Disclaimer: I do not own anything of CSI. If I did, then things would be a whole lot different. A/N: Thank you for all your reviews so far at California Here We Come. I'm in the process of obtaining a Beta for my work. This takes place in the days after the events of Play with Fire. Greg's mother and father meet Nick Stokes for the first time but under bad circumstances.

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Hear my prayers.

Irene Sanders walked down the hallway of the Desert Palms Hospital hallway, here mind lost in thought as she thought of her son Greg.

'Why couldn't he have been a doctor or a teacher? A job where he could be safe from harm. That's all I wanted. Not one where he could be exposed to dangerous chemicals and blown up.'

It had been only a few hours since she and her husband arrived in Las Vegas and already she was on the on the edge of collapse. Once she received the phone call from Greg's boss, Gil Grissom, telling her that Greg had been injured, she started to cry till her husband came into the room and took the phone from her. Grissom continued to tell him what had happened at the lab as Michael Sanders held on to his wife. After hanging up the phone, the couple a few moments to calm down and they went to gather their things together and head straight to Vegas.

Once she got to the hospital and found her son, she again busted into tears. Greg had been blown through a glass window and received sever burn on his back. He was lying on his side, bandaged, cut and asleep. The doctors told her that Greg was going to be ok but all she could think was that her only son was lying in a hospital bed and could have almost died.

They spent most of the time at their son's side hardly ever leaving it for more than a few seconds. As they sat with her son, the Sanders met Greg's fellow CSI coworkers as they came by to see him. When Catherine Willows came, she practically begged the Sander's forgiveness till they told her they did not blame her since it was an accident.

After Catherine left, Michael suggested that that Irene get some fresh air while he stayed with Greg and called her parents who were on a trip to Norway visiting family. She agreed and let go of her only child's hand and left the room and headed down the hall.

In her mind, there was one fact that nagged at her while she walked. When she and Michael arrived at their son's room, Greg was all alone. Irene had believed that Greg's new boyfriend would be there with her son. Neither Irene nor Michael had ever met this Nickolas Stokes, the man who had stolen her son's heart but from what she had been told, he seemed they type who would have been at Greg's side. Greg had told them that Nick was a CSI but he had never came to the room alone or with any of the other CSIs.

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind when she looked up and saw where her feet had taken her.

Opening the door to the small hospital chapel, Irene felt the calmness of the chapel come over her. The flicking light of the many candle casted dancing shadows on the walls. There were no symbols of any particular religion around the chapel. Pews were facing a small podium at the front.

Only one other person in the room. Sitting in the second row was a man. He had his head down and was resting on his clasped hands on the pew in front of him. Irene could tell by the set of his shoulders that he had a great and terrible weight set upon him.

For some strange reason, Irene took a seat in the third row where she got a good view of the man in front of her. She still could not see his face, but Irene felt drawn to him. Bowing her head, Irene started to pray for her son and hope God heard her.

'Dear God, please don't take my son from me. Greg's my only child and I can't live without him. My father wouldn't be able to go on without Greg in his life. Just let my son be ok.

After a few moments of silent prayer, a soft voice caught her attention.

"Please, let him be ok. Please. I love him, he's my entire world. I can't imagine my life without him."

Irene looked up at the man sitting at the front. She could hear the sorrow and pleading in his voice. Even thou she could not see them; Irene could see the tears that were starting to form in his eyes.

This was a man who deeply cared about a loved one.

"I don't know if you did this to test our relationship or because you truly hate the love we have for each other but all I want is for him to still be here with me. He's my reason for living. Everything I'm not he is. I need him."

His words were filled with raw emotion. The sorrow Irene felt for Greg was now going out to this stranger.

'This is the type of man that Greg should be with. Not one whose not there when Greg needs him the most.

Lifting his head, Irene saw that he was a very good looking man. He had a strong chain, short dark hair, and a well developed physique from what she saw of his strong looking arms. His voice had a soft southern accent to it.

"I haven't even met his family yet. So I haven't had the chance to somehow make a fool of myself in front of his mother so she can say I'm not good enough and worthy of her son. Please. I love Greg with all my heart. I just want him to be ok" Nick Stokes broke down in to tears as he put his face into his hands.

He did not hear her get up from her seat and come towards him. Or her sitting down next to him, Nick just continued to cry for the man he loved.

Irene stared at him for a few moments. This was Nick Stokes. The man who loved her only child. He was here praying for Greg's life and well being. Not staying way from Greg because he did not want to be near him but because he loved him and was worried about him.

She lifted her hand and placed it on his shaking shoulder.

Nick felt a warm hand on his shoulder and looked to see who it was. His eyes were red from crying and the trials of his tears could be seen by the unknown woman who was sitting beside him. But all it took was for Nick to look at her eyes. They were the exact same chocolate brown eyes that he had fallen in love with.

Irene gave the man a warm smile, "You are worthy of my son Nick."

Nick started to cry again and Irene brought him into a tight hug.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours till they pulled apart. Now both had tears stained check.

"This isn't how I wanted to meet you Mrs. Sanders." Nick managed to get out.

"Me either. How long have you been here?"

"A few hours. I went by Greg's room and I saw you and your husband already in there with him. So I figured you would want to be alone together and just started to walk around the halls. Eventually I ended up outside. I came in and sat down and after a few seconds, I…I started to pray for Greg."

Irene reached out and gently stroke his check, "You are a good man Nickolas Stokes."

Nick smiled at her, "Thank you."

"Come on Nickolas, let's go see our boy," she said as she got up and took the CSI's hand and led him out of the chapel. They walked back to Greg's room and Irene brought him inside.

"I got a hold of your parents. They wanted to know if they should find a way to get to Vegas or not. Your father said for you to let them know." Michael Sanders told his wife when he looked up and saw her. It took him a moment to see that there was someone else in the room. Irene saw the curious look on his face and brought Nick forward.

"Michael, this is Nickolas Stokes."

Nick held out his hand and Michael took it.

"Nick, please. It's nice to meet you Mr. Sanders but like I told your wife, not the way I wanted to."

"Agreed."

All three adults took a seat in the chairs by Greg's bed and waited. Hours later, Greg began to stir. His eyes slowly opened and focused on the people before him.

"Mom. Dad." he said quietly

"We're here dear," Irene said as she gently kissed his scared check.

Greg smiled. Then his eyes looked and saw the beautiful Texan sitting next to his parents. "Nicky?"

"I'm here baby." Nick said as he gently took held of his hand and brought it to his lips and laid a gentle kiss on it. "We're all here for you."

Greg smiled weakly and he again fell into sleep. As he slept, the three people who loved him stayed at his side. The man who loved the lab rat so much, never let go of the hand he held in his hands once.

Note: It was reviewed to me after I posted this that I seemed to have skipped between names for Greg's mother. I wrote this before I had started California Here We Come and I had named Greg's mom Hilda. Well as I wrote California, I changed it to Irene. I thought I had chaged all the Hildas in this but I missed a couple. Thanks to thoses who told me of my mistake.