Six weeks later:
Sara just had a look on her face that Nick couldn't quite identify. He had expected that they would do what they'd done on their other nights off since they'd gotten back from Cozumel. They'd order some sort of take-out for dinner, rent a movie and pay as little attention to it as possible as they ended up getting carried away on the couch. Sara hardly touched her food and Nick quirked an eyebrow at her as he considered that he knew she loved Panang Curry Tofu from the Thai restaurant around the corner from his house.
"Sara, trust me, there's no chicken in it this time." He had made the mistake of ordering the same dish but with chicken rather than tofu the last time for himself, and she'd taken a bite out of the carton before she'd realized she had his entrée and she'd felt sick the entire rest of the night.
"I know." Sara swallowed hard. Her nerves were on edge and as such, she started to ramble off statistics. "You know I read this article about the murder rate of pregnant and post-partum women by spouses or boyfriends and it accounts for sixty percent of all murders committed against women."
Nick knew that she'd had a tough case recently and he was silently cursing Grissom for letting her work it, especially since he knew about Sara's background. Not that Sara would have bowed out; she'd attack it like she did every other case she was given; that was one of the many things that he loved about her.
"These two reporters from the Washington Post began this story about women who were murdered, and that's how they discovered how high the rate was. They didn't set out to prove anything." Sara seemed to be upset; she was just pushing her food around the plate.
Nick had learned long before they'd started dating that it was better to let Sara get it out of her system, she'd make her point soon enough. "That's disturbing." He furrowed his brow as he popped a bite into his mouth.
"I know. I mean these men can sure sleep with a woman, but when faced with becoming a father, they just lose it." Sara was staring at him now with a lost expression on her face.
Nick reasoned that this case must have been harder than he first thought. "That's why we do what we do, Sara, to make sure they don't get away with it." His tone was gentle.
"I mean they think that protection should do just that, protect. But even condoms have a ten percent failure rate...and when you don't even use them..." Sara's words trailed off as she looked at him and sniffled.
Suddenly Nick realized this wasn't about her case, this was about something else entirely. "What's wrong, Sara?" He was glad they had the night off because if she was PMSing this bad, who knows what she'd be like at a crime scene.
"Why does anything have to be wrong?" She sniffled again.
"Because you seem upset." Nick was at a complete loss.
Sara sniffled again, doing her best to keep from getting up from the table to get a Kleenex. "What would you do if it was us?" She had a pleading expression on her face.
Nick didn't hesitate, he reached across the table and enveloped her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. "Sara, honey, let's cross that bridge when we come to it." He wouldn't mind discussing marriage and children because he knew he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, but he knew that with her family background that she was very apprehensive about ever having children.
Sara looked stricken and her voice was a strangled whisper. "Nick we are at the bridge." She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, followed by a wave of nausea as she watched a myriad of expressions wash over his face. "Excuse me." Sara bolted from the table and just barely made it to the bathroom where she lost the few bites of her dinner that she had eaten.
It wasn't until she felt a hand rubbing her back that Sara realized Nick had followed her into the bathroom. She glanced up at him, her eyes searching his, hoping that he wouldn't reject her. Instead she found him concerned, but with a smile on his face.
"Are we having a baby?" Nick tried to contain his excitement for Sara's sake. The prospect of becoming a father was scary to be sure, but he couldn't think of anyone else he'd want as the mother of his children.
"Are you mad?" Sara sniffled again.
"No." Nick leaned over and kissed her forehead, stroking her hair. "I love you."
"But we didn't plan this." She was trying to give him an out if he wanted one, but she desperately hoped that he'd stay with her.
"We didn't plan to fall in love either and look how well that turned out." He was smiling, trying to reassure her. There were a few people that had not been as excited to learn about their relationship when they'd returned from Cozumel, but for the most part, everyone was almost as supportive as Warrick had been and they hadn't given anyone in authority at work to question their professionalism at work, because they'd agreed that work was work, and after that all bets were off.
Sara smiled a bit tentatively as they headed out to the living room and settled themselves on the couch, Nick's arms protectively surrounding her. "I'm not sure about being a parent, Nick." If there was anyone she was willing to give this a try with, it was him.
"Me either, but I'm pretty sure this is one of those things they don't give you a manual for. We sort of have to wing it." A thought occurred to him and he began to chuckle.
Sara looked at him oddly. "What?"
"You. This." He reached out and touched her abdomen. "We made our baby in Cozumel." He arched a brow to see if she remembered what she'd told him before they'd gone out to see San Gervasio.
"Yeah, I know. I counted back, and I'm pretty sure I know exactly when we made this baby." The fact that he hadn't freaked out was having a calming effect on Sara.
Nick arched his brows suggestively. "I'm pretty sure I know too, but I was referring to the island."
Sara's eyes widened as it hit her too and she snorted out a laugh. "The fertility goddess."
"They did say that women who were trying to get pregnant used to make pilgrimages there." Nick was clearly amused at the irony of the situation. Neither of them believed in the Mayan gods, but the shear coincidence of where this baby had been conceived wasn't lost on either one of them.
Sara leaned her head on Nick's shoulder. "I'm scared." Her brow was furrowed as she considered all the ways her life and her body were going to change.
"Hey, I'm here." He kissed her forehead again. "I'm not going anywhere." He turned to face her and a smile spread across his face. "You know, Ned and Carla said something that sort of stuck in my mind."
Sara looked at him curious. "What was that?"
He looked at her earnestly. "When you know something's right, why wait?"
"You do realize that your mother is going to kill us." Sara had a delightful smirk on her face as she lay in Nick's arms.
"No, she won't." Nick had a smug expression on his face. "I'm her favorite and you're carrying her grandchild"
Sara giggled and scooted up to look in Nick's eyes. "What are we going to tell people at work?"
Nick chuckled softly. "That we just couldn't help ourselves." He smiled. "Seriously, Sara, I think other than Ecklie, everyone is going to be happy for us."
She let out a sigh and furrowed her brow. "When should we tell them about the baby?"
Nick smiled. "Why don't we let them get over the shock of us eloping first?"
The End
Author's Note: Let me thank all of you for taking the time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed the ride. And special thanks to the reviewers who had me giggling off my chair as I read your reviews…I think you know who you are. Oh, and Ashley, if you could just imagine that Warrick was shirtless through the entire story…would that be enough?