Listened to: Bright Eyes- "Lover I Don't Have To Love" Over, and over, and over….

Three weeks had passed, and Nick still had nothing. He'd researched Norwegian law night and day, yet he could find barely a loophole. He'd even resorted to trying to contact Greg's parents, but they were no help. They only told him that Greg was staying with his grandfather, Papa Olaf, for a while, so he wouldn't be there with them, and they wouldn't relay messages for Nick.

Nick could have sworn that he heard remorse in Mrs. Sanders' voice the last time he had called, but it didn't do much to boost his morale, since he was no closer to Greg than he was before. All he could do now was hope for some sort of far-fetched miracle.

----

Nick walked into the locker room after a yet another long day at work. He opened his locker and took out his bag and sat it on the bench. He leaned forward and pressed his hands on the top of his open locker, looking down. He took one hand down and pinched the bridge of his nose. He stayed like that for a moment.

"Hey, Nick."

He jumped and banged his arm on the locker door. "Fuck, Sara, you scared the shit outta me!" He said, looking at her and then his arm. It was scrapped, but nothing too bad. He sighed and slammed the locker closed.

"Jeez, sorry. It's not like I meant to scare you. I was actually in here when you came in. I don't know how you didn't notice me," she said, crossing her arms.

Nick sighed and sat down on the bench with his legs on either side. "I'm sorry, Sara. I've just been a little out of it, lately."

Sara snorted and sat down in front of him, mimicking his position. "A little. I'd say a lot. You're actually starting to worry me a little," she said.

Nick lifted his hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what to tell you. Everything's starting to blur together. Every case, every piece of evidence…." 'Every foreign law,' he thought.

Sara nodded. "I know that this job can get to you a little-" Nick looked up at her and snorted. "Okay, a lot, but you have to get it together. You going out there half-cocked is a liability," she continued. "Maybe, you need to talk to someone."

"What, like a shrink?" She nodded. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't feel like letting some stranger pry open my life right now," he said.

Sara reached over and put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed a little. "Then, why don't you talk to me? I may not be some high-priced therapist, or know what to do, but I can listen."

Nick smiled at her and placed his hand atop the one she had on his shoulder. This was the Sara he had fallen in love with. "Thank, but there's some…things going on that you might not be comfortable with," he said.

Her eyebrows lifted. "Oh? What, like, you having girlfriend troubles?"

Nick looked off to the side. "Something like that…."

"Nick, don't worry about it. I realized that what you and I had is in the past. I can deal with you talking about dating other people. I'd like for us to have what we had before, when we were still friends. When we could still talk to each other."

Nick sighed again. "Look, Sara…."

Sara waved him off. "It's no problem. I want to do this. I'll meet you at your place in fifteen?" She asked, standing up.

Nick looked up at her for a moment. 'Yep, that's the old, pushy Sara,' he thought, fondly. "Alright," he said, standing up himself and picking up his bag.

"Great! I'll bring bear. You can't have a heart-to-heart without being a little inebriated," she said.

Nick laughed. 'Yeah, I really wouldn't want to do this sober.'

Hearing the doorbell, he walked over to his front door and paused for a moment, seeing Greg's walking stick. It had been left there, along with most of Greg's things. Nick had backed away most of Greg's things, but the stick, he couldn't touch. For some reason, he felt that if he removed it from its place by the door, it would mean that Greg was definitely not coming back, the he wouldn't need it anymore. He didn't have the heart to move it, even though it pained him to see it everyday. He tore his eyes away from it and opened the door for Sara.

Sara stood there, a smile on her face and a six-pack dangling from her fingers. It was Nick's favorite brand.

"I got your poison," she said. She handed Nick the beer and walked past him into the house.

Nick closed the door behind her and followed her to the living room. They sat on the couch and Nick pulled two beers free from the holder, handing one to Sara. He opened the other one and took a long draw from it. Sara sipped at hers.

She looked at him for a moment, and when he didn't say anything, only looked down a the beer in his hands, she spoke. "So, spill."

Nick sighed. "Where should I begin?"

Sara shrugged. "How about when you met this mystery woman. She must really be something if she's got you so worked up like this," she said.

Nick looked at her and then back down at his beer. He sat it down and leaned back on the couch. "I think that I should start a little before that," he said. 'If you could call twenty-two years a little amount of time.'

"Okay," Sara said.

He took a deep breath. "The mystery woman…she's not really a woman, she's a man. I mean, he's a man. Always has been," he said, cautiously.

Sara looked at him, shocked. "A…a man?"

Nick nodded.

She slumped back on the couch. She looked over in the direction of the TV, not really looking at it. "So, all this time, you've been with a man? What Warrick was talking about, the person you were seeing was actually a guy?"

Again, Nick nodded. He reached forward and took another long draw from his beer. It was started to give him a little buzz already. He belatedly thought that he should have eaten something before Sara arrived with the alcohol. It was too late, now. He looked over at her. She seemed to be lost in her own little world. He sighed. "Look, if you don't want to talk anymore, I'll understand," he said.

Her head snapped around and she looked at him like she had just realized that he was still there. "No! No…." She said, a little quieter. This time, she took a long draw from her can. "Does this mean that you were gay when we were together?" She asked.

Nick knew that that question was going to come up. "No. I'm bi. When I was with you, it was for real. Don't doubt that, Sara."

Sara bit her lip. "You're not just telling me this to make me feel better, are you? I can handle it if you weren't attracted to me," she said.

Nick reached forward and placed his hand on her thigh. He felt it tense underneath his palm. He ignored it. "I'm telling you the truth. When we were together, I truly cared for you, and I was attracted to you. You're not unlovable, Sara," he said.

Her head bowed. "I know. It's just…I really cared for you, Nick. I didn't know why we broke up, but I always suspected that it was because of me. You know, how I am, and the things that I can't do."

Nick heard the watery quality to her voice. He sat his beer down and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his embrace. "No, it wasn't you. We had just drifted apart. You and I both know it. I don't think that we were ever meant to be together like that. If we had continued, it would have just taken a toll on our friendship. It already has." He rubbed soothing circles on her heaving back.

After a moment, she pulled away. She sniffed, and then let out a laugh. "Look at me! I'm a mess. I was supposed to be the one helping you," she said, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve.

Nick reached forward and wiped away the tears that she had missed. "Don't worry about it."

Sara looked up at him. He looked at her. The distance seemed to become smaller and smaller until their lips pressed together. Sara moaned at the contact. Her beer dropped from her hand to the carpet, but neither of them cared about the mess that it made at that moment. Their eyes wrapped around each other and Sara slowly fell back, pulling Nick on top of her.

Nick's hands roamed her body. A voice in the back of his mind was telling him that this was wrong, that he shouldn't be doing this with her because neither of them were in their right state mind to take this sort of step. Not to mention the fact that doing this would be a huge betrayal to Greg. He just couldn't stop himself.

He pulled off Sara's jacket and then hitched up her shirt to that he could caress her breasts through he bra. He deftly unlatched the thing and pushed it up and out of the way and continued his touches.

Sara arched up and moaned as their tongues duels in her mouth. She spread her legs wantonly and allowed him to settle between them.

Nick was hard, but when his straining erection pressed between her nether folds through the barrier of their pants, it quickly wilted. She wasn't Greg. She didn't smell like him, that citrus, spicy Gregsmell. She didn't feel like him, either. She wasn't Greg. He pulled away.

"Fuck!" He sat back and put his head in his hands. "We shouldn't be doing this. I'm so sorry, Sara."

Sara sat up, re-clasping her bra, and then she pulled her shirt down. She had felt him loss his erection when their groins pressed together. It was no small blow to her ego, but she understood. She moved over and sat next to him. She put her arm around his shoulder. "You must really love this guy, huh?" She asked, though she already knew the answer.

Nick nodded. He looked at her. "So much, Sara. It hurts that he's not here with me anymore," he said.

"Did you guys break up?" She asked.

Nick shook his head. "No." He told her the whole story, from when he had met Greg in the alleyway of the 7 Eleven, to the day that he was taken away from him. He could feel the anger boil up in him again as he retold the story for her, but he pushed it down, knowing that it wouldn't help either of them.

She frowned. "So, Greg is blind and he doesn't have anymore rights in his country than a child does here because of it?" She asked, trying to understand.

Nick nodded. "Everything is just so screwed up. I don't know what to do. I can't get anything out of his parents, and I can't find anyway around the laws. I'm at a dead end," he said.

Sara pursed her lips, deep in thought. After a moment, she looked back at Nick. "I think I might be able to help you get Greg back, Nick."

A/N: OMG! HET! XD It just happened like that, seriously. No actual beers were harmed in the making of this chapter.