Hello, ladies!
Contained in this post is one of the first scenes I ever wrote for this story, about three years ago, so it's a little odd to actually see it posted. It's like one of my kids! (OK, not really.) Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!
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With the usual dread in the pit of his stomach, Nick pulled his truck into a parking spot in the municipal ramp adjacent to the courthouse. He had been called to testify for the prosecution in a case which he had worked some time ago involving a battered woman. While he recognized the necessity of his appearance at trial, it was last on his list of things he liked about his job. The prosecuting attorney’s questions he could always handle – they were, for the most part, reasonable and to the point, no matter who he was working with. On this particular case, he was working with Bobby Christianson, Elizabeth’s deputy, whose relaxed demeanor and even temperament usually helped remind Nick that someone had his back while the defense cross-examined him.
He always had difficulty, whether he showed it or not, with being cross-examined. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t help but feel that he was personally on trial, and defense attorneys usually came up with ridiculous ways to refute the testimony he presented. He supposed this had to do with his very first experience in court as a young CSI in Dallas, when his own brother had rather viciously cross-examined him. The Houston County DA, a friend of their mother’s, assured him several times over that the not guilty verdict that was returned was not his fault, but he still felt guilty.
Waiting for the trial to begin, he sat placidly in the courtroom, privately reliving the pleasantness of waking Elizabeth that morning. It had been three weeks since his first official date with Elizabeth and by his measure, things were going extremely well. They were together more often than not, and added Cassie whenever they could. Elizabeth had taken to bringing dinner to his house to share when he woke up, and Nick would bring her coffee, either to her office on his way home, or preferably directly to her bed, which was where he’d been before coming to the courthouse. Around the lab, he tried to keep it quiet for the sake of avoiding a lecture from Ecklie, but everyone knew. Grissom even seemed pleased by the whole affair, and although Nick thought this was odd, he didn’t question it.
As far as Nick and his evidence were concerned, it was an open and shut case – the suspect’s epithelials were all over the victim, particularly in her defensive wounds, his saliva and blood were on her clothes, and his fingerprints were all over the suspected weapon. In addition, he himself had injuries he couldn’t reasonably explain, and the victim had called police because of him on four previous occasions. The trouble was that the victim was comatose and couldn’t speak for herself. While on the stand, Nick explained to the jury the science of epithelials and how he had been able to reconstruct the fight and connect the unexplained injuries on the suspect to the victim. The defense claimed that his electronic reconstruction had been manipulated and called the rest of his testimony flimsy. The attorney was well on his way to provoking Nick into a shouting match when the prosecuting attorney finally objected to the hostile line of questioning. Nick was soon excused.
Loosening his tie on his way out of the courtroom, he saw Catherine, Grissom, and Ecklie walking toward him. “Hey guys,” he said, pulling the tie off. “What’s up?”
“Brass brought our suspect from the shooting on McArthur Boulevard,” explained Grissom, referring to the case he worked that night. “We’re headed over to PD to question him. Do you want to come along?”
Without hesitation, Nick shook his head. “No, y’all go ahead. I worked twelve hours before my stint in court; I need a nap.”
“You sure, Nicky? You were pretty hot on this one at first,” commented Catherine.
“Yeah . . . but if you want, I can see if I can get anything else out of him later on today . . . maybe around dinner time, if you can hold him that long. I need to see the DA to check on something else, and then I’m going home. If you need to, you can reach me there.”
Ecklie creased his brow and looked to Grissom for a moment. “You’ve been seeing a lot of the DA lately, Nick,” he said, more than a little curious. “Is there something going on that I should know about?”
Nick shook his head and rubbed his eyes a little. “No . . . it’s nothing,” he replied.
“Nick, if you’re in some kind of trouble, your superiors need to know about it.”
“I’m not in any trouble, Ecklie,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm.
Before he could ask any more questions, Elizabeth Halles herself approached. Her eyes were trained on Nick and she had a grave expression on her face.
“Elizabeth?” he asked cautiously. “What is it?”
Hesitantly, she held out an envelope. “This was couriered over this morning from DFS.”
He took the envelope from her hands and extracted the letter contained inside. Before he could unfold it to read, he looked up at her and asked, “Did you read it?”
She nodded solemnly. “I did.”
Nick turned back to the paper in his hands, unfolding slowly and clearing his throat before he commenced reading. The letter was brief and to the point, and when he was finished he closed his eyes and folded it again.
“I’m sorry, Nicky.”
Catherine put her hand on Nick’s shoulder. “They didn’t . . . deny him?” she asked, ready to pounce on the DA for not having already pounced on DFS. “Not again.”
It was quiet in the hallway for a moment. “Deny him what?” asked Ecklie, looking on curiously. No one answered him.
Catherine tried to take the letter from Nick, but he wouldn’t relinquish it. He took a mighty breath and asked, his eyes still closed, “So this . . . this is the answer . . . this is . . . definite.”
“Yes,” answered Elizabeth, nodding.
He opened his eyes. They were steely, determined. “And nothing will change this?”
“No. Nothing.”
Catherine took a step closer to Elizabeth, the color heightened in her cheeks. “You can’t tell me there’s nothing you can do,” she spat, angry on behalf of her friend. “You’re the DA – I respect the fact that you don’t like to use it, but you do have some influence. You have connections, you know people, you know-”
“Get a hold of yourself, Willows,” said Ecklie, putting a hand on her upper arm. “There’s no need to yell in the hallway of the courthouse.” He turned to Elizabeth. “What’s going on with Stokes?”
Elizabeth kept her eyes on Nick, who was re-reading the letter, and allowed Catherine to rant at her boss.
“Stokes is being discriminated against by the Department of Family Services,” she replied, her tone no less fierce but the volume lower.
“Catherine, stop,” said Nick, curling his hand over her shoulder. His voice was low, thick. “It’s all right.”
She turned to him, appalled. “No, it’s not all-”
“I got her.” His face was solemn, but otherwise unreadable, and there were unshed tears in his eyes. He swallowed back the emotion that was bubbling up and handed her the letter.
She took it from him, reading aloud as Ecklie and Grissom listened. “Dear Mr. Stokes . . . pleased to inform you . . . granted guardianship of Cassandra, effective April first. If, after thirty days and the successful completion of the home study, no concerns have been noted by DFS, you may move forward with the formal adoption process.” Catherine looked up at Elizabeth, who was now smiling slightly at Nick.
“Four foot eight, sixty pounds, blonde hair, blue eyes . . . congratulations, Mr. Stokes, it’s a girl.”
Grissom peeked at the letter over Catherine’s shoulder. “Congratulations, Nick,” he offered, his eyes bright.
Nick’s eyes were still locked on Elizabeth, who was the only one who could interpret his intense look for what it was – a mixture of gratitude, joy, and adoration. “I got her.”
She laughed at him a little. “Yeah . . . you got Annie,” she quipped.
“I got her.”
“You got her.”
The next thing any of them knew, his arms were around Elizabeth and he was murmuring in her ear. “Thank you, Lizzy . . . thank you so much.” He wanted to kiss her but was too aware of his surroundings, and particularly of Ecklie. “Thank you.” Stepping back, he swiped away the tear that had managed to escape his eye.
“Oh, Nicky,” said Catherine, her hand on his shoulder. He immediately turned to hug her next, squeezing tight for a long moment. “I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, Cath,” he replied as he let go and backed away.
“You know, you two are a couple of insufferable teases,” she declared, looking back and forth between Nick and Elizabeth and not really knowing whether she should be annoyed or overjoyed. She swatted Nick’s arm with his letter, which he accepted from her, and then turned to Elizabeth. “What are you sorry about?”
Elizabeth fixed her with a confused glance for a moment before she remembered her apology. “Oh, that – I bet Stokes that his petition would be approved within a month of the hearing. He was not so optimistic, and now he owes me shoes.”
Catherine took a peek down at Elizabeth’s black Oxford pumps. “Prada?” she guessed.
“Stuart Weitzman,” Elizabeth replied knowingly.
“What’s that mean?” asked Nick, scowling slightly and tilting his head at Catherine.
Smiling, Catherine turned her bright smile back up to Nick. “Means you’re about to go broke,” she replied. “Well, Nicky . . . you’re in for it now, in more ways than one.”
“Does someone want to fill me in on what’s going on?” barked Ecklie, annoyed.
Elizabeth turned to him, a bright smile on her face. “Stokes is adopting a little girl, Ecklie.”
Surprised, he turned to Nick. “Oh. I see.” He nodded, and then looked at Elizabeth. “And you provided representation for him?”
“Yes,” she replied, nodding, her tone bright and condescending. “No wonder you’re the lab director, Ecklie – you’re a regular Sherlock Holmes.”
Ecklie shot her an annoyed look, but offered his hand to Nick. “Congratulations, Nick,” he said, and Nick shook. “Is this why you’ve been seeing so much of each other lately?”
“Ostensibly,” replied Elizabeth, hoping to put an end to Ecklie’s questions. “Now, Mr. Stokes . . . I believe there is a little girl to inform and a debt to be settled. Which do you want to do first?”
He smiled at her. “The little girl is still in school,” he replied, looking at his watch. “So why don’t you let me buy you lunch and we’ll go from there.”
“That sounds perfect,” she replied. “I’m ready when you are.”
Catherine and Grissom issued adieus to Elizabeth and Nick and walked away. Ecklie lingered a little longer, and turned to the pair with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “Look, Nick . . . Elizabeth . . . I, uh . . . I’m going to trust that nothing . . . inappropriate is going on.”
“Inappropriate?” questioned Nick, who wanted him to walk away – into a black hole, preferably. Just for a little while. “No, nothing inappropriate here.”
“No?” He turned to Elizabeth. “Can I call you Lizzy?”
“Oh, Ecklie . . . of course you can’t,” she replied brightly. “That’s reserved strictly for neighbors.” She winked and was clearly amused at his discomfiture.
Ecklie nodded slowly. “All right. Well – again, congratulations. We’ll see you both later.”
Nick and Elizabeth both nodded as he walked away to join Catherine and Grissom, who were waiting patiently at the end of the hallway. Once they had boarded the elevator, Nick’s hand curled around hers and they turned to each other, smiling.
“I could burst, Lizzy.”
She kissed him softly. “Lunch at my place?” she offered, her eyebrow raised. “You can nap, and we’ll go see Cassie. We can worry about your debt another time.”
He kissed her, but his kiss wasn’t soft; it was hard and passionate and he hoped it conveyed how much he adored her, how grateful he was for her help, and how unbelievably happy he was. “I’ll meet you at your place,” he replied. Kissing her gently one last time, he squeezed her hand and they parted, heading to the parking ramp together.
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Nick drove out to Blue Diamond holding Elizabeth’s hand. Once he parked the truck in Emily’s dusty driveway, he took a moment to admire her relaxed, cheerful features. Then he lowered his voice a little and said, “Listen, Elizabeth . . . I don’t know how I can ever thank you for this, but if there’s ever anything I can do . . . I hope you’ll let me know.”
She smiled. “I did the easy part,” she replied. “You’re the one that has to raise her; I just helped you get the chance to do it.”
Nick looked at the house. “That’s what I wanted,” he said. “That’s all I wanted.”
Elizabeth patted his knee. “Let’s go tell her.”
He turned to smile at her before opening the truck door and sliding out. Elizabeth beat him to the front door and knocked as he stood on the sidewalk behind her. Susan answered the door shyly.
“Hello.”
“Hi there,” said Elizabeth gently. “I’m looking for Cassie McBride – is she here?”
“Yeah,” replied Susan, but didn’t move.
“Could I come in and see her?”
Susan paused before she spoke again. “I’m not supposed to let strangers into the house.”
Nick moved so that Susan could see him. “It’s okay, Susan – why don’t you go get Miss Emily?”
Susan scowled. “Oh – it’s you.” She opened the door, and for the first time Nick noticed that she did it with her left hand. He wondered whether that had anything to do with Cassie’s constantly-disappearing baseball glove. “I’ll go get stupid Cassie – she’s upstairs reading. Again.” She turned around and disappeared, but her voice could be heard calling for Cassie.
Nick climbed the front steps, passing Elizabeth on his way and leading her into the house. “You have quite an affect on the ladies, Nicholas,” she commented dryly.
“It’s a gift,” he said as they entered the living room. She just shook her head.
Emily was in the living room folding clothes on the floor. She looked up when Nick and Elizabeth came in and greeted them politely. Without having to ask why they were there, and without standing up, she said, “You got her, didn’t you?”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
She shook her head and looked away, and a moment later wiped a tear from her cheek as she looked back up at him. “I’m glad for Cassie,” she whispered.
It was quiet a moment before Cassie could be heard bounding down the stairs. Her enthusiasm at Nick’s unexpected appearance brought a smile to Elizabeth’s face.
“Hi, Elizabeth!” she exclaimed once she’d given Nick a hug. “What are you guys doing here?”
Nick grinned. “We have some good news for you.”
Her eyes brightened. “About the adoption?” Nick nodded. “What is it?”
“Well, if you remember, there are two parts to this whole thing,” he explained, as he had once before. “The first part is, they say that you can come live with me, and they give me temporary custody of you. Then, they do that home study, and some extra paperwork, and you meet with a judge, and that makes it official.”
“So what’s the good news, Nickelbee?” she asked, feigning exasperation.
He grinned. “The good news is that we got a date for that first part. You can come live with me on April first, and after about a month, Elizabeth is going to help me file the adoption paperwork.”
“Really?” Her eyes lit up, in much the same way Nick’s had.
“Really,” confirmed Nick with a smile.
In response, she squealed and threw her arms around him. After a moment she let go and ran to Elizabeth, hugging her as well. “Thank you!”
Nick rose again, and then looked down at Emily, still sitting on the floor and passively folding clothes. “Would you mind if we take her out for some ice cream?”
She shook her head without looking up. “No . . . go on,” she said quietly.
“Can we bring you back something?”
Emily paused a moment in her folding. Slowly, she looked up at Nick with an odd, guarded expression. “I’d like that.”
He smiled; she looked away. He had noticed that in the last few weeks, she’d been doing a lot of that. He was about to ask whether she was all right when Cassie bounced off of Elizabeth to stand in front of her. “What kind do you want, Miss Emily?”
When Emily turned to look at Cassie, her face was all adoration, although she still didn’t smile. “Just a Dilly Bar,” she replied. “A chocolate one.”
Cassie then grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him toward the door. Laughingly he looked back at Emily. “You sure that’s all you want?”
She nodded. “Call every hour,” she said, out of habit more than anything. Elizabeth noted that her voice seemed a little thick.
Nick smiled at Emily. “We’ll only be gone thirty minutes, Em.”
She looked swiftly back down at her sock pile. “Okay. Behave, Cassie.”
Elizabeth dearly wished she could’ve read Emily’s thoughts just then, because she suspected that they would have been full of Nick. She smiled at her instead, hoping to get one in return, but it seemed Emily had no smiles to give.
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(c) 2008 J. H. Thompson
