Summary: Sequel to Me and My Gang featuring all the same characters we know and love...hopefully ;P Reviews can come not soon enough for my worrying, wondrous soul...

Timeline: Before Built to Kill Part 1 (7X01)...we kinda skipped the rest of season 6 in Me and My Gang (it happened, I just didn't mention it...)

Spoilers: None as of now...wait, does my life count as a 'spoiler'?

Disclaimer: I don't own Nick, his parents, or the idea of him having 5 sisters and a brother...their names and personalities as well as families belongs to me...but, as said many times before, if Jerry and Anthony wanna lend me Nick for a while...I promise to play nice...-grins- well, for the most part... ;D

Title: You Stay With Me

By: Futuremisscsi60

A/N: I'M BACK!!!!! And so are the characters...tee hee. Okay now, so this book picks up with Nick and Riley arriving at his parent's house. NOTE: You'll need to read Me and My Gang to understand what's going on here...I know it's a big sexy beast, but you really need to read it to get this... This chapter starts off kinda fluffy but don't worry, our beloved couple will have us all on the edges of our seats hoping that they'll make it through whatever hurtle they come up to next...but rest assured, no matter what hurtle it is, they'll jump over it holding hands...(Awww, isn't that a wonderful mental image..?) Tee hee :D

Alright y'all old timers, is everybody ready for another crazy insane book with the Nick/Riley-love-ness?!?! Good! Cause here we go...Oh! Wait! This is freaky...and I have to tell y'all...alright, so I'm sittin here typin up this chapter...when all of the sudden You Stay With Me by Faith Hill starts playin...THAT'S SOME FREAKY STUFF RIGHT THERE!!! And, I decided to be nice and give y'all a semi-long chapter...ENJOY!

Chapter 1

Arlington, TX

US 80

August 21, 2006

10:04 p.m.

Riley sighed and put her feet up on the dashboard as she looked over at Nick and studied him as he drove. She smiled at the concentration lines on his forehead, and in the corners of his eyes. His charming brown eyes were focused intently on the road as his strong arms and hands controlled the steering wheel, every now and then causing his forearms to flex as he steered the wheel and guided the vehicle in a different direction. His broad shoulders were kept up straight and back slightly showing good posture, signaling to her that once upon a time he had ridden horses (even though she already knew that). She let her blue eyes travel down his arms to his long fingers as they gripped the steering wheel, occasionally strumming along to whatever song was playing on the radio.

She smiled and gave a quite chuckle as he hummed along to the song and occasionally sang the few words he knew to the song. The deep, throaty hum made her gaze slide to his strong neck, then drawing her attention to his chest and abdominal muscles that were hidden by his shirt, but slightly outlined as the cotton fabric of his shirt grazed across them as he moved in his seat. Her gaze then drifted to his thighs and strong legs as he bounced his knee whenever they came to a stop light, a habit he had picked up from her. His narrow hips and waist contrasted his broad shoulders and chest, and gave him the 'zuit suit' appearance.

She grinned as she brought her eyes back up to his handsome facial features as a sly smile appeared on his face. "Are you checkin me out?" He drawled without looking over at her and she bit the tip of her tongue as she smiled and looked away.

"...Maybe...what's it to ya Stokes?"

He chuckled in a deep voice and shook his head slightly as he smirked and steered the car left. "Don't start with me Turner..." He warned playfully and she chuckled and looked back at the map while tucking a stray red curl behind her ear. "Why are you reading the map? I know where I'm goin..." Nick asked and she sighed in mock-exasperation and took her legs off of the dashboard and tucked them back by the seats.

"Because, reading the map makes me feel important." She stated matter-of-factly and Nick chuckled. She sighed in exasperation when her hair blew back into her face. She groaned and tucked it under Nick's LVPD cap he let her use and went back to her 'map reading'. "Damn Texas humidity..." She grumbled and Nick smiled and shook his head.

"What'd you expect Riley, it's the middle of August...c'mon, you've lived in Texas before, you had to know it was gonna be like this."

"Well I've moved around so much I forgot."

"Vegas isn't that much better."

"Easy for you to say," She reached over and ruffled his hair. "Your hair is easy to manage."

"Not really..." Nick replied and ran his hand over his shaggy brown hair grimly and Riley smiled and shook her head.

"Will your parents care that we're stopping in so late...?"

Nick looked at his watch and shrugged. "Nah...I think they'll be in too much shock that I'm coming to see 'em to care what time it is..."

"Should we call 'em to let them know we're coming?"

Nick shook his head and smiled. "No. I wanna surprise them..."

"When was the last time you saw them?" She asked, turning in seat as much as her seatbelt would allow.

Nick sighed and puckered his lips as he thought back to the last time he had visited his family. "Um...a little over a year..."

"Really?" She asked and Nick nodded and took on a somber tone. She suddenly realized the last time he visited them was after he had been buried alive. "Was it because..." She let her thought trail off and bit her lip uncertainly.

"Walter Gordon?" Nick finished for her and turned to give her a soft smile as he nodded and turned his attention back to the road.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up."

Nick shook his head. "You didn't know...besides, it's over and dealt with."

"Still..." Nick grabbed her hand and placed a kiss the back of it as he turned his face to smile at her in reassurance. She grinned back and sighed as she rested her head on the head rest and closed her eyes.

"You goin to sleep?" Nick asked as he stroked her hand with his thumb.

"Nah...just resting my eyes..."

"Ah, the famous last words...

Dallas, Texas

Stokes Ranch

10:48 p.m.

Nick pulled the rental car into his parent's driveway and looked over at his sleeping Riley. He chuckled internally and smiled as he stroked his knuckles across her cheek. I knew it...we should start taking bets on her sleeping schedule. Nick thought to himself as he undid his seatbelt and turned to her. "Wake up Ry..."

"Noooo." She groaned and turned as much as her seatbelt would allow as she slept.

"Yeeees." Nick replied softly and tugged on her arm a little. "C'mon Riley...up-an'-at-'em!" He exclaimed and she waved him away and snuggled further into her seat.

"Five more minutes..." She mumbled as Nick took on a wry grin as an evil plan formulated inside of his head.

"Wake up...Sugar Dumplin..."

Her eyes snapped open and she made a groaning noise. "O.M.G. Nick...O.M.G., please don't start that again."

"C'mon Cookie Lips, my Shnookums Teddy Bear..."

"Oh Goodness Nick, please no..." She whimpered and put her head between her knees, hands clamped down over her ears.

"Let's go Cupcake, Honey Muffin...my Widdle Gwape..." Nick replied in a baby voice and she groaned and laughing in mercy.

"I'm up! I'm up! Just please stop it with the pet names..."

"Aww...you don't wike Widdle Gwape?" Nick asked in a baby voice yet again and she whimpered in surrender, but couldn't keep the smile off of her face. "I wike it...vewy suiting...My Widdle Gwape."

"Oh Good Lord Nick, I will fly back out to Vegas if you don't stop it." She warned playfully and waved a finger at him. Nick laughed and grabbed the finger she was waving and dragged her out of the car.

"C'mon let's go meet my parents."

"Aright," She straightened her appearance. "How do I look?"

"Like a bijillion bucks." Nick replied instantly, not even needing to look at her.

"I need a mirror."

"Why?"

"Cause I don't trust you..."

He feigned offence. "Have I ever lied to you before?"

"No...but you don't dare tell me I'm not lookin my best...you're too sweet." She replied and pecked his cheek quickly as she checked her appearance in the side-view mirrors before jogging to catch back up with Nick.

"Are you ready?"

"Um...why not?"

He turned to look at her confused. "I thought you wanted to meet my parents."

"I do. I just have a feeling your mother's gonna hate me..."

"Why?"

"Because I had a horrible dream that she met me, instantly hated me, and then ended up bludgeoning me to death with a rolling pin..."

"Riley, I promise, she won't bludgeon you with a rolling pin...she's not allowed near them after that one 'incident'." Nick replied and Riley looked over at him, eyes wide. He burst out laughing and pulled her close for a hug. "Honey I was kidding!" He assured her and she bit her lip nervously as she continued towards the house.

"I swear to God Nicholas Stokes if you ever do that again I'll-"

"Nick!" Came the yell of joy that cut of Riley's whispered threat. An older woman with light brown hair and graying streaks popped out of the house and fled to her son. Nick stumbled backwards when his mother nearly tackled him in a hug. Nick chuckled slightly and looked over at Riley who shot him an amused look. Nick hugged his mother back and stood up straight again.

"Uh...hi Mama..." He replied and chuckled as his father came out to pry the woman off of his son. "Thanks Cisco." Nick replied and gave his father a hug before turning to Riley and pulling her closer. Before Nick could properly introduce her, his father had begun talking.

"Wow it's odd that you should show up Pancho, you'll never guess who decided to stop by for a visit." His father drawled and nodded towards the house.

"Who?" Nick asked curiously but shook his head. "Dad I want you to meet-"

"Nicky?!" Came the startled cry of a woman a little younger than Nick himself. "Nicholas Stokes is that you?" The rather attractive brunette asked and came towards him, grinning widely.

"Carrie Faulk?" Nick asked in disbelief as the blue-eyed woman came towards him and gave him a friendly hug...a little too friendly for Riley's liking. "Carrie what are you doin here?"

She laughed and pulled away, obviously in ecstasy over seeing the man again. "C'mon Nicholas, is that any greetin for me?" She asked and held him at arms length to inspect him. "Wow...you're all grown up."

"Yeah...yeah you too. But then again we weren't that young last time we saw each other." Nick pointed out nervously. He kept stealing glances at Riley who was trying to disappear into thin air. Which wouldn't be too hard considering no one was really paying any attention to her. She wasn't quite sure they even saw her standing there... "Um...why are you here so late at night?"

"I could ask you the same thing." The buxom brunette drawled. "I thought you lived in Vegas?"

"I do. I just came up with a friend." Riley did her best to not try to assassinate the two of them with her eyes as she sucked in her lips and looked down at the mention of 'friend'. "You guys, there's someone I want you to meet." Nick turned to face her and extended his arm her way.

She simply stared at him for a moment before stepping forward, still not accepting his hand. "Mama, Dad, Carrie; this is Riley."

Riley forced out a smile that passed as genuine as she stuck out her hand towards Nick's mother. "Riley Turner. Nice to meet you ma'am." Riley drawled and his mother smiled warmly.

"Jillian Stokes. Nice to meet you too dear."

"Bill Stokes." His father replied and gave a small smile as he shook the red head's hand. She reluctantly turned to the brunette who was eyeing her slightly, but put on a smile and shook Riley's hand.

"Caroline Faulk. Pleasure to meet you Riley."

"Pleasure to meet you Caroline." Riley drawled. NOT!! She thought internally, but didn't let on.

"How do you know our Nicky?" Jillian asked and Riley smiled blankly for a moment before slowly turning to Nick and sending him a subtle 'You-didn't-even-mention-me' look before turning back to his mother.

"She's the friend I came here with." Nick replied and Riley forced the smile on her face not to form into a frown at the 'F' bomb...

Friend.

Pssh...friend my ass...well screw this, if he ain't gonna be a big boy and tell 'em about us...I won't either.

"Yep. I'm his friend Riley." Riley replied sweetly while over exaggerating the word 'friend' slightly, causing everyone to buy the lie and Nick to shuffle nervously. The 'F' word had kinda slipped out...he meant to call her his girlfriend, but when he had seen Carrie, he froze.

"She's my girlfriend." Nick blurted and everyone smiled and nodded, while replying in 'Oh'...

Riley gave a big, fake smile, and while barely moving her lips remarked only loud enough for Nick to hear, "We'll see."

Nick winced slightly at the, admittedly, wicked burn and went to grab Riley's hand but she crossed her arms over her chest, a gesture that probably wasn't a coincidence. "Well this is just a wonderful surprise." Jillian replied in joy of seeing her son. "Why don't we all go inside for a while and have some coffee while we all catch up on old times?"

"Jill, Dear, it's nearly eleven o'clock." Bill pointed out and Jillian smiled and shrugged.

"So we'll have hot chocolate." She replied and Riley had to smile at that. Nick's mother seemed like a lovely woman, and his father seemed like a charming gentleman. Must be where Nick gets it from... It was Carrie that Riley was worried about. "Alright everyone, let's get ourselves inside before we all sweat to death." Jillian said with a chuckle and led everyone towards the house.

Riley was amazed at the size of the ranch-style house, and not only that, but the spacious front lawn, backyard, and horse corral and stables. "Wow...this is a really nice house Mrs. Stokes..." Riley complimented in awe. It looked to be about the same size as her family's house, but this house was so much less crowded.

"Well thank you Dear, and please, call me Jillian." She replied and took Riley by the hand. "Let me show you the back."

Riley chuckled and nodded as she followed the excited mother towards the back of the house. "Alright..."

Nick watched the two women disappear and turned to where his father had last been standing only to see Carrie in his place. Nick forced a nervous smile and quickly disappeared to find his father. Bill was in the kitchen preparing the kettle for the hot chocolate when Nick walked in. "Dad, why is Carrie here?" Nick asked softly so Carrie wouldn't hear them.

Bill sighed. "Relax Boy, it's not like we did this as a conspiracy to you. We didn't know you were coming." He sighed again and turned to face Nick. "How're you doing?" He asked concerned and Nick furred his brows.

"I'm fine...but that doesn't-"

Bill held up his hand to silence his youngest and Nick nodded and let his father speak. "Carrie just got back from a business deal in Maryland. She came over to say 'hi' to us...it's not illegal ya know, you two were close...Hell Pancho you were gonna marry the woman..." Bill pointed out and Nick sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Yeah I know Dad...but Riley doesn't know about her."

"How long have you been seeing Riley?"

"Um...well...we're kinda an on-and-off couple...but roughly nine or ten months."

"And you haven't told her about Carrie yet?" Bill asked incredulously.

There's a lot of things about me that I haven't told her Dad... Nick thought, out loud he said, "Well I didn't think we'd ever run into her...especially not here." He sighed and leaned against the counter. "So, what...she just dropped by after nearly nine years and decides to say 'hi'...?"

"Well...not exactly." Bill replied and sighed as he turned back to the kettle of steaming water and began to pour it into five mugs.

"Well what then?"

"Nick..." He turned back to face his son. "...Talk to Carrie."

Nick sighed and nodded as he turned to walk back out into the living room. "I knew you'd say that..." Nick mumbled loud enough for his father to hear, who chuckled softly and shook his head. He was glad to see his son again, smiling nonetheless, especially since the last time he'd seen him he was only a shell of the strong man he knew he'd raised beneath the ever disappearing sensitive cover...and he had an idea that the new leading lady in Nick's life had something to do with it.

As soon as Carrie saw Nick she brightened and walked over to him. "Hey you." She greeted softly, in the same seductive voice she'd used so many times before.

Nick smiled a little easier this time. "Hi..."

"I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I could say the same for you." Nick replied lightly. "What're you doin here?"

She smiled and shrugged as she sat on the couch and patted the spot next to herself. Nick sat down and turned slightly to face her and she smiled guiltily and hung her head. "Alright...I confess...I came to ask your parents if they knew exactly were you lived in Vegas..."

Nick raised and eyebrow and shook his head slightly. "Why?"

She sighed and turned to fully face him. "Because I made a big mistake."

"And it took you almost nine years to figure that out?"

"I was scared Nick...we were young."

Nick gave her a look of confusion. "We were 28...we weren't that young. Heck my parents were already married with two children by that time." Nick replied and almost laughed at the censored version of his statement. He had been brought up to never use harsh language in front of a lady, and he had only heard his parents cuss a number of times. Being around Riley and her friends had seemed to rub that trait right out of him.

"Well things had changed since then...and Nick...I missed you." She reached out her hand and clasped his in hers. "You can't deny you missed me too." She pointed out softly, not concededly, just knowingly.

"Well yeah, I did, for a while...but I moved on..."

"Nicholas-"

"Carrie no. This isn't some sappy romance novel where the girl comes back for the guy and she falls into his arms so he ditches his chick and they ride off into the sunset..." Nick had a flashback of saying those similar words to Riley only a few hours before. "This is reality. And the reality is you left."

"But I came back. I miss you."

"You broke my heart!" Nick shouted unbelievingly. No way was he sitting on his parent's couch, with Caroline Faulk, talking about her breaking his heart...

Oh my God...it's nine years ago... Nick thought sarcastically and chuckled internally. Ha ha, sarcastic internal thoughts...? Riley's rubbing off on me.

Carrie sat back and looked down to the ground while brushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear. She still had a tight hold of his hand. "I don't know what else to say Nicky...I miss you, we were good together...we were happy."

"And I'm happy with Riley..." He scoffed. "Last I heard about you was you were engaged to an heir to a fiber glass company out in Georgia..."

Carried frowned slightly and nodded. "I was...'till I found him in bed with the heiress to a multi-million dollar string of hotels in California..."

"Oh." Nick hung his head and sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Wasn't your fault Nick...although I can't say I was much more faithful..." Nick looked over at her. "I thought about you everyday." She confessed and Nick sighed and shook his head as he slowly stood up and walked over to the center rug in the living room and turned to face her.

"So why'd you break off our engagement...? You said we were happy together, you claimed you loved me...if that's true just being 'too young' wouldn't have been enough to drive you off."

She sighed. "I didn't want to share you."

Nick furred his brows, shook his head, and shifted his footing as his hands stayed firm on his hips. "I was always faithful to you...I never strayed."

"You were married to your job Nick...you always have been. From what I hear now you still are..."

"How do you-"

"Your mom to the neighbors to my mom to me..." She shrugged. "Word gets around." She smiled sadly. "Though I didn't hear about Lil' Miss Texas out there with your mother..." Carrie pointed out with only the tiniest smidge of hostility.

"Riley..."

"Right." She shrugged and put her elbows on her knees and folded her hands.

"No one really knew about her..."

"Uh huh."

"We're happy."

"You said that..." She pointed out and Nick shifted nervously. He felt dirty and wrong talking to Carrie. Technically they weren't doing anything wrong...but he still felt like he was morally guilty for even entertaining the idea of Carrie and him. "If y'all are so happy then why are you in here talkin to me...thinkin about us?" Carrie drawled softly and Nick frowned at her.

"I love her Carrie...I wouldn't ever do anything to betray her trust. She's been burned before, and I'll sign my soul over to the Devil himself before I let anything or anyone ever hurt her again...that way they'll have to go through Hell and me to get to her." Nick professed as he saw the tears forming in Carrie's eyes.

"Sounds like she's really important to you."

"She's my everything." Nick replied with more confidence than Liberachi behind a shiny new Steinway. Suddenly Nick realized it wasn't Carrie's Southern drawl that had uttered those words...it was something even sweeter. He turned to see Riley standing in the large double door doorway leading to the spacious dinning room of his family's house. There was a soft smile on her face and the soft glisten of tears in her eyes.

She blushed slightly and looked down giving Nick a better view of his mother standing behind her, smiling knowingly. She stole a quick glance at her husband, who slowly turned his attention to Carrie. Nick turned back to his ex and watched as she sighed and stood. "I should go." She replied softly and Nick sighed and shook his head.

"Carrie..." They might not have been dating, but they had still been friends for close to six years before they dated for two and then been engaged for eight months...she might not have been his girlfriend, but he still cared about her. Just not the same way as he did Riley (A/N: obviously). "Don't go. You shouldn't drive this late at night."

"You haven't even had your cocoa." Jillian added and Nick, Riley, and Bill turned to give her the 'did-you-actually-just-say-that' look before turning back to Carrie.

She smiled and shook her head, her soft brown waves shaking as she did so. "My parent's still live right down the street, driving won't be a problem...and I'll have to take a rain check on that cocoa Mrs. Stokes."

"At least let me walk you out." Nick offered and Carrie shook her head.

"I'll be fine." And with that she quickly disappeared out the door and to her car. The four left there stood in awkward silence before slowly turning to face each other.

"...Do y'all still want your hot cocoas?" Jillian asked and Riley released a small chuckle.

Stokes' Ranch

Guest Room

August 22, 2006

1:51 a.m.

A small shuffle of footsteps outside of the guestroom door drew Riley's attention and she opened her eyes and turned her head towards the door. She recognized Nick's shadow instantly. She smiled and sat up in bed while scooting over, making room for him. "I didn't even notice you left..." She whispered softly as Nick reappeared with two glasses of what and handed one to her.

"Gee, thanks." Nick joked and she scoffed and rolled her eyes as she took a long sip of water.

"You know what I mean." She replied into her cup and soon felt Nick's fingers brush her shoulder. She looked down to see him pushing the spaghetti strap of her top back up on her shoulder. She smiled and brushed the hair from her eyes, sighing as the hair that framed her face fell back from behind her ear, too short to be kept back in a pony tail with the rest of her long red angel waves and curls.

"I'm sorry about that whole thing with Carrie earlier..." Nick apologized and Riley shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry about being jealous...I just...you knew her, and you didn't tell me about her...and apparently you were engaged or something..." Nick nodded and she sighed. "And then...your parents had no idea who I was..."

Nick hung his head guiltily. "Well..." She waited for him to finish his statement, but he didn't.

"It just kinda, hurt, a little."

"I know...I'm sorry. I also didn't expect Carrie to be here."

Riley gave a soft smile and shrugged. "Hey, she's like your Deven...popping up in inopportune places and times." Nick nodded. "And you were engaged to her...she's allowed to talk to your parents." Riley replied in a soft chuckle. "Y'all must've been really good friends even before you got engaged..."

Nick nodded, but offered no other information. Riley nodded and accepted what little information he did tell her and brought her cup back to her lips.

When she finished off her water and Nick took the cup and set it on the nightstand next to his as they snuggled back down under the sheets. She gave him a gentle kiss on the lips as he enveloped her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. Her arms wrapped around his chest as she hooked one of her arms up and across his chest to drape her hand into his hair and bury her face in his neck.

No more than ten minutes later her breathing had evened out once more. Nick sighed softly and kissed the top of her head once more while holding her tighter. He realized how lucky he was to have her more and more every day. Any other woman would have pushed and pushed for information on his and Carrie's relationship, but she hadn't. She'd settled for the vague outline he had drawn her, then sealed the conversation with a kiss and nestled into his embrace.

He was surprised his parents hadn't objected to the two of them sharing a bed, but then again, his parents were aware of his 'ladies man' ways, even if he was a one-woman-man right now. But whatever the reason, he was thankful for it. Nick released a small breath of relief and scooted down and away from her so he could pull back and look at her serene face as she slept. "I love you Baby." He whispered, just as he did every night, when he was sure she was asleep.

He then sealed his secret confession declared to the shadows and night with a soft kiss to her lips, and laid his head down on the pillow next to hers as he let sleep consume him.

A/N: AWWWW! Raise up ya'lls hands if you think they're adorable!!! –Raises hands- I can't help it...I love them. –shrugs- what's a girl to do? Well, in order to really kick off this new book and christen it into the wonderful world of I'm gonna need some reviews...any takers...? (hint hint)

'Till next chapter...

-Futuremisscsi60 (back in action!!)