Here is a new story for you lovely people. It carries on directly from In My Arms, but it can be read alone.
For new readers, all you need to know is that Eli Brown came to live with Grissom and Sara aged five when his mother died, Loeila and Reuben Sanders are Greg's children from an ex-girlfriend who turned out to be a CIA agent, and Kristy Stokes is Nick's adopted daughter. Loeila (or Lola) and Reuben are now three, Kristy is also three but she is three months younger than they are, and Eli is now eight. For further information, see In My Arms.
Oh, and all my chapters (and stories) are named after songs.
This introductory chapter is relatively, well, introductory, but as all my lovely and loyal readers know, angst is my forte, so expect a lot of it :)
Also, a little fluff here and there is nice. But it will only be a little.
This story will have several main intertwining plots, most of which are subtly introduced here, so heads up :P
Without further ado, read, enjoy and review!
Chapter One # Pocketful of Sunshine #
As Greg watched his two children played with their nanny and a few others in the cool California sea. December was drawing to a close, and the twins were coming up to their fourth birthday. He really was enjoying spending more time with them, and he did not miss Vegas at all.
"Hey…" Morgan smiled as she sat down beside him, her stomach swelled with eight months of pregnancy.
"Hey…" Greg returned, grinning up at her as the sun haloed her blonde hair.
He hadn't expected Morgan to follow him, especially since they had only been dating for a couple of months. He was very glad that she had.
He leaned over and kissed her softly.
"Argh!" he cried suddenly as a bucket of cold water was emptied onto his head. He turned around and spluttered. "Kristy McBride Stokes!"
Nick's adopted three year old daughter giggled, dropping the bucket on the floor and running to hide behind the laughing Morgan. "Eli told me ta do it!"
"Eli could make you jump off a cliff." Greg grumbled, shaking his head.
Kristy pouted. "No he couldn't. He loves me too much."
"Course he does." Greg chuckled. He loved how Warrick's eight year old son, who had been raised by Sara and Grissom after his mother's death when he was five years old, was incredibly close with Kristy, Nick's daughter.
They were thick as thieves, arguably even closer than Warrick and Nick had been, and only three or so months previously they had set up Nick on an online dating website together, before deciding instead that Kristy's new nanny, the Irish Orla, was Nick's soul mate instead.
Moments later Greg spluttered once more. "Eli!"
Eli high fived Kristy as Greg tried to brush the sand out of his hair. "You two are just…urgh!"
Nick jogged up. "The little tricksters giving you trouble, Greggo?"
If Morgan's accompaniment was unexpected, being joined in California by the entire Grave Shift was unbelievable.
"Your daughter is unbelievable!"
"Yet your twins are called Trouble and Tricks?" Nick laughed.
"Loeila an' Reuben atuly Daddy!" Kristy chimed as if her father had genuinely forgotten.
"I know, sweetie." Nick teased.
Greg remembered Ecklie's announcement as the Sherriff to the press, the force and the lab.
"In the past year, the Graveyard Shift at the Las Vegas Crime lab have suffered greatly. Their children have been kidnapped, they've been attacked… And through it all they have continued to do their work, meticulously and loyally defending out city. Last week, as I'm sure you all know, the crime lab was under attack, and several members of the Graveyard Shift were caught up in it. As Sherriff, I am pleased to announce that a system first trialed three years ago will be active in Las Vegas as of tomorrow. The system brings in a team of CSIs known as 'Nomad Investigators', who will take over the Crime lab for six months, allowing the crime scene investigators to take six months leave on half pay. The Nomad Investigators will be paid by both the State and a private charity…"
More details had followed, but Greg had just been overjoyed at the thought of a six month paid holiday, and he had zoned out.
Finn jogged out of the sea from playing with the twins, Lindsey Willows, Loeila and Reuben's nanny following with a twins hand encased in each of hers.
"You know Linds, we're all on holiday, you've been working the whole time-"
"It's a free holiday Greg, I'm just doing what I love." Catherine's daughter winked.
"I can't believe that you still think you have the best job ever." Greg shook his head.
"We are angels and dat's why!" Loeila sang, skipping along next to her nanny.
Though Lindsey's original intention had been to act as Greg's nanny while studying to be a nurse, she had finished her course and was happy not to move on. It comforted Greg that during the long hours he put in at the crime lab, his children were looked after by someone who loved them so much and who would give his children a good female influence.
"I think that has a lot to do with it." Lindsey winked. "I'm gonna go give my mom a call before I got to the airport."
"Tell her I said hi!" Greg, Morgan and Nick all called out in unison. Then Greg added, "Have a nice proper holiday!"
Lindsey laughed. "Will do. I'll see you in a few weeks."
"Bysie bye!" Loeila sang, holding her arms up to her father as he stood. "Up Daddy!"
He raised an eyebrow.
"Peese, Daddy!"
Greg laughed and scooped her up. "I fancy a walk, who's coming?"
"I'm staying here, Sara and Orla are picking me up soon." Finn grinned. Upon meeting, both Sara and Finn had instantly become friends with Orla Murphy. While the Irish woman also got on well with Morgan, Greg and the rest of the crime lab, Finn, Orla and Sara were very close. "We are having a shopping spree before we leave."
"Sounds like fun!" Nick's tone was sarcastic. "I'm with you, Greggo."
"Me wib daddy." The thumb Kristy had in her mouth butchered the words coming out of it. Nick gently yanked her thumb out of her mouth.
"Kristina…"
"I wan' go wib Daddy." Kristy repeated, wrapping her fingers around her father's hand.
"We're coming!" Reuben indicated to himself and his twin.
"Okay, then." Greg declared. "Morgan?"
"Help me up!" she stuck out her hand. "We only have four hours left in California, and I intend to see as much of it as possible."
"Great!" Greg grinned, helping her to her feet, his hands lingering over her belly.
They started walking through the town, and it wasn't five minutes before a woman shrieked "GREG!" and launched herself at the shocked CSI.
"Kat!" he laughed. "What are you doing here, I thought you were still in Australia?"
"No, I got back yesterday! Mom said you were in home but I didn't believe her!" the woman's grin spread from ear to ear.
"Guys, this is Katie, my cousin, Kat, this is my friend Nick, his daughter Kristy, my girlfriend Morgan, Bump, and my twins Loeila and Reuben." Greg introduced proudly.
"I finally get to meet them…" Katie's eyes filled with wonder, and she bent down, "Hi…"
"Hi." They chimed in unison.
"Let me guess, Trouble and Tricks?"
Both children looked up at their dad in surprise when she mentioned their nicknames. He grinned at them. "I told you that I was called Trouble and Katie was called Tricks? Well, this is Kat."
Wonder filled Reuben's eyes. He had heard many stories about his father's adventures - and misadventures - with the mysterious Katie.
"You've come at the wrong time, Kat, we're leaving this evening."
"How're you getting home, you driving?"
"Row dip!" Kristy crooned happily.
Nick rolled his eyes. "I swear, this child is around Sara too much."
"That'd be Sara Sidle, right? Greg's told me about all of you." Katie smiled, still at the twins' level. "You two most of all."
Loeila smiled shyly. "I lie you."
Katie smiled happily. "I'm glad to hear it. What time're you leaving Greg, its what, four, five hours to Vegas?"
"Give or take. It depends on a lot of things, traffic and toddlers being the main problems. (Problems? the twins squeaked indignantly) We're leaving at around four o'clock."
Katie nodded. "I'll let you get on your way then. But keep in touch, Greg, okay? It's been way too long."
CSIVCSIVCSIV
Greg opened the door of the car for Morgan to get out. The sky was dark, but at the apartment building they both lived in was towards the outskirts of the city, and there were stars visible.
In the backseat of the car, the twins were asleep in their car seats. Greg peered in at them for a moment, smiling, before opening the door and gently lifting Loeila from her car seat. She stirred a little.
"Da…daddy?"
"Shh, I'm here." He murmured, closing the door and walking around to get Reuben out.
"Daddy can' ca-yee bof ob us." She mumbled.
"Well can you hold on long enough to get to the apartment?"
She nodded sleepily and he swung her round into a piggy back. She had an uncanny ability to be able to fall asleep with her arms and legs still clinging to Greg, or whoever else happened to be carrying her, which meant that the carrier was able to carry Reuben normally.
Morgan tried to get the bags, but Brett, the young night caretaker of the apartment building, ran out seeing them, and bashfully insisted on carrying both Morgan and Greg's bags up to Greg's apartment.
"You wanna come in for a bit?"
"Why not?" Morgan smiled.
Greg lay the twins to sleep in their bedrooms and went to flick the coffee machine on.
Morgan walked over to the nearby sofa and stretched out.
"I'm glad to be home."
Greg smiled a little. "Me too."
You call this home?
Suddenly an ear splitting scream came from Reuben's room, and within moments Loeila responded with a sob filled scream of her own.
Greg dashed into his son's room, having an instant idea of just what was wrong.
Reuben was thrashing around in bed, screaming his heart out.
"Daddy!"
"Reuben, Reubs, it's okay." Greg sat down on the bed, stroking Reuben's hair until he coaxed him from his nightmare.
As predictable as evidence at a crime scene, Loeila raced into the room, tears streaming down her cheeks and sobs pouring from her mouth.
"Daddy!" Reuben wailed more coherently, and Greg pulled them onto his knees as Morgan appeared in the doorway.
She sat down next to them and Loeila moved to the woman's lap, sobbing into Morgan's arms.
"What happened, Reuben?" Greg murmured into his son's sandy hair.
"He came back, he came back, he came back!" Reuben sobbed.
"He's not coming back." Greg soothed.
"But he did, Daddy, he did! In the core house!"
Greg was furious.
"They have CCTV for god's sake! Why does Reuben have to testify? Hasn't he been through enough?"
Brass sighed. "The defence attorney-"
"Screw the defence attorney, Reuben went through hell. They don't need a testimony!"
Despite Greg's protests, Reuben ended up in Court, testifying as his sister had months before.
During the 'gentle' questions about his ordeal, Reuben kept his big, round eyes on Greg the whole time.
"And then what did he do to your sister?"
Reuben's mouth trembled. "He pushed her an Aundie Sara out da window."
"Why?"
Reuben frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Why did he push her?"
"I don' know…"
"He wasn't thinking straight, was he? Acting crazy?"
"I don' know!" Reuben repeated, his voice frightened.
Suddenly a roar filled the courtroom as the man who had attacked the crime lab while the twins were there, Zandro Santiago, stood up from his front row seat and lurched towards Reuben.
Though he was immediately restrained, it sent the three year old boy into hysterics. He screamed and pressed himself, quivering against the back wall.
"He will never come anywhere near you again, I promise." Greg kissed Reuben's head.
"He shod at me adain but it hit!" Reuben cried.
"Falling, falling, falling!" Loeila sobbed into Morgan's shoulder.
"I'll catch you." The woman whispered.
Loeila looked up in shock. The normal response was "You're not falling".
"You catch me?"
"I'll catch you." Morgan murmured back. "I promise. I'll always catch you."
It took a full half an hour for the joint efforts of Morgan and Greg to stop the twins crying completely, but eventually they quietened.
"Daddy?"
"Yeah?" Greg stifled a yawn.
"Tell us da story…"
"What story?" Morgan asked.
"The Nightmare Story." The twins whispered, and Greg smiled.
Having never been one to completely stick to conventional fairy tales, Greg began to recite the words he knew so well.
His tone and the familiar words visibly calmed the toddlers and Morgan had to stifle a laugh at Greg's choice of a toddler's bedtime story.
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit…"
In what Morgan would guess were thirty odd pages of Tolkien recalled from Greg's mind, the twins fell asleep and the adults left them in the same bed, curled into each other.
"Thanks…You're even better with them than Lindsey, anyone would think you're their mom…"
Morgan smiled. "Thank you."
"How's Nigel?" Greg asked.
Morgan laughed. "For the last time, if this baby is a boy it will not be called Nigel."
"It's better than Bump, it's more individual, and besides, we are making plans for him, right?"
"Making Plans for Nigel is a song, Greg."
"That's kind of my point."
"Never mind. My baby is doing fine." Morgan insisted.
"Good." He looked at her stomach. "I'm glad you're okay, Nigel."
"I'm gonna head down the hall." Morgan yawned. "My stomach is instructing me to go to bed."
"Okay. You can leave your stuff here tonight, get it in the morning." Greg kissed her deeply.
"Night." She smiled, reluctantly leaving for her own apartment down the hall.
"Night." Greg walked her to the door and followed her with his eyes to her own front door.
He shuddered and had to fight so as to not fall into a nightmare of his own. His dreams were plagued by many people he had met in the past year, and tonight it was Arch Terry that fought to find a way into his mind.
The serial killer who had raped Morgan, and attempted to kill her. Not only that, but as was his MO he had used Greg's DNA in his torturous routine.
Which meant that there was a fifty per cent chance of the baby Morgan was carrying being Greg's, and fifty per cent chance that it was her tormentor's.
For Morgan's sake, and for the baby, he hoped he was the father. Either way, he'd sworn to look after them both, and he would.
Loeila and Reuben had been told that the child 'in Morgan's tummy' was their half-brother or sister. Greg had been a little worried that how his children would react, but he needn't have worried.
"Why?"
Greg frowned. "What do you mean, why?"
"Why is da baby our sister-brother?" Loeila looked confused.
"Sister or brother, Loei-"
"I know, daddy, it's easier to say!" she rolled her eyes. "But how is it our sister-brother? I Reuben's sister because I was in mommy's tummy wib him. Why is da baby?"
Greg paused and looked at Morgan. "Because it's my baby."
"How?" Reuben piped up.
"Um…"
"Is it ta do wib PNA, lie Henry does at work?" Reuben quizzed his dad. "Or lie da magic?"
"A bit of both." Morgan admitted. "The magic takes Greg's DNA and gives it to the baby."
"Why?" the twins sang.
"Because you need mommy DNA and daddy DNA to be a real baby." Greg struggled, praying that they would be content with that.
"Otay." Reuben sang.
Loeila considered, before nodding.
"Daddy?" a little whisper made Greg jump out of his memories.
"How are you still awake, little miss?" Greg whispered back, scooping her up out of the doorway.
"I woke up adain. Reuben is soaring."
"Do you mean snoring?" Greg smiled.
"Well dat too, but he's also rolling around eberywhere. I tink he's dreaming about flying."
"You tink? You've been around Orla for far too long." Greg teased.
Loeila beamed at her father. "I lie her, daddy. But I seep wid you tonight."
"I think you should sleep now, Loeila Maree, it's two in the morning."
"Dats late?"
"Very. You normally go to bed at half past seven."
"Oh…Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"When my sister-brother comes, will you love dem more dan us?"
"No!" Greg protested firmly, hugging her. "No. I'll love you all the same."
"But you don't know da sister-brother, you know us! Are we nod special?"
"Of course you are." Greg sighed. "You and your brother are the best things in my whole life."
"The bestest?"
"The bestest."
"Otay…but Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"I thought da baby is more special coz Morgan's its mommy."
"No. What makes you think that?"
"You din' really love our mommy. You only wented out wid her a few times, you said so. And also she's dead." Loeila lamented.
"Are Eli and Kristy special?"
"Ob course!"
"Their mommies are dead too."
"I know…" Loeila sighed.
"Do you miss your mommy?" Greg asked suddenly. The twins had been left by their thought-to-be-drug-taking-slash-dealing-scum-of-th e-earth-but-actually-CIA-agent-who-was-later-best- friend's-with-Catherine mother at Greg's house when they were three months old. The relationship between Greg and Alyssa, even after she revealed her good intentions, was very strained, but he had begun to let her into the twins' lives.
Shortly afterwards, she died, saving Catherine's life.
"Sometimes." The toddler admitted. "Bud I didn' know her very much. I love Morgan more. An' you an Reuben da most of all!"
"I love you too." Greg smiled, kissing her forehead.
Loeila smiled, settling into her father's arms.
CSIVCSIVCSIV
"Can' catch me!" Kristy giggled wildly.
"I bet I can!" Orla laughed, chasing the toddler through the kitchen and the sleep out of her head.
Nick closed the door behind him, bringing the last bag through the door. His eyes popped open. "What happened?"
"I thought she was asleep, she grabbed the Coca-Cola!" Orla admitted.
"Oh, god!" Nick gasped. Having seen one of his nieces developing an addiction to soda before the age of ten, Nick was reluctant to let Kristy near fizzy drinks. The two times that she had, however, she had gone off the walls, and it had taken her a long time to calm down.
"I know!" Orla cried, catching the cackling three year old.
"Again, again, again!"
"Kristy, it's way past your bedtime!" Nick coaxed.
"NO!" her face instantly fell. "NOOOO!"
"Oh, calm down, you drama queen!" Orla flung the child onto her hip.
"Hungry!" Kristy protested. "Orla, can I hab food please?"
"Well, maybe just a-"
"Cookie? Please?" she begged.
"I think you've had enough sugar for now."
"Pasta?" the little girl tried once more.
"Okay, you go sit down like a good girl an' I'll get you some, okay?"
Kristy smiled and nodded, hugging her nanny before scrambling down and into the living room, where she pounced on Nick.
"Hi Daddy!" she laughed.
"Hello squirt!" he laughed back, throwing her up in the air. They wrestled until Orla came back with the pasta.
"Here you go, child." Orla set a small plate of pasta with tomato sauce in front of Kristy, who instantly sat cross legged and started eating her pasta.
As she ate, somehow she relaxed, calming down visibly.
Nick and Orla both sighed, leaning against the wall.
Orla's phone buzzed in her pocket and she frowned.
"Now who would call me at this time of…hello?"
Nick watched as confusion coloured her face.
"Long time no speak…No, I wouldn't, really. No. I'm perfectly happy thank you very much. I would actually rather poke out-" Orla caught sight of an interested Krsity and stopped. "Well I'd like to leave it up to your imagination to finish that sentence. No, I'm not, I'm with a child... Well, I have, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it!"
Orla ended the call with trembling fingers.
"Who was that?" Nick's concern was written all over his face.
"My ex-boyfriend." Orla was shocked.
"The one who stalked you?"
"Yes."
"And through whose window you threw a potato?"
"Yep."
"Why did he call?"
"He wanted to talk." She sounded confused. "Wondered if I was happy and if I wanted to meet up. He said he heard I'd moved on with my life and that he would take me back, I didn't need to lie to him...I told him I have, moved on, I mean. Then I told him to stuff it."
"If he even thinks about stalking you again, Orla, tell me." Nick stared at her intensely. "I won't let him near you if you don't want him to be."
"Thanks." Orla smiled gratefully.
"What's his name?"
"Cameron Thinker, why?"
"If he comes anywhere near this house, he'll be very sorry."
"Thank you," she repeated before yawning. "I'm sorry."
Nick laughed. "Don't be. I'll put the little monster to bed."
She nodded and moved off to her room.
"Daddy?" Kristy asked as she ate her pasta.
"Yep?"
"What's 'stalked'?"
"It's when a bad person follows a good person." Nick said offhandly, and Kristy suddenly looked determined.
"I fought so. Daddy, put plate in da sink peese, I get in my jamas!"
"Okay." Nick nodded, watching her run off. He washed up the sick and was shocked at what he saw when he came back.
All of Kristy's many cuddly toys, along with his finally sleepy toddler, were camped outside Orla's door.
"What're you doing?"
"Potecting Orla." Kristy sighed. "Duh!"
Nick laughed. "No one's going to hurt Orla."
"But she'd bein' stalked, you said!"
"It's okay, she's safe here." Nick insisted.
Suddenly too tired to argue, Kristy stuck up her hands and allowed her father to carry her to bed. "Da animals stay here! Dey keep look out. "
"Okay, my brave little girl, the animals stay there."
"Daddy, do you love Orla?"
Nick smiled, settling Kristy into her bed.
"Daddy?"
"Can you keep a secret?" Nick asked.
Wide eyed, his daughter nodded.
He bent down and whispered in her ear, causing a large smile to grave her face. "Yes."
CSIVCSIVCSIV
Morgan lay squirming in her bed, cupping her hands around her stomach as she tried to sleep. The baby was giving her trouble, kicking and wriggling around inside of her.
So when her phone rang at six am, she was tired but not too groggy when she answered.
"Hello?"
"-I don't know what to - she picked up! Uh, Hello?"
"Hello?" Morgan repeated curiously.
"Is this CSI Morgan Brody?"
"It is, how did you get this number?"
"Uh, my name's Roran McPherson, I live in a foster home with Blakelynn DuBois, she says that you said if she needs help you'll give her some."
"Is she in trouble?"
"Well, um…she want's to talk to you!"
The phone changed hands.
"Mogan?"
"Hi Blake," Morgan said, surprised to hear from the little girl who had formed an attachment to her after the bloody death of the girl's mother. It had been a while, and the child was only two and a half.
"Um, I has emegency!"
"Why?"
"I nee help!"
"Blake, give it here. Hi, it's Roran again. It's not a real emergency, ma'am and I'm really sorry to bug you so early but uh…"
"What's wrong?"
"I can't do my math." the boy sounded ashamed. "It's in for tomorrow in school and I was gonna do it, I was-"
"Bud I was sick!" Blake chipped in, "So he couldn' do id, I was berry noisy and I said dat you could help!"
"It was really stupid," Roran began "I'm sorry-"
Morgan smiled. "What sort of math?"
"Pardon?"
"I'll help you, Roran." Morgan repeated.
What she didn't know, was that at that very moment, a ten year old boy regained his faith in humanity.
A boy who had been beaten and abused and starved and tortured, a boy who was too traumatised by isolation that he had no friends save his two year old foster sister, a boy who had been threatened with expulsion if he didn't do his next homework, a boy who was too distrustful to ask for help.
While their foster parents were kind, they couldn't get through to Roran. Their discipline systems were inconsistent and he fell through the cracks, and he couldn't understand love.
Not a love where your 'parents' will send you back into the system if you get thrown out of a school with classes that are too hard.
The only person he cared about was little Blakelynn DuBois, who had been terrified by the idea of her brother leaving and had suggested calling for help.
Morgan's simple answer showed Roran that Blake was right. There are adults that care, adults that will help.
He hoped that the woman couldn't hear his tears.
"Thank you!"
Sorry if it was a little waffly or a bit bitty, but beginnings aren't my strong point :P I hope you found it entertaining, leave a review if you did.
Or if you didn't, I would love to hear from you!
Like I said, angst is my forte, so expect muchly of it soon.
Note: I am currently in the middle of revision, and this has been the result of after revision wind down time of weeks, so updates will be slow until late May early Juneish time :)
Peace out!