When Sarah woke up next time, she couldn’t believe it was morning. Truly, utterly morning. She could hear birds chirping and though she couldn’t see it, she could imagine the sun beating down as brilliant and bold as always. She missed it.

She automatically reached to her nape to reassess the damage Brian had caused and was surprised to feel a bandage had been applied over the wound. She smiled. It must have been Nick that had administered the medical attention. Perhaps once he’d been able to take the edge off his craving with Alex’s blood supply, it made it possible for him to return to help her. She knew there was no one else in the house that would have put themselves through the trouble.

Sarah couldn’t take being there another second. She certainly hadn’t felt secure before, but now it was impossible to have the smallest confidence at all. She let her gaze wander to her bedroom door that was now leaning upright against the interior wall, having been forced completely from its hinges. No, no confidence at all. She knew she would be sleeping in Nick’s room tonight, whether Alex liked it or not.

She took a quick shower and changed. Seeing the bleeding had stopped, she removed the bandage and resisted the urge to replace it. Wearing it felt comparable to putting out an all points bulletin to all the vampires in the area that she was looking to be brought across. She left her long dark hair loose and thankfully its length camouflaged the wound nicely.

She thought it might be a good day to head downtown. She could pick up some toothpaste and a few other necessities and perhaps even venture to a department store and try her luck at clothes shopping again. She quietly slipped out the door intent on going across the hall to borrow some more money from Nick when she nearly tripped over his form filling the hallway. He was leaning back against the wall, eyes closed, arms folded securely over his chest and his long legs extended out in front of him. It was obvious he’d been there awhile resting on and off. She moved to step over him, but the vampire was aware of her presence almost instantly.

"Hey there," he greeted sleepily. His warm, honey thick voice wrapped about the words, stopping her in her tracks. She’d never heard Nick sound quite like that before and it tugged at the longing inside of her.

"Hey yourself," Sarah returned slowly kneeling before him, yet not venturing any closer than she needed to, hoping to keep the conversation brief. "Keeping watch?"

He smiled upon her warmly. "Trying my best," he responded. She’d hoped to get the money and get out without a word being spoken but since it didn’t look like things were working out that way, she remembered the bandage and brought up the topic.

"Thanks for playing doctor," she stated motioning towards her neck. The humor filled his eyes immediately and a huge grin covered his face ear to ear as he could barely stifle his amusement. Sarah caught unto the hidden meaning of her words and tried to rectify it. "That isn’t what I meant," she stammered on the edge of laughter herself. "I mean it sounded much better in my head then coming out of my mouth. Oh, you know what I mean."

"You’re welcome," he filled in, his smile growing. "It looks a little better."

"It feels a little better," she confirmed.

"Where you going so early?"

"To pick up some toothpaste, some Tylenol. It looks like I’ll be needing it. Just the basics and hopefully some new clothes as well. I’m getting kind of tired of these."

"You look fine."

"Now who’s the one lying badly?" she teased. "I look like hell. Even by vampire standards."

"Couldn’t you wait till tonight? That way I could go with you. The mall on the other side of town stays open till eleven," he informed, obviously hoping to entice her.

"How do you know that?"

"Where do you think we shop?" he stated simply. Sarah couldn’t help but pause to picture that. A whole pack of vampires cruising the mall. All these years Angela had Sarah and the other slayers patrolling the back alleys for vamp activity when little did they know the real action was happening between The Gap and Cinna-Buns. She caught herself before she laughed out loud knowing it would only spur more unwanted questions from Nick.

"Nah, that’s okay. I’ll be in public places the whole time. It’ll good for me to get out for a little while. I’m beginning to forget what things look like during the day. You know how it is," she tried relating to him.

"Sure," he agreed much too easily, his gaze darkening perceptibly. He studied her face seeming less than convinced. It was apparent he wasn’t very happy about the fact she would be on her own and apart from physically detaining her, there wasn’t much Nick could do about it. She tried to calm his fear.

"I’ll be back in no time. Promise."

"Be careful," he insisted softly as he dug down in his pocket and pushed some money into her hand. His fingers clasped hers warmly an extra moment and Sarah felt the guilt already eating away at her insides. She hoped her thoughts didn’t give away her true motive for leaving this morning. She was afraid. Afraid to her very core. She had to escape. To put some space between herself and Alex and the other vampires for a while. Even Nick.

"Thanks. I will," she smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, then hurrying down the hall before he could get a good lead on those thoughts.