DISCLAIMER: Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!
RATING: Teen
SPOILERS: Season 8
PAIRINGS: Nick/Mandy and a glimpse of GSR
SUMMARY: In the aftermath of Warrick's death and his friends moving on, Nick ends up losing so much more when he makes a life altering mistake.
A/N: And here it is the fully tweaked and hopefully acceptable ending. Thanks for coming along on the ride!
REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.

Chapter 4

Rolling over onto his side, Nick was stirred from a deep slumber when his legs twisted up as they dangled from the edge of the bed. The ache in his back from the strain was enough to make him groan as he struggled to return upright. Sitting up, he waited for the room to come back into focus, but when it failed to happen he finally remembered where he was; the Blue Bedroom.

Nick always remembered that Sara had a fairly decent decorating sense, but looking around the ocean kaleidoscope they called the Blue Bedroom, he began to doubt that fact. The monochromatic nature of the room felt heavy and enveloping. He wasn't sure anyone would be capable of anything beyond falling into a comatose state upon entering the room. And while that might be good for some people, it practically made it like a sensory deprivation tank to Nick.

The only thing allowing him to maintain his conscious state was the bright light sneaking in through the thick drapes, telling him he'd been asleep with his legs hanging off the bed all night.

He fought against the inflexibility in his muscles and the pervasive blanket of ruthless calm in the room to rise from the bed. Nick decided he needed to break the spell of the room and rejoin the world of the living. As much as he wanted to avoid whatever reason Sara had for bringing him out here, he knew he couldn't avoid it forever. If there was one thing he knew about his friend, it was that she wasn't about to let him run away. He was there to pay the piper, and he knew it.

Stumbling with the awkwardness he found in his suddenly rigid gait, Nick made his way to the blue door. With his hand on the knob he paused, took a deep breath, and silently hoped he could find the bathroom before the onslaught began.

As he poked his head out of the bedroom, there was not a sound to be heard. He looked down at his watch and saw it was still relatively early, so it was reasonable to assume his hosts were still in bed. He scanned the hallway and quickly found what he was looking for. Nick decided to use the time to his advantage and grabbed his overnight bag from the floor before heading off to the bathroom.

Feeling more human than he had in days, Nick emerged and prepared for battle. He still had about four weeks of growth on his face, but his razor wasn't about to hack through that mess without bloodshed, so he decided to leave it alone. He was going to need a barber before anything could be done with that problem, and so he just accepted the fact that Sara was going to give him grief about the new look.

He tossed the bag back into the cavernous blue room and quietly padded his way through the house, hoping not to wake the other inhabitants. When he found the rest of the house as peaceful as when he entered the night before, he made his way into the kitchen to start some coffee. Nick knew as well as anyone at CSI that Sara Sidle was unbearable until she got her first cup of coffee, and he was hoping to minimize the damage, as much as possible.

After getting the coffee maker going, Nick looked through the kitchen and tried to figure out his next move. While flipping through the cabinets he found all the ingredients necessary for whipping up a killer batch of pancakes. The least he could do for the pains his friends had taken in looking out for him was to make them a good breakfast.

The only thing missing for his plan to work was a griddle, so he started digging around to find one. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but the pots and pans were not really cooperating. When he finally spotted one deep in the back of one of the lower cabinets, he got down on his knees and tried to free it from its prison. He practically had to crawl inside the cabinet in order to extricate it with as little noise as possible.

Just as he was about to pull it free from the clutches of a row of crockpots nesting back there, a familiar voice croaked from behind him. "Jesus, could you make a little more noise at seven in the morning?"

Terrified by the sound, Nick jumped, and bashed his head into the cabinet with such force he wasn't sure he was still conscious. Not until he heard her sleepy giggle from behind him.

"Sorry… Didn't mean to sneak up on you, Gr-" As Nick pulled his body from the cabinet and looked around, Mandy stopped mid-word and stared at him with her jaw hanging slack.

They stayed that way for several very long moments; neither one able to speak or move. Finally, as though all the wind suddenly fell from her sails, Mandy exhaled and dropped into a chair on the other side of the counter. "Well, I guess I don't have to ask whose car is in the driveway now."

Nick plopped the rest of the way onto the floor and rested his back against the cabinet. He simply couldn't believe Mandy was right there in front of him. Shaking his head, he was finally able to say, "I can't believe they did this."

Neither dared say another word, and the silence left hanging between them was practically deafening. Slowly, it began to wear away all of Nick's defenses. While he wanted to tell her he was a complete ass and never should have said those things to her, he was also hurt by the ease with which she was able to leave him. Regardless of the fact that he was the one to make the decision to push her away, somewhere deep in his heart he hoped she would have fought against it, told him she wasn't going anywhere, refused to let him walk away. Watching her walk out that door had hurt him in a way he never imagined.

He wanted to look up at her, but the pain and shame continued to eat at him, and he kept his gaze on the floor and the feet at the end of his outstretched legs. Almost as a whisper, he eventually asked, "How'd they get you here?"

"They didn't." Her quiet answer surprised him and Nick looked up in confusion. "I live here."

"Here, in this house, here?" He was still confused. It didn't make any sense to him that she would have moved in with Sara and Grissom.

"Yeah… It's sorta mine." Mandy gave a non-committal shrug with her answer.

"Sorta?"

"Well, it's really my aunt's house, but she's in Tunisia for an undetermined amount of time. Some anthropology research thing." Mandy began to fidget in her seat, and only took occasional glances at Nick from the other side of the counter as she explained. "With the housing market so bad out here, she was gonna be in the hole, so I took it over for her until she gets back."

Without looking up, Nick gave a short one word response, "Oh."

The silence was back with a vengeance and neither one of them seemed to know where to start.

Eventually, Mandy was the one to break the stalemate. "What were you looking for in there?"

Her question was the catalyst for turning on the lights in Nick's brain. "Oh, I ah, was going to fix pancakes for Sara and Grissom, but I couldn't find a griddle."

Silently, Mandy rose from her seat and walked around the breakfast bar into the kitchen. As she opened the cabinet above the stove and reached in, Nick scrambled to his feet. When she turned around she was startled to find him standing so close, but she wordlessly handed him the griddle before walking a comfortable distance away.

Nick took a moment to look from the griddle now in his hands to the cabinet it was retrieved from and let out a nervous laugh. "Huh, never would have looked there."

Mandy once again shrugged and said, "Same place I always keep it."

With a little more sadness than he intended, his words betrayed his emotions, "Yeah, I guess it's just been a while." When he found the bravery to look up, he watched as Mandy turned her head away from his gaze. It was only a split second, but he was sure she had wiped away a tear with that move, and it made him deeply sorry.

"So, um… How about I make some pancakes?" Nick tried to keep the conversation light. He needed some time to work himself up to actually talking to Mandy. And he was sure the distraction of cooking would give him that.

"Only if you want them… I doubt Grissom and Sara are here, and I'm not really hungry." He watched as she turned to walk away and he was finally able really see her. She was still thin; much thinner than she should be, but at least not as bad as when she left. It made him worry about her health, just as much as he was when he pushed her away.

By the time Mandy had returned to the kitchen, Nick was mixing up the last of the batter as he waited for the griddle to heat up. He was determined to get her to eat something, and he figured the smell of the pancakes might trigger at least a small amount of appetite.

He dropped the first scoop of batter onto the griddle as she was pouring some coffee into her mug. She inhaled the aroma and commented. "Those smell good."

"Thank you… My pancakes are the best thing in my culinary repertoire." He once again tried to keep things as light as possible.

"As I recall… Pancakes are the only thing in your culinary repertoire." Her gentle teasing felt good to him. It was one of the many things he had been missing since watching her walk away.

"Right…which is exactly why they're the best. I've had to specialize to at least make one thing good." He saw the timid smile hinting at the corners of her mouth as she sipped from her mug.

"At least you won't go hungry, then."

"Nope… And besides, man cannot live on microwave burritos alone." He heard the quiet chuff that slipped through her defenses and it gave him a little more confidence. "At least, not if he plans on avoiding havin' a gut like a piece of Swiss Cheese."

"Something like that." He could feel her peeking over his shoulder even before he felt her breath faintly touching his ear. "What kind of pancakes are those?"

"I, ah, found a few blueberries in the fridge, so I tossed them in for good measure." That was almost a lie. Nick had found the blueberries, but only because he was hoping against hope they would be there. He knew Mandy always loved it when he made blueberry pancakes for her. And more importantly, she knew he only made them for her, because he really wasn't a fan of the little berries.

"I um, I know I said I wasn't really hungry, but-"

"First batch is yours." He turned to give her a smile, but she immediately shied away from his glance. He decided he wasn't backing down this time and as an afterthought, he added, "And I'm not taking no for an answer. Because woman cannot live on coffee alone." She nodded to show she accepted his offer and then turned to the cupboards.

After he flipped the pancakes onto the plate beside him, Nick found it replaced with a fresh plate. And when he turned to see where it was going he found Mandy setting up for breakfast on the bar. The syrup and the butter sat between the two place settings, and there was a steaming mug of coffee next to the vacant seat.

Nick pulled the last of the pancakes from the griddle and turned the flame off beneath it before he finally turned back around. He watched as Mandy stuffed a mouthful of syrup laden pancake into her mouth. It made him stand back and smile for a moment. Seeing her enjoy the breakfast he prepared was like a salve on his wounded heart.

When she looked up to see him staring at her she blushed and turned away. Once enough of the food had been chewed, Mandy covered her mouth and apologized, "Sorry…but they're really good."

Stepping forward to join her at the counter, Nick said, "Good to know I can still do one thing right." As soon as the words left his mouth, Nick regretted them. He hadn't wanted to sound so pathetic, and he certainly didn't mean for them to carry such an air of accusation. None of this was her fault, and he needed to finally burn that out of his mind.

Watching her push the food around her plate, instead of eating, the guilt really set in. "I'm just gonna shut up now. Please, don't stop eating because I'm an idiot."

Reluctantly, she nodded her head and Nick felt his gut start to tie itself up in knots. Barely thirty minutes together and they were already at odds.

As they ate in total silence, he realized it was not happening the way he always hoped their reunion would. He knew there would be hard feelings on her part, but he never imagined he would feel quite so betrayed. She had only done what he wanted, what he claimed he wanted. So, why did he feel like she had let him down by following his wishes?

Staring into the puddle of syrup at the side of his plate, he almost missed her hesitant question.

"What?"

"The hair…" She swallowed nervously as she repeated her question. "Decided to try the whole thing this time?"

His hand immediately went to his jaw as he felt the shaggy growth of whiskers dwelling there. "Oh…" With a half smile and a chuckle he answered. "Just lazy, really. Then it got too much to do anything with it at home, and I haven't made it out to a barber in a while." When his fingers reached the bare patch on his right cheek he screwed up his mouth and frowned. "Looks like another failed experiment though. I still can't get anything grow in this one spot."

Mandy stood up and cleared her dishes from the counter when she said, "It's definitely scruffy looking, but still better than that porn 'stache with the shag hair."

"I'm never gonna live that one down, huh?" Standing up with his own dishes, Nick chuckled at the comfortable ribbing he had missed for so long.

Mandy thought about it for a moment and then answered, "Nope, probably not."

Nick was enjoying the faint level of ease they seemed to have fallen into, and instead of breaking the spell with real conversation, he opted for small talk instead. "So, how come Sara and Grissom are here? I mean, they are living here, right?"

"For now." Mandy started in on the dishes as she spoke, and Nick tried to look around for a towel, so that he might help. "Grissom had all these repairs he wanted to do at their place, and he was worried about the dust and the noise and all of that for Sara. Plus, he's been helping me with Aunt Lila's greenhouse, so I told them they could just stay here until the work was done. Their place is just down the road, closer to Martin's Beach."

"So, it's just a coincidence you all ended up in the same place?" Finding the towel, he moved in to stand near enough to grab the dishes for drying as she placed them in the drainer. But not so close as to crowd her. He was still worried she might bolt at the first sign of trouble.

"Sort of. They actually bought their cottage from one of Aunt Lila's boyfriends. And I was living in San José before she left." Their hands grazed each other as Nick grabbed for a plate and he had to force himself to look away. "It just kind of worked out that I had the space when they started the work on the cottage."

"That's cool. Ya know, that you kept in touch and could help out like that." Nick was still trying to keep it casual, but he was also really curious about the situation.

"Sort of… I think Henry and Wendy might have put Sara up to it. She called me before I'd even gotten started at the new job."

"That sounds like them." Nick put the stack of plates back in the cupboard as he spoke. "So, obviously Sara isn't responsible the décor around here…do I have you to thank for that Blue Bedroom?"

"God no! Aunt Lila's barely been gone two months, and Grissom and Sara moved in about a month ago, so I haven't really had any time to even consider what I'm gonna do with the house." She handed him a glass and Nick thought he saw the hint of smile on her lips. "Plus, I'm pretty sure Aunt Lila is going to want her house back when she's done in Tunisia."

"This is the same aunt you lived when you were a teenager?" Nick struggled to keep his questions from getting too personal, but it proved more and more difficult as the conversation continued.

"Same one… And she's done so much for me over the years, I was just really glad to be able to help her out for once." He watched as Mandy worked to remove the dried batter from the mixing bowl. He loved the way her short hair swayed back and forth with the effort of every wipe inside the bowl. It was almost hypnotic. "I'll just be glad when Grissom finishes with his renovations so I can get back into the English Garden room. That Citrus Bedroom is murder on my eyes in the morning."

"Citrus?"

"That's right… You haven't gotten the grand tour yet. My aunt read some study about how monochromatic rooms were a good way to influence the mood and behavior of the average adolescent. And I was something of a handful when I was younger, hence the two monochromatic monstrosities down the hall. Blue to calm me when I was getting wild and spun out, and the Citrus to combat the teenage angst and depression."

"Does it work?"

"Not really… I spent way too much time either on the couch out here, or at my friend Carri's house up the road a little ways." She handed him the mixing bowl with a little bit of triumph on her face. "I think she kept them like this to exact her revenge now that I'm stuck in there. But I just can't handle the Blue."

"The only thing I can attest to is that it put me in a coma in no time flat." Nick was really enjoying their comfortable conversation. He had dearly missed the way she talked, the colorful and non-linear way she told a story and simply the sound of her voice in his ears.

"No kidding… I stayed there the first week I worked at the lab, and that was all I could do; sleep"

He laughed at her statement, but it also stuck in his mind. And despite his best efforts, Nick's curiosity won out as he asked a pointed question. "So, you took the job with the state?"

He watched her shoulders stiffen and he immediately regretted the question. "Sorry. I just-"

She shut off the water and left the silverware in the bottom of the sink. "I'm sorry… I can't do this." Mandy turned and walked away.

Nick, shocked by the abrupt turn of events, reached out for her arm to stop her. "Do what? We're only talking… What's wrong with friends catching up?"

"What's wrong is we aren't friends…not anymore. And I can't just go through the motions with small talk and pretend like nothing happened between us. It's too hard, Nick. And I can't do it." Mandy pulled out of his grasp and walked away.

In a last ditch effort to keep her from getting away from him, Nick called out, "And what if I don't wanna pretend?"

When he saw her stop, he threw the towel down on the counter and stepped forward. "What if I don't want to forget about everything that's happened between us? What if I want us to be friends again?" Standing directly behind her, Nick pulled out all the stops. "What if I know I screwed up? What if I want to try and fix this mess?" He swallowed hard, gulping down the last of his pride. "What if I want what we used to have?"

His hand was barely touching the fabric of her shirt, scared she just may prove an illusion and his touch would reveal the trick. Closing his eyes, he took a leap of faith and held her in his grasp. "I've wanted to tell you that since the day after you left me."

"I didn't leave…"

Her words were barely more than a whisper, but they trapped the air in his lungs with their power.

"You didn't want me there."

Unconsciously, he pulled her back and into his chest, holding her tense frame tight against his body. "That's not true."

"But you-"

"I know, I said it. But it wasn't true. I wanted it to be true. I really did." Nick could almost feel her pulse beneath his hands, racing and wild, and he wanted to take all of her fear away. But first, he had to deal with his own, and that meant telling her the truth. All of the truth. "I didn't want to think I was the one making you unhappy. I didn't want to be that guy, who held onto someone even when he knew she would be better off without him. I saw it in your eyes, every day, and I didn't want to wake up one day and see the blame there, too. I didn't want that day to come. I couldn't live with that guilt, Mandy. I just couldn't."

"But you could break my heart? That was something you could live with?" Her words sliced into his soul, and there was nothing he could say in his defense.

When he remained silent, she shrugged out of his grasp and turned around to face him. "It was okay to make me feel like I'd failed you, and to put all that guilt on me. But you couldn't live with being guilty. Well, too damn bad!"

Mandy's anger was in full bloom when she launched at him with the second volley. "You don't get to pick and choose which mistakes you get to feel guilty about, Nick. You deal with them as they come along and learn from them." He could see the pain and the roiling fury burning in her eyes as she pushed a finger in the center of his chest. "You don't throw a tantrum like a little boy, and push all the blame on somebody else. Be a man, dammit!"

Her last words finally broke the dam around his heart and he let loose with everything that had been building up for eleven months. "You think I don't know that?! You think I don't know how bad I've fucked up?! I know, Mandy. I know exactly how I've messed up my life, but you know what really hurt? Not putting my friend in the ground. Not watching my other friends walk away. Not even losing my heart for the job. What really hurt was being so damned afraid of losing it all that I couldn't tell you I was drowning in it."

"And that's my fault?!" They were both ramping up into a fit of rage with each exchange.

"NO!"

Nick's protest went unheard as Mandy plowed on with her tirade. "How many times did I try to get you to talk about it? What else was I supposed to do, Nick? Huh? Was I supposed to just stop living, waiting around until you could finally pull your head out of your ass and see what was right there the whole time?" She flailed her arms with the last question, as though it might better illustrate her extreme frustration.

"You weren't there! You walked away." His own frustration forced him to lash out at her, though he knew what her answer to that attack would be.

Her pointed finger merely added a sharper bite to truth that struck at Nick's soul. "Only after you made it perfectly clear that I was making you miserable."

"You didn't even try to fight me on it." Nick shook his head in disbelief.

"Why would I? If you wanted out just because I couldn't be happy watching you destroy yourself, then what else could I have done to change your mind?" He could see that she was running out of steam by the slump of her shoulders. "It was obvious loving you wasn't enough. So, what else was left for me to do? If my being there was making you that unhappy, all I had left was to leave."

Nick wasn't ready to give up just yet, and he went after her with his questions again. "But you disappeared… You didn't even give me a chance to see my mistake, to apologize."

"Henry and Wendy knew where I was. And it's not like I was hiding. You just never bothered to look." That was the blow that brought him to his knees. Mandy was right. He should have tried harder. It was another mistake he would have to live with.

"I staked out Henry's place for days. At first, I thought, maybe…" Nick couldn't believe he had actually admitted that ridiculous fear. That was when he knew he was grasping at straws.

"Not even… Henry is not my type." Mandy stood defiant in the face of his rationalizations.

"I know, and it was just the fear." Nick's voice became timid, and he knew nothing would justify his actions, or his inaction. "But when he got back, I asked…"

"You asked what?"

"I tried to ask, but he cut me off." That was the last of Nick's fire snuffing out. He heaved a deep and mournful sigh before saying, "He would only say you were gone. And that I didn't even deserve to know that much."

"He didn't?!"

Mandy appeared genuinely shocked by his revelation, but he needed to continue. "He was right. And I knew he was right, and I guess I thought I didn't deserve another chance. So…"

"You gave up?" Her words were meant to cut, but much of the fire seemed to have burned out of them.

Nick shook his head, "No… I never gave up."

"I guess I just wasn't worth the effort." The pain falling from every word swirled around Nick's heart.

He couldn't leave her feeling like any of their breakup was her fault. Nick needed her to know that however twisted his actions were, he did it all because he loved her and wanted her to be happy. "That wasn't it, Mandy. You were suffering around me, and it was too much for me to handle. I was already a mess, and I just didn't think you needed to be involved with anyone that screwed up."

"Do you really think I'm that shallow?" Her arms dropped to her sides in defeat and from then on things changed between them.

Hanging his head, Nick knew when something was his fault, and it was never more obvious than it was in that moment. "Mandy, I didn't know what I was doing. I still don't."

"Dumb ass, you think I expected everything to be rosy all the time? That we wouldn't have any rough spots?" Her hand came up to press into his chest, and Nick felt like a truce had been reached. "Come on, Nick. If that was true, why did you practically have to throw me out of the house?"

"I didn't say it made any sense. I just didn't know what else to do. I could see it…you were wasting away in Vegas." Nick closed the remaining physical distance between them. His hand reached out to her and began to stroke her arm. "I couldn't watch you dying like that, not because of me. I thought maybe, if you could get away from all of that, you'd get better. I knew you were gonna turn down the job here, and I just couldn't let you do that…not because of me."

With one hand on her shoulder, fingers lightly caressing her neck, he tilted his head forward to rest against hers. "I was stupid, and I thought the only way I could get you to go was if I pushed you away. And it worked. It worked well." He shook his head a little as his other hand moved up to her shoulder. "Too well… And when I realized what I'd done, it was too late."

Mandy brought her free hand to cup his cheek and chuffed, "And I repeat…dumb ass. What makes you think I can turn it on and off like that? Just because you do something so unbelievably stupid as pushing me out, I'm simply going to flip a switch and stop loving you?" He looked up with a start and for the first time in longer than he could remember, Nick had hope. "Tell me, were you able to turn it off when you convinced yourself we were through?"

"Never." He shut his eyes tight and grimaced with the pain of regret. "Not even when I was telling you it was over. I still wake up every day and think I'm going to see you lying next to me, and it's all been a horrible nightmare."

"Sorry, Dude. There are no magic shower scenes where all of our pain is just a dream. It's real, and we're gonna have to deal with it." Mandy pushed the hair from his eyes as he opened them in shock. "The question is, are you gonna run away from it again, or are you willing to meet me halfway? Because I don't know about you, but I've been pretty miserable for the last three months, twelve days-"

Nick raised his hand from her shoulder and gave a quick glance at his watch. "Eleven hours, thirty-eight minutes." He took immense joy from the wry smile forming on her face. "And yeah, I'm willing, just so long as you take me back, I'm willing to do anything." His hand finally found her face and his thumb traced the along the edge of her cheek bone. "I'd even stay in that damned Blue Bedroom, if it makes you happy."

She scrunched up her face as though she was considering the idea, but then the smile split her face and she let him off the hook. "Nah… Even I'm not that pissed off."

That was the last barrier for Nick, he pulled her face to his and lost himself in the feel of her soft lips colliding with his. He would live and die by the air they shared, and he would never again forget how she felt in his arms, because he had no intention of ever letting her go.

They would have stayed locked in each others arms forever, but the front door swung open and a voice called out a warning. "I hope you're done fighting, because if I don't pee right now I'm gonna kill somebody."

Before Nick had a chance to respond, a large blur went running past them. He tried to reconcile the image with the voice of his friend, but they did not seem to match. Thankfully, Grissom came in cautiously behind the blur.

"Is it safe?" Grissom had a jacket and a suitcase in one hand, and the other was covering his eyes.

Mandy giggled from her very comfortable position in Nick's arms. "You're safe, Grissom."

"Sorry, but we didn't hear anymore loud voices, and Sara was really desperate. Which is odd, because she made me stop in Half Moon Bay, as well." He shyly shrugged away his confusion.

However, the confusion was answered when Sara came walking back into the room. "Yeah, well, you try holding it when there's a parasite using your bladder as a trampoline."

Nick turned to find his friend. Only it wasn't exactly his friend he was looking at. It was his friend, but much larger and rounder. Sara was obviously very pregnant.

"Jesus, Sara! When did that happen?" Nick was unable to contain his surprise at his friend's condition.

"According to the OB, seven months ago. But according to that doctor…" She pointed in Grissom's direction. "It was seven months and eleven days ago." She plopped down on the sofa and sighed, "All I know is that it better not take longer than nine months to finish this thing, or I'm gonna protest."

Mandy smiled and said, "Somehow, I don't think it'll make a difference."

Sara smiled back and finally acknowledged the other couple's presence. "Sorry, guys. But you were doing some serious yelling when we got back, so we waited outside. And then I got desperate. When I didn't hear anymore shouting I figured I'd better make a break for it before I was really interrupting something."

"And on that note…" Grissom walked through the room with the big suitcase. "I'll just get what we need for a few days, and then we'll be out your hair."

Mandy turned out of Nick's arms to question Grissom. "What are you talking about?"

Sara let Grissom continue down the hall as she answered for him. "Got a call from the contractor yesterday. The cottage is ready, and in the name of friendship, we're just gonna clear out for now. Gil will come back for the rest of our stuff once the dust settles around here." She squeezed Mandy's arm when she came closer, before adding, "Besides, the last thing you guys need is a meddling pregnant chick and an oblivious entomologist."

Grissom's faint reply came from the back bedroom. "I am not oblivious!"

Sara made a face that showed her disagreement with that statement, though her answer stated otherwise. "Yes, Dear."

Awkwardly getting back to her feet, Sara approached her friend and said, "You guys will be just fine without us around." She leaned forward and placed a kiss above Nick's scruffy jawline before she looked back to Mandy and winked. "And if he does get out of line, we're just down the road… And I've got a lot of places to stash the body."