"There's a lot in my past I'd like to forget." – Nick Stokes, Fallen Idols
Pulling into the pick-up area of Foothills Montessori School, Nick Stokes couldn't help but beam with fatherly pride as he saw his five year old daughter waving to him, dressed in her cowgirl Halloween costume. In her right hand, she carried an orange, plastic jack-o-lantern that was no doubt filled with teeth-rotting candy from her classroom's Halloween party. Nick was also sure she was filled with sugar and he'd be dealing with the detox at home.
Her kindergarten teacher took her hand, guiding the brown-haired girl in pigtails to the waiting Denali. However, her pink cowgirl hat flew off and she quickly skipped off to retrieve it. Miss Bradshaw smiled and opened the back door to let his daughter inside.
"Hi, daddy!" She greeted him, all smiles, and looking as adorable as he could imagine with her pink vest, hat, chaps, and cowboy boots, topped off that that trademark Stokes grin. She was a spitting image of her mother, but that smile was all his.
"Hi, Carly." He smiled warmly. Nick waved at Miss Bradshaw. "Thanks, Miss Bradshaw. Have a good evening."
The teacher bid him the same, but Nick could tell she was exhausted after a seven and a half hour day of chasing five year olds. Halloween had to be the worst. Nick began to pull out of the car loop line and looked in his rearview mirror at Carly. She was currently on her knees about to give her sleeping baby brother, Nolan, a kiss on the forehead.
"Hi Nolaaaan." She cooed gently to her tiny brother, who was almost one year old now. Nick and Sara had been concerned that Carly wouldn't handle having a brother or sister very well, but she had always been so gentle and nurturing towards Nolan. She had her moments of jealousy of course, but she was overall a wonderful big sister.
"Are you all buckled up, babe?" He asked his daughter, prompting her that she needed to sit in her own booster seat. Carly took the hint and moved to her seat without protest. Nick heard a clacking of metal on plastic, and knew she was having a bit of a hard time getting the buckle in.
"Almost." She told him, sticking her tongue out of the side of her mouth in concentration. Finally, he heard it click into place as they reached the road. "There!"
"Good girl." Nick told her as he began driving towards their house, about ten minutes away. "How was the party?"
Carly giggled with excitement at the memory of the party, and what was to come that night.
"It was goooood." She told him, leaning forward. "We got to go to all the big kid classes and show 'em our cossumes, and then we painted punkins but we put on smocks first, daddy." Carly explained to him, knowing her father would always listen to every word she said.
For the next ten minutes on the way home, Nick only managed to get in a few words as Carly filled him in on every detail of her day at kindergarten. Nick was sure that one day, she would probably be a commentator or perhaps someone who reported from the red carpet. He wouldn't change her chattiness for the world, though. He pulled into the garage of their comfortable middle-class home on the outskirts of Las Vegas, away from all the lights, sexcapades, and and hype. Nick and Sara saw enough of it every day at work, and definitely didn't want Carly and Nolan growing up around it.
"…So I told Megan I wouldn't trade her Skittles for a Snickers bar because I think Snickers are the best, daddy." Carly went on as Nick put the Denali in park and opened stepped out.
Nick opened the passenger door where Nolan was still napping still, even amidst his older sister's rather loud and lengthy account of her day, and the drama of candy trading.
"Well, I think you made the right choice, darlin'. Snickers are really good." He told her. "I might have to steal a bar from you."
Carly cackled as he gently scooped Nolan out of the car seat and into his arms. He put a finger to his lips to remind her to stay quiet. Carly put her hands over her mouth but still giggled.
"Don't forget your backpack, sweet pea." He told her as Carly crossed the Denali to get out the side Nick had opened up. The door was still a bit too heavy for her to open on her own. Carly grabbed her pumpkin first and then her backpack and carefully hopped out of the car, making sure she didn't spill any candy.
Nick took his son straight upstairs to the nursery to put him back down for his mid-afternoon nap. He was a very good baby, and very rarely woke up when he had to be transported daily at 2:30 to pick Carly up from school. Nick set his youngest and only son in his crib and dropped a kiss to his forehead. Nolan yawned but didn't stir from his sleep, causing his father to smile. He watched his baby sleeping for a minute or so, and then closed the door and headed back downstairs.
Carly knew her afternoon routine, and was currently on the couch watching the one show she was allowed to see after school before getting to homework. She already had her feet up on the couch and set her hat on the coffee table.
"Carly, take off your boots please if you're gonna do that." He reminded her as he stepped into the kitchen to fix her a snack. Carly quickly complied, not taking her eyes off "That's So Raven."
The phone rang as Nick was preparing Carly some sliced apple to dip in peanut butter. He answered it, resting the phone between his shoulder and ear as he continued to slice the apple.
"Hey, Sar." He greeted his wife, having seen the caller ID.
"Hey." Nick could tell she wasn't calling with good news. That morning, she had been called into work quite early, and still hadn't be able to get home.
"Is Carly back home now?" She asked him as she looked at a huge table full of new evidence from a hot case they were working on.
"Mmmhmmm. I just picked her up." Nick told her, glancing at the said five year old entranced by Raven on the television. "Is something wrong?"
Sara sighed and rubbed at her forehead in frustration. "Well, I'm afraid I won't be able to take her trick-or-treating tonight like I promised." She informed him. "We're swamped with new evidence, Nick. They almost called you in, but I talked them out of it."
"Are you kidding me?" He asked her, as he chopped into the apple a little harder. "Oh, baby. I'm sorry. I know you really wanted to go."
"Yeah." She sighed, wanting nothing more than to take Carly house to house with her husband that night.
"You want me to tell her?" Nick asked quietly, looking back over at his daughter, who was about to reach into her pumpkin for some candy.
"No, I need to. I'll try to be home by eight, but I don't know if I can." She told him, shoving some evidence around on the table, sifting through it.
"Alright. She'll be fine, darlin'. Don't worry." Nick reassured her, knowing Sara felt awful. Carly had been looking forward to trick or treating with her parents even since the Halloween gear started appearing in stores in…August.
"Thanks, baby. I love you." Sara told him.
"Love you too." He told her as he started walking over to Carly with the phone and the apple slices. "Carly Nicole, drop that candy." Nick told her firmly.
Carly smiled innocently and put the Tootsie Roll back into her pumpkin.
"Here, it's momma." He told her, handing the phone over, and setting the plate down on the table. He also scooped the pumpkin back up to remove any temptation.
Carly put the phone up to her ear and greeted her mother. Nick listened in to her end of the conversation with Sara and could tell when she broke the news.
"But momma…" She whined a little tearfully. "You promised."
Carly was silent for a few moments while Sara likely offered her the standard 'Mommy has to catch some bad guys, which is a very important job' explanation.
The kindergartener offered her trademark angry grumble, like she did whenever Nick and Sara were trying to make her do something she didn't want to do.
"Yes, ma'am. I understand." She said a few moments later, reluctantly. "Love you too." She then put the phone to her shoulder and called to her father. "Daddy, she wants to talk to you again."
Nick walked over and took the phone again from his daughter, sitting down next to her.
"Eat your snack, baby." He told her before bringing the receiver to his ear again. "Hey, it's me."
"Does she hate me right now?" Sara asked him immediately, already feeling awful about missing one of Carly's favorite nights of the year.
Nick sighed and began stroking some of Carly's messy bangs back from her forehead. "She'll be fine. She can still go trick or treating with daddy." He told his wife, but also knowing Carly would hear it. Carly was a sweet girl, but she could be a powerful manipulator. She was really good at making you feel bad if you let her down.
Nick was reminded of that when she pushed his hand away and crawled to the other end of the couch and put a pillow over her head and grumbled loudly.
"If she changes her attitude." Nick added into the phone, after her little mini-tantrum. Carly peeked out from under the pillow and received a look from her father.
"We'll see you tonight, and we love you." Nick told his wife. "Bye."
Nick clicked the phone off and set it down on the coffee table. He watched his daughter for a few moments, still at the other end of the couch was a pillow over her head. He understood that she was really disappointed, but Sara felt so awful about having to miss the event.
"Carly, c'mere." He asked her, patting his leg for her to come sit in his lap. After a few moments, Carly removed the pillow from her head and crawled over to sit in her daddy's lap. Nick could see she had tears in her eyes.
He put his arms around her as she buried her face in his shirt and cried softly.
"Iwanmommatocometoo…" She told him almost incoherently as she cried.
"Ssshhh…." Nick cooed as he gently rubbed her back in comfort. "I know you do, sweetie. I want momma to come too, but we talked about this before, didn't we?" He reminded her.
Nick carefully extracted her face from his shirt so he could look at her in the eyes. Carly looked at him and rubbed at her teary eyes.
"What did we say, sweetie?" He prompted her.
Carly took in tearful breaths. "Th…that sometimes you and momma hafta go to work and you can't help it, and you hafta catch the bad guys."
"That's right." He kissed her forehead. "Now, I know momma promised to go trick or treating with you, but they need her at work. She would rather be here with you, and she feels really bad that she can't. Do you understand?"
Carly pawed more at her wet face, trying to calm herself.
"I guess so." She told him, but it was still hard for the five year old to understand. Carly didn't understand why they had to have HER mom and HER dad to catch the bad guys.
"Good girl." Nick told her. He suspected that coming down from a sugar high had something to do with her emotional response, and decided a nap was in order so she would be well-behaved at trick or treating. "Let's go lay down for a nap, darlin', so you'll have plenty of energy for trick or treating." Nick said, preparing himself for some protesting.
"Noooo…" She moaned as her father stood up with her in his arms. However, she rested her pigtailed head on one of his shoulders, her arms wrapped around his neck.
"Yeeees." He kind of teased back as he carried her towards the stairs. "I bet you'll feel better after a nap."
"I bet I'll feel better if I just eat more candy." She told him as he took her up the stairs to her bedroom. Nick chuckled at her answer, rubbing her back to settle her down.
"You'll have plenty of candy to eat later. Now it's nap time." He told her as he pushed her door open. Carly whimpered in protest but knew arguing wouldn't get her anywhere. Nick pulled back her Dora the Explorer covers and set his daughter down on the mattress.
"Binky." She requested. Nick sighed and handed Carly her tattered baby blanket that she refused to give up. It had large holes all over it, but it helped her calm down and go to sleep, apparently. He leaned down to kiss her foreheade as she settled in.
"Love you, sweetheart. Sleep tight."
Nick left the room moments later so Carly could get some well-needed rest. It would certainly be interesting to juggle a baby in a stroller and a kindergartener while trick or treating that night.
He stopped briefly in Nolan's room to check on the boy, who was still fast asleep. Finally, he headed downstairs and started a load of laundry just as the phone rang. Nick figured it was Sara, calling to make sure Carly was okay.
"Sar, she's doing fine." He answered, not bothering to check the caller ID.
Nick shook his head as the voice on the other end began talking, and it didn't belong to Sara.
"Yes, this is Nick Stokes." He told the man. Nick listened unbelievably to what the man was telling him, his mouth gaping. He had to lean against the counter to keep himself from keeling over.
"You have got to be kidding me. H…how did this happen?"
A/N: Hope you like it so far!! What is the crazy news….find out next time!