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She had fallen asleep in his arms hours later, happy, sated. Rain still drummed against the windows, the thunder crashing closer now than before. The morning sun had crept up to the sky, disappearing behind the dark clouds.

The roar of thunder woke her up. The feel of strong arms around her, the steady beat of the heart under her head made her remember that it was Nick lying next to her, naked, feet tangled together under the sheet.

The lazy movement of his hand on her back, fingers running up and down against the silky skin, told her that he was awake too. Probably had been the whole night.

"Morning." She said softly, her arms tightening around his waist.

He pressed a soft kiss on her hair in reply.

She lifted her head from his chest and leaned up to kiss him softly on the lips. His hand left her back and his long fingers tangled into her hair. They parted breathlessly, staring into each other´s eyes, and that moment she realized that she loved him more than anything.

And the look in his dark eyes told her that he loved her too. He flipped her on her back, chuckling at her surprised shriek and then silencing her with a kiss. He pulled back, only enough to caress her face with his hands, to push back a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"You´re so beautiful." He said softly.

The faint blush crept on her cheeks and she smiled, almost, shyly. Her arms wrapped around his neck, fingers playing with the short hair of the nape of his neck.

"Can we stay here forever?" She asked.

He kissed her again, gentle and deep and soft and passionate. His hand slid down on her side, all the way down to her silky thigh and she sighed against his lips. God that man knew how to please her.

The sound of the ringing phone forced him pull away from her and he groaned. He reached over the bed to the floor to find his phone, and groaned again as he realized he would have to leave the bed. She pushed herself up against her elbows, grinning at him as he left the bedroom and walked into the kitchen to find the still ringing phone.

"Stokes." He almost barked into the phone, and glared towards the bedroom as he heard her giggle.

He was still talking to whoever had decided to call him on his day off when he walked back into the bedroom.

She stared at his naked body, shamelessly enjoying the view, and he grinned at her, smugly again, but she didn´t turn her eyes away.

He disconnected the call and threw the phone on the small table next to him. She tilted her head on the side, her long hair falling on her shoulder, and he read the question in her eyes.

"It was Grissom."

She nodded. She knew that. The way he was answering to the other man had told that. "What did he want?"

Her cell phone rang on her nightstand and she let her eyes fell closed. God she hated the days when he did that. Grissom´s voice was almost apologising when he asked her too to come in on her day off. Again. Like he always did.

She pulled the white sheet to cover her body from the chilly morning and walked to him. Her arms wrapped around his waist, wrapping the sheet around him as well. He placed his hands around her, pulling her closer into his embrace.

She looked up to him, placing a soft kiss on his lips, before laying her head against his shoulder.

"Are you still going to leave me?" She asked quietly.

He pulled back to look at her and shook his head. "I was never going to leave you, Sara." His hand cupped her face. "You know that."

"Yeah." She did know. But she had to ask.

"Yesterday I was feeling like we all feel sometimes after a long and exhausting case. You know how it goes, Sara. And I was thinking about it, leaving and doing something else, something that wouldn´t make me hate the world everyday after we end our shift."

She nodded, because she understood. It was how they lived, day after day, and every now and then they played with the idea of leaving in their heads. Mostly after the cases that gave no justice to the victims or their loved ones. Those were the toughest ones, those were the ones they hated.

And he´d had one of those cases. And he had though about leaving. Just quitting and giving up.

But not anymore. It was still raining and it looked outside as miserable as it had looked the night before, but she was there, and that changed it all.

"No, I am not feeling that anymore." He told her, kissing her cheek, his lips lingering against the soft skin and she let out a soft sigh.

"I´m glad." She smiled and leaned against him.

"Me too." He hugged her tighter against him.

She knew she would eventually have to pull away from him, go into the shower and get ready for work. But she didn´t move. And neither did he. And that would mean that they would need to hurry later, but it was worth it.

The End