This one peeks into Nick's life outside CSI.
^sign language ^
"Nick, you're on the home invasion, Cath, you and Sara have a downtown shooting, Warrick, you're with me on a floater," Grissom said, I took my slip, and began to walk away.
"Griss, can I please have one simple home invasion?" Warrick asked.
"Warrick, the home invasion is Nick's case," Grissom said, "Let's go."
I smiled to myself, a home invasion would be a case on easy street for me, good night for one, and I opened my sunroof, as I drove.
"CSI Nick Stokes," I showed my ID to the officer at the door.
"The front door was unlocked when the owner arrived home, Jewelry is the only thing gone, upstairs bedroom," He said.
I walked upstairs, there was a second officer in the bedroom, with a man who was motioning at the open jewelry box. "The jewelry is the only thing that's missing?" I asked, it surprised me, if someone knew the house, enough to take the jewelry, why not take anything else?
"Yeah, who are you?" he asked.
"CSI Nick Stokes, so what kind of jewelry was it?" I replied.
"Diamonds, mostly, why?" He looked at me.
"How much?" I asked, almost cringing.
"About five hundred thousand," he replied.
I began dusting the area around the jewelry box for prints, it was to small a job for a real professional, but whoever it was obviously knew what they were doing. In the end, there were no prints, not that I expected any.
"Did you touch anything, anything at all?" I asked.
"Just the front door, as I came in," The man replied.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked.
"Definitely," He replied.
"Right, well, I'm going to head back to the lab, so I can file my report," I said.
"But you didn't collect anything," he was staring at me.
"There is nothing to collect."
"What do you mean?" He said.
"What I mean is what I said, there is no dirt, no fibers, no prints, nothing," I said.
When Grissom saw my report he said, "I should have given it to Warrick, diamonds, your worst nightmare,"
"Yes, most definitely," I replied.
"There was nothing at all?"
"Not even... not even on the front door, he said he only touched the front door, as he came in, but everything was wiped clean, even the door."
"It's all in your report, give it to the detective, unless you want to follow up," Grissom said, I just nodded, I hated diamond thieves, because they were high class, and left no evidence, and Grissom knew I wouldn't follow up.
"Giving so easily?" Warrick asked.
"Diamonds, I don't mess with that, to neat, put away, sides, I hate lying home owners, and that is what this guy is," With that, I walked away, to file my report with the detective who would end up with the case.
"Another one, day shift has had four this week, all the same," The detective looked at the file.
"not quite, this guy says he touched the door, as he came in, but it'd been wiped clean, not been touched since."
"Alright, thank you, and goodnight."
"Goodnight," I replied, glad to be rid of the case.
I went home, after shift, and went straight into Aaron's room, the freshly cleaned smell was still there, from the maid that had come in, I hated coming home to the apartment, without Aaron around. I sat on the couch that made up the bottom of the bunk bed, then curled up, just to fall asleep.
I woke up about noon, feeling better than I had all month, more rested, and energetic, it was great. Six hours later, after doing some grocery shopping, and watching a lot of TV, I went into work, a rare smile on my face. "Nick, what's got you in such a good mood?" Warrick asked.
"Sleep man, uninterrupted, peaceful, dreamless, sleep, the best thing in the world," I replied.
I had barely got that out, when my cell rang, "Hello?"
"Nick Stokes?" The voice on the other end was not familiar to me.
"That's me," I said.
"Your wife..."
"Ex" I corrected.
"Whatever, your EX, failed to pick up your children from daycare, can you come pick them up?"
"I'll be there in five," I said, and pressed the off button, "Warrick, what's Cath's number?"
Warrick gave it to me and asked, "Why?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later."
As I drove to the daycare halfway across town, I dialed Catherine. "What?" She was out of breath.
"Cath, you remember what I told you at the birthday party a month ago, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, my EX, who is nowhere to be found at the moment, didn't pick up the kids at daycare are you working tonight?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Can I have the number of a good babysitter, please?"
"I'll call my babysitter, and see if she can handle the twins," Catherine replied.
"Thank you Cath, you are a life saver," I said.
***Cath's P.O.V.***
"Five year old twins, shouldn't be a problem," Marci said with a smile.
"One of them is deaf, and they are identical," I said.
"I think I can handle it," Marci replied
***Nick's P.O.V.***
I dropped the boys off, and handed Marci a card with my cell number on it, "Kale, and Kyle, if Kale wants something, Kyle WILL" I stared pointedly at him, "Translate, they go to bed no later than eight. I picked up some cookies and juice for them, and call my cell if there is a problem."
"^You boys be good, I'll be back to pick you up, okay? ^" I said, while signing, "^Marci is in charge, ^"
I gave Marci a name sign, to make my life easier. "There shouldn't be a problem," Marci said.
"Don't separate them, Kale gets frustrated easily," I said, I kissed each of the boys on the cheek, and left.
I walked into the break room, as Grissom began to hand out assignments. "Cath, Nick, you have a floater on the strip, Sara, Warrick, you have a south side dB, enjoy, and Greg, you and I have our case from last night to finish up."
"Whoopee," I faked, as we headed to the Tahoe.
"Funny, Nick," Catherine said.
"I know, I am funny, aren't I," I smiled at her.
***Sara's P.O.V.***
When we got to the apartment, I saw the pictures first, a woman, and two children, twins, in every picture they were looking at each other. "The victim is twenty four year old, Irene Wilkenson," An officer said.
"The kids?" I asked.
"No sign of them, we were waiting for guys, so we could play the messages," the officer replied.
Warrick pressed the play button, the first two were from a daycare center, "I know you told me you didn't want me calling him, but I'm calling their father, to pick them up," The girl in the second message said.
"Irene, this is Nick, I've got the boys, at least this time you had the sense to bring them to a daycare before getting high, a friend of mine has them tonight, in the morning, I'm filing for full custody, you know I don't want my kids exposed to that."
"Warrick, you want call him, or should I?" I looked at him.
"He's not going to be sad," Warrick looked at me.
"I'll call," I sighed, and dialed the number, "Stokes," he answered on the first ring.
"Nick, you're gonna need to head back to the lab, this case has your name, right through it," I said.
"What do you mean, Sara?" he asked.
"I mean, that you better pick up your children, from your friend's place, and meet me at the lab," I said.
"How did you know about Kale and Kyle?" he asked.
"Your name, is right through this, Nick,"
"OK, I'll meet you at the lab," he said.
"So?" Warrick asked.
"He'll meet us there."
We collected the evidence from the scene, and went back to the lab, Nick was in the break room, with two boys, they were sleeping on his lap, "and, May I ask what is going on here?" Grissom had walked in behind us.
"I'm guessing Sara will answer that for both of us," Nick said.
"Well, we got to the scene, and there was a message from Nick on the answering machine tape, talking about picking up 'the boys' and so I called him."
"The Victim ..."
"My kids," Nick cut Warrick off.
"Nick knows more about the history behind the case, than any of us," Warrick said.
"Alright, and why did you want my children here?" Nick asked.
"Because we'll need to interview them," I replied.
"Alright, I assume you want us to move to the interrogation room?" Nick said.
Warrick nodded.
***Nick's P.O.V***
I followed Warrick, and Sara to the interrogation room, still holding Kale, Warrick was carrying Kyle. Warrick handed Kyle back to me, once I was sitting down, Sara sat across from me, Grissom, I knew was in the other room. "Nick, they found your Ex girlfriend," Sara said.
"I know, she did drugs, didn't always have the money to pay for them, but when she did, she would binge, usually with the boys in the other room, I told her, time and again, that I didn't want them around that stuff. She kept insisting that she was clean, but she knew, that if I ever found proof, that I would take the boys away," I said, "I got a call tonight, that she hadn't picked the twins up from daycare, so I left, and went to pick them up. On my way back to the lab, I called her and left a message saying I was filing for full custody in the morning."
"Where were you at 5:30?" Sara asked.
"At home, getting ready to come here," I said.
"Anyone see you?" Sara asked.
"Warrick saw me at quarter to six, not enough time to get here from the south side," I replied.
"That's true," Warrick said.
Next they wanted to talk to the boys, "Who do you want to talk to first?" I asked, it was a trick question, of course, I would have them talking to Kyle either way.
"We'll start with Kyle," An hour later, they were done questioning the boys, "Griss, is it all right with you, if I take the boys home, and see you next week, after my vacation?"
"Sure, go on home, Nick, don't forget to punch out," Grissom replied.
Over the next week, I found a ranch house, and put an offer on it, I found two women who I hired to take care of the boys when I was at work, and I filled out every piece of paperwork the government people threw at me. Then I filled out another stack of papers to get my parental second day off. Once that was done, I spent the rest of my time doing stuff with Kale and Kyle, I would take them to the park, and we went to furniture stores to buy things we would need for the new house. My little brother, Aaron, who had moved to Washington, had left the bunk bed, I missed him, but the bed was getting use again, besides the sporadic use I had given it, to actually get some sleep, in the apartment that was much to quiet, without Aaron's happy laughter.
I went back to work on a Monday, and I was given an easy case, thankfully, once I was done, it was open and shut, I went home, to get the hour or two of sleep that Kale and Kyle would allot me each morning. I said goodbye to Maria, and checked on the twins, before stumbling into my room, and falling asleep instantly. At seven , I had no need for an alarm clock, Kale led Kyle into the room, and they began jumping on my bed, laughing like hyenas. I pretended to sleep for a second, then Kyle said, "Daddy, get up, its time for breakfast."
"What do my monsters want for breakfast?" I began tickling them.
Kale, and Kyle fell into a giggling heap on top of my legs. Kale looked at me and I said "^They are on my legs, devouring them, I shall never rise again. ^"
As a child, I had found that signing often got in the way of real fun, so I had begun at an early age, I was probably eight, to teach Aaron how to lip read, that was one thing that helped him excel so much in school. He even went so far as to skip grade three. My deaf brother, was a genius, and there was no way I was going to allow any school to put my son in remedial classes, he had a hearing problem, and had shown that the problem did not extend to his learning.
A/N: I've never written a CSI fic before, and this is the first story I've ever written with deaf people.
"Nick, you're on the home invasion, Cath, you and Sara have a downtown shooting, Warrick, you're with me on a floater," Grissom said, I took my slip, and began to walk away.
"Griss, can I please have one simple home invasion?" Warrick asked.
"Warrick, the home invasion is Nick's case," Grissom said, "Let's go."
I smiled to myself, a home invasion would be a case on easy street for me, good night for one, and I opened my sunroof, as I drove.
"CSI Nick Stokes," I showed my ID to the officer at the door.
"The front door was unlocked when the owner arrived home, Jewelry is the only thing gone, upstairs bedroom," He said.
I walked upstairs, there was a second officer in the bedroom, with a man who was motioning at the open jewelry box. "The jewelry is the only thing that's missing?" I asked, it surprised me, if someone knew the house, enough to take the jewelry, why not take anything else?
"Yeah, who are you?" he asked.
"CSI Nick Stokes, so what kind of jewelry was it?" I replied.
"Diamonds, mostly, why?" He looked at me.
"How much?" I asked, almost cringing.
"About five hundred thousand," he replied.
I began dusting the area around the jewelry box for prints, it was to small a job for a real professional, but whoever it was obviously knew what they were doing. In the end, there were no prints, not that I expected any.
"Did you touch anything, anything at all?" I asked.
"Just the front door, as I came in," The man replied.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked.
"Definitely," He replied.
"Right, well, I'm going to head back to the lab, so I can file my report," I said.
"But you didn't collect anything," he was staring at me.
"There is nothing to collect."
"What do you mean?" He said.
"What I mean is what I said, there is no dirt, no fibers, no prints, nothing," I said.
When Grissom saw my report he said, "I should have given it to Warrick, diamonds, your worst nightmare,"
"Yes, most definitely," I replied.
"There was nothing at all?"
"Not even... not even on the front door, he said he only touched the front door, as he came in, but everything was wiped clean, even the door."
"It's all in your report, give it to the detective, unless you want to follow up," Grissom said, I just nodded, I hated diamond thieves, because they were high class, and left no evidence, and Grissom knew I wouldn't follow up.
"Giving so easily?" Warrick asked.
"Diamonds, I don't mess with that, to neat, put away, sides, I hate lying home owners, and that is what this guy is," With that, I walked away, to file my report with the detective who would end up with the case.
"Another one, day shift has had four this week, all the same," The detective looked at the file.
"not quite, this guy says he touched the door, as he came in, but it'd been wiped clean, not been touched since."
"Alright, thank you, and goodnight."
"Goodnight," I replied, glad to be rid of the case.
I went home, after shift, and went straight into Aaron's room, the freshly cleaned smell was still there, from the maid that had come in, I hated coming home to the apartment, without Aaron around. I sat on the couch that made up the bottom of the bunk bed, then curled up, just to fall asleep.
I woke up about noon, feeling better than I had all month, more rested, and energetic, it was great. Six hours later, after doing some grocery shopping, and watching a lot of TV, I went into work, a rare smile on my face. "Nick, what's got you in such a good mood?" Warrick asked.
"Sleep man, uninterrupted, peaceful, dreamless, sleep, the best thing in the world," I replied.
I had barely got that out, when my cell rang, "Hello?"
"Nick Stokes?" The voice on the other end was not familiar to me.
"That's me," I said.
"Your wife..."
"Ex" I corrected.
"Whatever, your EX, failed to pick up your children from daycare, can you come pick them up?"
"I'll be there in five," I said, and pressed the off button, "Warrick, what's Cath's number?"
Warrick gave it to me and asked, "Why?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later."
As I drove to the daycare halfway across town, I dialed Catherine. "What?" She was out of breath.
"Cath, you remember what I told you at the birthday party a month ago, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, my EX, who is nowhere to be found at the moment, didn't pick up the kids at daycare are you working tonight?"
"Yes," she replied.
"Can I have the number of a good babysitter, please?"
"I'll call my babysitter, and see if she can handle the twins," Catherine replied.
"Thank you Cath, you are a life saver," I said.
***Cath's P.O.V.***
"Five year old twins, shouldn't be a problem," Marci said with a smile.
"One of them is deaf, and they are identical," I said.
"I think I can handle it," Marci replied
***Nick's P.O.V.***
I dropped the boys off, and handed Marci a card with my cell number on it, "Kale, and Kyle, if Kale wants something, Kyle WILL" I stared pointedly at him, "Translate, they go to bed no later than eight. I picked up some cookies and juice for them, and call my cell if there is a problem."
"^You boys be good, I'll be back to pick you up, okay? ^" I said, while signing, "^Marci is in charge, ^"
I gave Marci a name sign, to make my life easier. "There shouldn't be a problem," Marci said.
"Don't separate them, Kale gets frustrated easily," I said, I kissed each of the boys on the cheek, and left.
I walked into the break room, as Grissom began to hand out assignments. "Cath, Nick, you have a floater on the strip, Sara, Warrick, you have a south side dB, enjoy, and Greg, you and I have our case from last night to finish up."
"Whoopee," I faked, as we headed to the Tahoe.
"Funny, Nick," Catherine said.
"I know, I am funny, aren't I," I smiled at her.
***Sara's P.O.V.***
When we got to the apartment, I saw the pictures first, a woman, and two children, twins, in every picture they were looking at each other. "The victim is twenty four year old, Irene Wilkenson," An officer said.
"The kids?" I asked.
"No sign of them, we were waiting for guys, so we could play the messages," the officer replied.
Warrick pressed the play button, the first two were from a daycare center, "I know you told me you didn't want me calling him, but I'm calling their father, to pick them up," The girl in the second message said.
"Irene, this is Nick, I've got the boys, at least this time you had the sense to bring them to a daycare before getting high, a friend of mine has them tonight, in the morning, I'm filing for full custody, you know I don't want my kids exposed to that."
"Warrick, you want call him, or should I?" I looked at him.
"He's not going to be sad," Warrick looked at me.
"I'll call," I sighed, and dialed the number, "Stokes," he answered on the first ring.
"Nick, you're gonna need to head back to the lab, this case has your name, right through it," I said.
"What do you mean, Sara?" he asked.
"I mean, that you better pick up your children, from your friend's place, and meet me at the lab," I said.
"How did you know about Kale and Kyle?" he asked.
"Your name, is right through this, Nick,"
"OK, I'll meet you at the lab," he said.
"So?" Warrick asked.
"He'll meet us there."
We collected the evidence from the scene, and went back to the lab, Nick was in the break room, with two boys, they were sleeping on his lap, "and, May I ask what is going on here?" Grissom had walked in behind us.
"I'm guessing Sara will answer that for both of us," Nick said.
"Well, we got to the scene, and there was a message from Nick on the answering machine tape, talking about picking up 'the boys' and so I called him."
"The Victim ..."
"My kids," Nick cut Warrick off.
"Nick knows more about the history behind the case, than any of us," Warrick said.
"Alright, and why did you want my children here?" Nick asked.
"Because we'll need to interview them," I replied.
"Alright, I assume you want us to move to the interrogation room?" Nick said.
Warrick nodded.
***Nick's P.O.V***
I followed Warrick, and Sara to the interrogation room, still holding Kale, Warrick was carrying Kyle. Warrick handed Kyle back to me, once I was sitting down, Sara sat across from me, Grissom, I knew was in the other room. "Nick, they found your Ex girlfriend," Sara said.
"I know, she did drugs, didn't always have the money to pay for them, but when she did, she would binge, usually with the boys in the other room, I told her, time and again, that I didn't want them around that stuff. She kept insisting that she was clean, but she knew, that if I ever found proof, that I would take the boys away," I said, "I got a call tonight, that she hadn't picked the twins up from daycare, so I left, and went to pick them up. On my way back to the lab, I called her and left a message saying I was filing for full custody in the morning."
"Where were you at 5:30?" Sara asked.
"At home, getting ready to come here," I said.
"Anyone see you?" Sara asked.
"Warrick saw me at quarter to six, not enough time to get here from the south side," I replied.
"That's true," Warrick said.
Next they wanted to talk to the boys, "Who do you want to talk to first?" I asked, it was a trick question, of course, I would have them talking to Kyle either way.
"We'll start with Kyle," An hour later, they were done questioning the boys, "Griss, is it all right with you, if I take the boys home, and see you next week, after my vacation?"
"Sure, go on home, Nick, don't forget to punch out," Grissom replied.
Over the next week, I found a ranch house, and put an offer on it, I found two women who I hired to take care of the boys when I was at work, and I filled out every piece of paperwork the government people threw at me. Then I filled out another stack of papers to get my parental second day off. Once that was done, I spent the rest of my time doing stuff with Kale and Kyle, I would take them to the park, and we went to furniture stores to buy things we would need for the new house. My little brother, Aaron, who had moved to Washington, had left the bunk bed, I missed him, but the bed was getting use again, besides the sporadic use I had given it, to actually get some sleep, in the apartment that was much to quiet, without Aaron's happy laughter.
I went back to work on a Monday, and I was given an easy case, thankfully, once I was done, it was open and shut, I went home, to get the hour or two of sleep that Kale and Kyle would allot me each morning. I said goodbye to Maria, and checked on the twins, before stumbling into my room, and falling asleep instantly. At seven , I had no need for an alarm clock, Kale led Kyle into the room, and they began jumping on my bed, laughing like hyenas. I pretended to sleep for a second, then Kyle said, "Daddy, get up, its time for breakfast."
"What do my monsters want for breakfast?" I began tickling them.
Kale, and Kyle fell into a giggling heap on top of my legs. Kale looked at me and I said "^They are on my legs, devouring them, I shall never rise again. ^"
As a child, I had found that signing often got in the way of real fun, so I had begun at an early age, I was probably eight, to teach Aaron how to lip read, that was one thing that helped him excel so much in school. He even went so far as to skip grade three. My deaf brother, was a genius, and there was no way I was going to allow any school to put my son in remedial classes, he had a hearing problem, and had shown that the problem did not extend to his learning.
A/N: I've never written a CSI fic before, and this is the first story I've ever written with deaf people.