I don't own anything, except for the characters I make up. This first chapter may seem like it's moving really fast, but I promise it'll slow down. Hope you enjoy.
Nick Stokes stared up at the under-carriage of the car above him. He shined his flashlight everywhere he could as he looked for the fibers that Grissom had promised would be under here. But Nick was having no such looking finding said fibers. He sighed in frustration and kept on looking.
"What's the matter?" Warrick asked from somewhere above.
"Grissom lies." Nick said simply. He rolled out from under the old Mustang and got to his feet. "There's nothing under there but grease and oil. Why did he even think there would be anything down there in the first place?"
Warrick shrugged. "How should I know?" He walked past Nick and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm going to go get some coffee and take a break. You should consider doing the same."
"Good idea." Nick agreed. He peeled off his work gloves and dropped them on the bench before turning to follow Warrick. He stopped, however, when he heard his name echo over the loud speaker.
"Nick Stokes, you have a...visitor." Judy said from the front desk. Her voice suggested that she was somewhat confused and mildly amused. Warrick turned back and looked at Nick, who shrugged.
"I have no idea who it is." He said with a sigh. "This better be good to interfere with me taking a break.
Nick had no idea.
He walked through the halls of the crime lab until he got to the front desk and walked up to Judy. She simply pointed off to her left. Nick followed her finger with his eyes until they landed on a little kid sitting in one of the chairs up against the wall. The kid had dark hair, brown eyes and tanned skin. He was looking at everything around him, but finally noiced Nick had come into the room. He smiled shyly when he saw him.
If Nick had been holding anything, he would have dropped it at the sight of the kid that looked exactly like him. Except much, much younger. He slowly walked over to the little boy, who was still smiling at him. He came to a stop in front of him before crouching down so he was at eye level with his little clone.
"Hi." The little kid said cheerfully.
"Hi." Nick said, still in shock. "How did you get here buddy?" He asked.
"I took a cab."
Nick was surprised at that answer. "How old are you?"
The little kid held up both of his hands, five fingers up on one of them and three on the other. "I just turned eight last month. My name's Alex."
Nick nodded slowly. "Okay, Alex...why did you take a cab here?"
"My mommy told me to." He said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Who's your mom?" Nick asked.
"Her name's Stephanie Jacobs. She lived in Texas with me. But she didn't want me anymore because she said I was a pain in the ass and told me to come live with you because nobody else would want me."
Realization dawned on Nick as he figured out what was going on. "Holy sh-...oh man." He said. He ran his greasy hands through his dark hair, trying to think clearly.
"Why are you all dirty? You look like my mom's boyfriend when he gets home from work. He's a mechanic. I think." Alex said.
"I was looking for something on a car...but that's not important right now." Nick stood up and looked around, trying to think of what to do. "Come with me buddy." He said.
Alex jumped down from the chair and walked next to Nick down the halls. Everyone that saw them stopped what they were doing and stared at the sight before them. It wasn't everyday you got to see Nick Stokes walking around the crime lab with what had to be his son by the looks of it.
"Why is everyone staring at me?" Alex asked. He stopped in front of one of the labs and made a face at the tech inside. Hodges returned the gesture before going back to his work.
"Don't worry about them." Nick said, rolling his eyes at Hodges.
He lead Alex down a couple more hallways before they finally made it to the break room, occupied by Warrick and Catherine sitting at the table.Nick held the door open, and Alex walked inside with a smile on his face. He waved to Warrick and Catherine, who stared back open mouthed in shock. Nick followed and stood behind Alex with his hair a mess from running his hands through it so many times.
"Woah." Was all Warrick could say.
Catherine nodded in agreement. "Nick...who's this?" She asked.
Before Nick could respond, Alex reached into the pocket of his light blue jean shorts and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He turned around a held it up for Nick to take from him.
"Sorry, I forgot to give it to you before. It's from my mommy. She said to give it to you if I ever made it here." Alex said.
Nick took the paper and opened it. He read it quickly before sighing heavily and going over to sit down next to Warrick at the table. Alex followed, standing next to Nick and still smiling.
"This is Alex." Nick said, answering Catherine's question.
Alex waved again. "Hi." He said.
Warrick looked from Alex to Nick several times. "Why does he look like you?"
Nick sighed again. "Because he's my son." He said.
Warrick laughed, hoping that Nick was kidding. "Come on man...he can't be your son."
"Yes he can. He is." Nick looked down at Alex, who's smile faded a little.
"I know why." The eight-year-old said. "My mommy told me. She said that you met her at your brother's wedding and you guys slept in the same room then you left and she was by herself with me and then said it was your turn cuz she had enough of me."
Nick nodded in agreement with Alex's story. "Yeah, that's more or less what happened. When Colin got married...I went down to Texas for it and met Steph there and then...you get the idea. The note just told me where to get the papers from and everything. She wants nothing to do with him anymore."
Catherine, as well as Warrick, was having a hard time making sense of everything that just happened in a short amount of time. "You're gonna take him?" She asked, forgetting Alex was standing right there.
Alex answered for Nick. "You don't have to." He said, his smile completely gone. "My mommy said you wouldn't anyways. I'll be okay by myself though." He tried to walk away, but Nick reached out and grabbed him by his navy blue t-shirt and gently pulled him back to his previous spot.
Nick looked around at his friends, who were just as dumbfounded as he was. "I have to. I can't just send him back."
"I don't wanna go on a plane by myself again." Alex said with fear in his voice.
Nick turned to the little kid. "Your mom sent you up here on a plane, by yourself, and told you to find me?" Alex nodded. "And you did that all by yourself?"
"Yeah. It was easy. She told me you were a crime cop, so I had the taxi guy bring me here. He didn't even make me pay. He was really nice."
Nick shook his head slowly. "How could she just send him off by himself? He's only eight."
No one had an answer for that, so the room fell silent. Nick thought about what he should do, coming to the same conclusion everytime. He didn't care how crazy it sounded. He knew it was the right thing to do and that he had to do it.
"I don't have to go back, do I?" Alex asked, breaking the silence.
"Do you want to?" Nick asked him.
Alex shook his head. "No. Don't make. Please. I promise I'll be good. I won't do anything wrong I swear."
"You can stay here with me." Nick said. He saw Catherine and Warrick's shocked expressions out of the corner of his eye. He turned to them, saying, "I have no other choice guys. I can't leave him in a foster home. What if nobody takes him? I gotta do the right thing."
Catherine reached out and rested her hand on Nick's arm. "Just...think about it for a couple days before you make anything final, okay? It's a big decision."
Nick nodded. "I will. I gotta figure out how I'm gonna work everything out."
Alex hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on. His smile was back, and he looked up at Nick. His smile widened. "You look a lot like me ya know."
Nick smiled back at Alex and nodded in agreement. He looked down at the young kid and just knew that he had a responsibility to him that he had to accept. He had a new responsibility to Alex.
To his son.