woman you had met was Hailey. I'm really sorry Nick, I could tell you were already starting to care for her."

Nick sighed with a nod. "Thank you, I did. Now I just hope I can give that small family some closure."

"Me too."

Sara looked out the window while Nick spoke again, this time in a somewhat teasing tone to break the sadness away, or at least try to. "But now I understand why you were concerned every time you got off the phone with him when he was in Paris, at least until you visited him on Valentine's Day that year."

Sara looked at Nick with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't concerned, I trust Grissom explicitly."

He chuckled. "True you trust him, but it's the women around him you don't trust, and don't deny it. It's been that way before you two even started dating."

Sara sighed. "I can't deny that either. But after meeting her, and while I did notice some worship in her eyes for him, I didn't sense any romantic feelings towards him from her. It truly was about her daughter spending time with Hank, and maybe a chance where she could ask the rest of her questions that she didn't have time to ask in the classroom."

Nick cleared his throat then smirked a little. "Well least I know that a second woman I liked didn't have a thing for the boss-man."

Sara looked over at him in surprise. "Wait, who was the…." Sara paused, then she looked shock at the look he was giving her. "Wait a minute, you liked me?"

Nick smirked again. "I mean it may feel like we are siblings now, but I think we both know it wasn't that feeling from the beginning, I remember some flirty moments."

Sara chuckled with a nod. "Ok you got me." Sara then sighed. "But you know…"

Nick cuts her off with a sincere tone. "It wasn't that serious, you already had your heart set on some else, I know. I think I always felt that something was between you two, I'm just sorry it took so long for you guys."

She sighed again as she looked out the window once again. "Tell me about it." Then as he was turning down the street to the park, Sara looked at him once more and continued softly. "But you know he didn't hurt me intentionally. It just took him awhile to believe that what I always felt for him wasn't fleeting, that I wanted to be with him for the long haul."

"I know that too." Nick cleared his throat before he continued. "He told me that it was love at first for him, and I'm going to assume it was for you too?"

Sara looked at Nick in surprise again, which it wasn't because of what her husband had said, it was because he said it out loud to another person who wasn't her. "He told you that?"

Nick chuckled as he pulled in the parking lot. "I know, weird, huh? Boss-man getting all open."

Sara chuckled with a nod. "I'll admit it's different to hear my husband so open to other people."

Nick stopped the vehicle and looked at Sara sincerely. "Well, he's a different person than when I first met him. He's evolving, which I believe it's all thanks to you."

Sara just shyly smiled with a nod before she finally answered him about the question he had asked. "And to answer your question, yes it was pretty much love at first sight for me as well, it came fast and never let go. That's why I could never let him go, even the times I probably should have. I just couldn't do it, no matter what."

"But it has been worth the wait, right?"

"So worth the wait, the life I have now is what I had always dreamed about having. Well ok, maybe the kids part of the dream didn't come till after I met Grissom, but still, what I have now I wouldn't change a thing about it, it's pretty perfect." She then places her hand on her stomach with a chuckle. "Well almost perfect." Nick just gives her a small smile before looking out the window, causing her to lose her smile while she spoke in a sincere tone. "I'm sorry, that was probably an insensitive thing to say at this…"

Nick cuts her off as he turned to look at her quickly. "Don't be sorry, I like hearing/seeing how happy you are. You never have to hide that, especially after hiding how you truly felt for the two years you two were hiding your relationship. I imagine it wasn't easy, when all you probably wanted to do was shout it from the rooftops."

"No, it wasn't easy at all, but it was something we felt we had to do, for multiple reasons." She paused before asking. "And you understand why we couldn't tell…"

He cuts her off with a nod. "I do understand why you couldn't tell us, and in the end, it doesn't matter if we knew in the beginning or not, the important thing was that you two found each other and are happy together, that's all we ever wanted for the both of you."

Sara nodded with a smile as she leans over the middle console to give him a hug. "Thank you, Nicky, and I still have hope that you'll find your happiness one day, don't give up."

He cleared his throat and whispered softly. "Thank you, I won't."

She nodded as they pulled back, then they got out of the SVU and headed towards the back of it so they could get the kits out.

After they got them, Sara turned around first, looking out towards the play area in the far distance, so she could barely see it, but she wished her son hadn't heard those gunshots, she wanted to keep him far away from that type of life for as long as possible.

Nick closed the back of the vehicle then turned to look at her and asked softly. "Sara, you ok?"

Sara nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, I just wanted to keep my son away from this part of life for as long as possible."

Nick then looked worried. "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, I mean he's worried because he senses that feeling from us, but for the most part, he's doing alright." As Nick nodded, Sara looked over at him with a smile. "Now let's catch the person who did this."

Nick gives her one more nod. "Yes, ma'am"


Sometime later, after collecting everything they could find, which wasn't much, but the biggest thing was tread marks from when the driver peeled away from the crime scene, they were back at the vehicle and Nick took those pictures from his camera and downloaded them to the laptop before he sent them to the lab, texting Brian, who was the team member at the lab with Grissom, that he wanted him to look at it ASAP.

They had just placed everything in the back of the vehicle when Nick's phone rang.

Nick takes his phone out of his pocket and smiled when he saw who was calling, so he put it on speaker. "Hey Griss, what's up?"

"Brian wanted me to call you to let you know that those tread marks matches the vehicle we see on CCTV that's following Hailey's vehicle."

Sara spoke up before Nick did. "Wait, you got the vehicle on camera?"

Not even missing a beat, Grissom replied. "We did, now we can't see the driver really well, he has a mask covering his mouth, sunglass and a hat on. But we did trace the licensee's plate to a rental service."

Nick finally spoke. "Alright, we'll take it from here, thanks Griss."

"You're welcome."

After giving him the name of the rental company and the make and model of the vehicle, Sara took Nick's phone from him and took it off speaker before speaking to her husband without an audience. "Hey Griss, can you…"

Grissom cuts her off with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll check on William the minute we are off the phone and text you to let you know how he is doing."

As she was walking to the passenger side of the vehicle, she replied with a smile. "Thanks babe, I'll see you later."

"See you later, honey. I love you. Be safe."

"I will, and I love you too."

By the time they hung up she was in the vehicle and she hands Nick's phone back to him, which he was smiling at her while she was doing that, so she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Nick took the phone from her as he replied. "I bet that felt nice, talking over the phone about a case with him. It seems you two have not missed a beat at all."

"Is that your way of asking if I miss working with him?" After he nodded, she continued. "I really do, but I also respect his choice on not going back to being a CSI. He loves teaching, that's what makes him happy these days, outside of his family of course, so I'm happy for him and 100% supportive of his decision."

Nick nodded as he started the vehicle then driving. "And how is he doing with that anyways?"

"He's slowly making his way up to the head of his department, and UCLA had boosted their attendance the last the few years, so I say pretty good."

It took Grissom about a year to be a full-time teacher at UCLA, but when he did, it didn't take that long before there was a wait list for his classes and the following year started an enrollment increase.

Nick chuckled. "I wonder why. And it sounds like it."

Sara just nodded with a pride smile on her face as she looked out the window, a comfortable silence washed over them as Nick drove to the car to the rental place.


When they arrived at their destination, Nick stops, and they get out of the vehicle before walking to and in the building.

The young man behind the counter smiled as he asked what he could do for them today.

Nick pulled out his badge as he replied. "I'm director Stokes from the San Diego crime lab, and we have evidence to suggest that a suspect in a homicide that we are looking for rented a 2012 Chevy Impala from here, is it here now?"

The man looked a little shaken up to hear that as he looked in his computer before looking at Nick. "Yes, in fact less than an hour ago."

"Does that mean no one has cleaned it yet?"

"No sir."

"Excellent, we are going to need that car before anyone touches it and the name of the person who rented it."

The man cleared his throat as he picked up the phone. "I'll have to call my manager about the car, but I'm sorry sir we can't give out that..."

Nick, who was probably one of the calmest people Sara had ever worked with, was getting a little impatient. "Did you hear what I said, a suspect in a homicide could do it again, meaning the longer we wait here, the higher the chance he could kill someone else, so do you really want that on your conscious?"

Now the young man was even more shaken up as he shook his head. "No sir, I'll uh, I'll print out the name right now."

"Thank you."

As the information they needed was being printed out, the young man was on the phone talking to his manager.

A few moments later, he grabbed what he printed out and handed the information to Nick while speaking after clearing his throat. "My manager will be out in a moment."

Nick gave him another nod before him and Sara stepped away from the counter, and when they were out of earshot, Sara shook her head. "We don't have any evidence right now to suggest our suspect is on a killing spree. As sad as it is, this just could have been an isolated incident."

"You and I know that, but he doesn't, would you have rather we waste our time?"

"Of course not, and I want to solve this as much as you do, but I also want to make sure we don't cut any corners, we do this the right way, she deserves justice."

As Nick nodded, a middle-aged man came into the main area from the back, introduced himself to Sara and Nick before asking what this was about.

After Nick explained the situation and that they needed the car as is so they could process it, the man didn't hesitate on giving him anything they needed to help catch the killer.

Nick thanked him and told him someone will be here to get the car so they could take it back to the lab to be processed by a few members of his team, then when him and Sara walked out of the building, Nick had a smile on his face. "See, it all worked out, he was more than willing to give us everything we needed, including the name."

Sara just shook her head as her phone goes off, indicating it was a text message, so she pulls the phone out of her pocket and smiled, seeing it was from her husband, so Nick asked. "Griss?"

Sara nodded and told him what Grissom had text as she texts him back. "Yeah, I guess William has already made a couple of friends."

Nick chuckled. "Your son is certainly a social butterfly, huh?"

Sara chuckled in return. "He certainly is, and I don't know where he got it from because he has two of the least social parents out there."

"But I mean that's a good thing right, especially for when he starts school."

Sara sighed. "Ugh, don't remind me on that, I'm so not ready for that stage. And it's not because I don't want him to learn, grow and make friends, I just..."

Nick cuts her off with a look of comfort while placing his hand on her shoulder. "Want him to stay your little boy for as long as possible, I know, I get it."

She sighed again. "I know, I'm a terrible mother."

Nick chuckled again as he removed his hand so he could pull out his phone. "No, your feelings are just like every other mother out there, including mine. And I don't think I turned out too bad."

"No, you didn't, I believe you are quite the catch, Director Stokes."

Nick just smiled as he placed his phone up to his ear after hitting the correct speed dial button.

Once he told his people what's going on, he hung up and they get into the vehicle, then after starting it, he puts the address on where they needed to go into the GPS before he starts driving.


Once they made it where they needed to go, Nick stopped the vehicle on the side of the street, then they got out while staring at the house in awe, which while it wasn't a mansion, someone wealthy definitely lived here, well pretty much this whole neighborhood had to be.

Their walk up the stone walkway was done in silence, then after walking up the steps to the front porch and stopping at the front door, which was mostly glass, Nick rang the doorbell.

A moment later when he saw who was coming to open the door, he practically gasped and looked shocked, so Sara asked while looking worried at him. "Nick what is?"

Before he could speak, the door opened, and the woman spoke with curiosity as she saw Nick standing there. "Director Stokes, what are you doing here? Do you have more questions about my niece's case?"

Nick cleared his throat before nodding. "As a matter of fact I do. Mrs. Tucker, do you know a Nolan Scott?"

Rose nodded her head. "Of course I do, he's my driver."


AN: Thanks for reading, and please review. Hope you are all having a safe/wonderful weekend.