TITLE: Return of the Enigma
AUTHOR: Jess (Penname: Jessica-Rae Szmanda)
GENRE: CSI
SUMMARY: Nick's niece Norah comes BACK to Vegas. Her ultimate goal is to start her life back up with her new job, but something from her past gets in her way. Meanwhile, Lydia and Nick try to make their new marriage last. Sequel to STORY OF AN ENIGMA.
MAIN CHARACTERS: Nick Stokes, Norah Stokes, Greg Sanders, Lydia Bennett, Warrick Brown, Owen Smith
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My suggestion would be to read Story of an Enigma (STORY ID: 1184192) first, so you actually know what's going on. And reading my best friend's sibling story, The Truth behind the Paperdoll would help too. (STORY ID: 1351071) :) R&R.
Chapter One:
The Reunion
It had been 228 days since she'd seen Greg, 599 days since she'd seen any member of her family, 1461 days since she'd seen Las Vegas. Greg had been to New York to visit her on the day before New Year's Eve, but left again New Year's day. Newly wed Nick and Lydia come for Christmas the year before last with Norah's new cousin Abigail, who was almost two-years-old at the time. But Norah herself had not left New York since she came there 4 years ago exactly that day.
She hated New York. She hated wearing gloves in the winter. She hated it being charged 50¢ a minute to call Nick or Greg. She hated being 3 hours ahead of everyone on the western seaboard.
She had took her packed suitcases and said a good-bye to her roommate, Phoebe, and left to catch a taxi. The taxi cab driver, whose name, she found out, was Stanley, took her to the airport. She thanked him and handed him the $4.84 through the sliding glass window that separated them. After giving up her bags and going through the metal detectors, she was on her way back to Nevada.
She reviewed the four years at college as she settled into her seat. She remembered the memories of when her friends and family from Vegas had come to visit more than anything. Especially when Greg came to visit. Phoebe always asked about him after Norah got off the phone with him. She got a funny feeling in her stomach when she thought about him, it spread upward as her mouth curled into a smile. She couldn't wait to get back. She twirled the Promise Ring he had bought her around her finger and smiled.
She had called him about twice a week. She wished she could have called more often but she knew he didn't have that much money for collect calls either.
After about twenty minutes in the sky, Norah had fallen asleep. That, however, only lasted about a half-hour. She was too excited about seeing everyone again.
She had slipped on her headphones and started listening to some rock band's CD she had borrowed from Greg a few months before she'd left for New York. It was the only CD she really liked from his collection; the other ones were too hard rock for her.
Norah had disappeared into her own world until a stewardess dressed in a baby blue dress tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to take off her headphones because the plane was landing. She obeyed.
When the pilot said it was safe for the passengers to exit the plane, Norah rushed off with her carry-on baggage. She ran through the gate and into the airport to find Lydia and Nick with Baby Abby and Greg. Abby had grown so much from when Norah last saw her. She was wearing a pink sundress with her hair in pigtails on top of her head and was jumping around and holding a sign that read 'NORAH,' both of which, were Lydia's doings.
Norah slung her purple book bag over her shoulder and walked over to them. She was wearing green plaid pajama bottoms and a ratty T-shirt she got from playing baseball when she was in 7th grade. She knew how bad she got jet lag going to New York and figured she'd be sleeping for a couple of days after the trip and thought it would be easier if she just wore her pajamas there. Her hair was in pigtails which were low on her head and she wore a blue winter hat, even though it was August.
They all looked so different. It's scary how much people can change in only four years. Nick looked like he hadn't shaved in a day, Lydia looked as if she hadn't slept in a day, and Greg looked like he had been scolded all day, which was probably all true.
She jumped on Greg, hugging him tightly and wrapping her legs around him. Lydia and Nick smiled at each other. "I missed you so much," she almost whispered, her eyes closed.
"I missed you more." He smiled, holding her close for a while until Nick cleared his throat.
Norah jumped off of him and hugged Nick. "How are you?"
"Good, good." Nick smiled.
"Me too."
After Abby and Lydia both greeted Norah they decided they'd treat her to some lunch.
"It's up to Abby," Norah told the others, while looking at the toddler in her arms.
"Pizza!" Abby shouted.
Norah laughed. You could tell she was Nick's daughter. "Lydia! You feed your daughter pizza?" She gave a fake gasp, knowing how much of a heath- food freak Lydia was.
Greg snickered.
"Not me! Nick! Nick does!" Lydia tried to save herself.
Nick held his head high and nodded proudly. "She loves pizza."
Abby nodded with a wide smile on her face.
"Me too, Abby, me too." Norah smiled at her cousin.
After claiming Norah's bags they headed out to Greg's jeep and got in, Lydia, Nick and Abby in the back, Norah in the front seat with Greg in the driver's seat. He turned the key and started the engine. They drove to the nearest pizza place.
Norah got extremely tired while she was there, the jet lag really setting in. Before they got out of the car, Norah was asleep, her head against the window. She snored softly.
When Greg noticed she was asleep he suggested they just get it to go and eat it at Norah's place, while she slept. He hoped it wasn't too obvious he was really hungry.
Greg parked and Nick got out of the car and went inside. Lydia was looking for some coupons for the pizza while Greg looked for a good radio station. And Abby, being the little 3-year-old she was, wiggled herself out of her car seat, which was transported from Nick's car to Greg's, and climbed up into the front seat. She sat in Norah's lap and started poking her and playing with her hair and eyelids. Lydia looked up when she heard her giggling.
"Abigail Hope Stokes," she said firmly. "Let Norah sleep." She pulled Abby back into the back seat against her will as she pouted.
About a half-hour later, Nick returned with the pizza. Greg was hand banging to some alternative rock song, Norah had opened her eyes a bit, but was still leaning lazily against the window, and Lydia had given up on the coupon and was now stroking a sleeping Abby's head.
Nick got back into the car and Greg pulled away. He tried to avoid bumps because Norah was starting to fall asleep again. When they pulled into Norah's apartment complex parking lot, Greg pulled into an open spot and got out to help Norah out of the car and into the apartment. He opened the door carefully and gracefully scooped her up and shut the door with his butt.
Lydia followed them.
"Daddy! Do that to me!" Abby giggled, pointing to Greg who was holding Norah and struggling with the door.
Nick picked her up by the feet and shut the door with his hip. "Like this, Abby?"
The upside-down girl giggled more.
He turned her right side up again and put her on his shoulders. Ducking at the doorways, he followed the other three inside and upstairs to Norah's second-floor apartment.
Greg laid Norah on her bed after folding down the blankets. He tucked her in and kissed her forehead, leaving her to rest. He could smell the pepperoni pizza Lydia carried in through the thin walls of the apartment. He left his girlfriend rather quickly for the pizza that was sitting in the kitchen table.
Abby, Lydia, and Nick had already started without him. Greg sat across from Lydia on the stool at the island. He watched her dab her pizza with a napkin to get the grease off. He rolled his eyes and devoured his first piece. Abby lifted the pizza above her head and opened her mouth. The piece was about twice the length of her little arm. Nick was picking off the pepperoni and eating it while his head was turned to watch a baseball game on the television that sat about six feet away from him in the living room.
"Nick, cut up Abigail's pizza for her," Lydia said, her face twisted in a grimace as she threw the grease-filled napkin on the counter-top.
Nick nodded without ungluing his eyes from the TV screen.
"Nick!" Lydia shouted.
"What?" He shouted back.
"Are you listening to me?"
They started to scream back and forth.
Greg frowned and watched Abby struggle with her piece of pizza. "Come on Baby Abby, come into Cousin Norah's room with Uncle Greg." He picked up his plate with second and third pieces of pizza in one hand and grabbed a pizza sauce-stained Abby with the other. Greg carried both into his room and set Abby down next to Norah, who was now awake but could barely move her head.
"You aren't my uncle!" Abby giggled.
"Well, I am today. It's opposite day." Greg said, sitting next to Abby and looking at Norah. "How are you feeling, Nor?" Greg asked when he saw her eyes were open.
"A bit better," she yawned.
Abby, still struggling with her pizza, was now getting it all over Norah's sheets.
"Abby," Greg frowned after seeing the sauce all over Norah's bedding.
Norah didn't mind, though. She laughed. Abby watched her for a second and started to giggle too.
Greg noticed the fighting had stopped. "Better see who was just killed," he murmured, luckily, too softly for Abby to hear. He walked out the door and watched the too making-out on Norah's couch. "Oh, God." He shook his head.
After Abby, Nick, and Lydia left in Nick's car that had been parked some three spaces away and Greg helped change Norah's blankets, Greg and Norah laid in her bed talking about everything that had happened in those four years. Norah was still tired but was too glad about being home that she couldn't fall back asleep.
She was rather joyous about being at her apartment again. She basically gave it to Lydia until she was actually married. Her family didn't approve of Nick and her staying in the same house anymore than they liked the fact that she had slept with him in the first place. It was hers for five months, until Nick and her finally got hitched and she had Baby Abby the month after. They then used it for more or less their guest corridors, with Norah's consent of course. They had relatives, mostly from the Stokes family, visiting from the day after Abby was born up until she turned two- and-a-half. And they came from everywhere to see them and the baby, many from Texas. In return, they paid the rent for Norah, taking the money from the wedding gifts they got from their friends and families.
Norah had fallen asleep again as Greg replayed the very small wedding Norah was invited to, but didn't have the money to go to. She worked at a coffee shop to put herself though college. It paid a little bit more than the casino, but she didn't have the money to fly back to Las Vegas, buy a dress, AND a wedding present for them. Nick said she didn't have to buy a present but Norah couldn't find the time to get back anyway.
He frowned a bit and slid under the covers next to her. He started playing with her fingers in his, when he discovered something was missing. His ring. His heart started to beat faster as his eyes narrowed into a glare. He tightened his jaw and walked across the hall and into the bathroom.
He looked at himself in the mirror that covered the medicine cabinet above the white sink. 'Can you be any more gullible? She's obviously just using you,' his reflection told him. 'If she actually loved you, she would be wearing your ring.'
"There must be a reason why she's not wearing it," he said aloud.
'Duh, I just told you why.' The voice said inside his head.
Greg glared at the mirror and rubbed his eyes. They were filed with fury, his lips shut tightly. He walked out of the bathroom and didn't stop till he got to his car.
AUTHOR: Jess (Penname: Jessica-Rae Szmanda)
GENRE: CSI
SUMMARY: Nick's niece Norah comes BACK to Vegas. Her ultimate goal is to start her life back up with her new job, but something from her past gets in her way. Meanwhile, Lydia and Nick try to make their new marriage last. Sequel to STORY OF AN ENIGMA.
MAIN CHARACTERS: Nick Stokes, Norah Stokes, Greg Sanders, Lydia Bennett, Warrick Brown, Owen Smith
AUTHOR'S NOTE: My suggestion would be to read Story of an Enigma (STORY ID: 1184192) first, so you actually know what's going on. And reading my best friend's sibling story, The Truth behind the Paperdoll would help too. (STORY ID: 1351071) :) R&R.
Chapter One:
The Reunion
It had been 228 days since she'd seen Greg, 599 days since she'd seen any member of her family, 1461 days since she'd seen Las Vegas. Greg had been to New York to visit her on the day before New Year's Eve, but left again New Year's day. Newly wed Nick and Lydia come for Christmas the year before last with Norah's new cousin Abigail, who was almost two-years-old at the time. But Norah herself had not left New York since she came there 4 years ago exactly that day.
She hated New York. She hated wearing gloves in the winter. She hated it being charged 50¢ a minute to call Nick or Greg. She hated being 3 hours ahead of everyone on the western seaboard.
She had took her packed suitcases and said a good-bye to her roommate, Phoebe, and left to catch a taxi. The taxi cab driver, whose name, she found out, was Stanley, took her to the airport. She thanked him and handed him the $4.84 through the sliding glass window that separated them. After giving up her bags and going through the metal detectors, she was on her way back to Nevada.
She reviewed the four years at college as she settled into her seat. She remembered the memories of when her friends and family from Vegas had come to visit more than anything. Especially when Greg came to visit. Phoebe always asked about him after Norah got off the phone with him. She got a funny feeling in her stomach when she thought about him, it spread upward as her mouth curled into a smile. She couldn't wait to get back. She twirled the Promise Ring he had bought her around her finger and smiled.
She had called him about twice a week. She wished she could have called more often but she knew he didn't have that much money for collect calls either.
After about twenty minutes in the sky, Norah had fallen asleep. That, however, only lasted about a half-hour. She was too excited about seeing everyone again.
She had slipped on her headphones and started listening to some rock band's CD she had borrowed from Greg a few months before she'd left for New York. It was the only CD she really liked from his collection; the other ones were too hard rock for her.
Norah had disappeared into her own world until a stewardess dressed in a baby blue dress tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to take off her headphones because the plane was landing. She obeyed.
When the pilot said it was safe for the passengers to exit the plane, Norah rushed off with her carry-on baggage. She ran through the gate and into the airport to find Lydia and Nick with Baby Abby and Greg. Abby had grown so much from when Norah last saw her. She was wearing a pink sundress with her hair in pigtails on top of her head and was jumping around and holding a sign that read 'NORAH,' both of which, were Lydia's doings.
Norah slung her purple book bag over her shoulder and walked over to them. She was wearing green plaid pajama bottoms and a ratty T-shirt she got from playing baseball when she was in 7th grade. She knew how bad she got jet lag going to New York and figured she'd be sleeping for a couple of days after the trip and thought it would be easier if she just wore her pajamas there. Her hair was in pigtails which were low on her head and she wore a blue winter hat, even though it was August.
They all looked so different. It's scary how much people can change in only four years. Nick looked like he hadn't shaved in a day, Lydia looked as if she hadn't slept in a day, and Greg looked like he had been scolded all day, which was probably all true.
She jumped on Greg, hugging him tightly and wrapping her legs around him. Lydia and Nick smiled at each other. "I missed you so much," she almost whispered, her eyes closed.
"I missed you more." He smiled, holding her close for a while until Nick cleared his throat.
Norah jumped off of him and hugged Nick. "How are you?"
"Good, good." Nick smiled.
"Me too."
After Abby and Lydia both greeted Norah they decided they'd treat her to some lunch.
"It's up to Abby," Norah told the others, while looking at the toddler in her arms.
"Pizza!" Abby shouted.
Norah laughed. You could tell she was Nick's daughter. "Lydia! You feed your daughter pizza?" She gave a fake gasp, knowing how much of a heath- food freak Lydia was.
Greg snickered.
"Not me! Nick! Nick does!" Lydia tried to save herself.
Nick held his head high and nodded proudly. "She loves pizza."
Abby nodded with a wide smile on her face.
"Me too, Abby, me too." Norah smiled at her cousin.
After claiming Norah's bags they headed out to Greg's jeep and got in, Lydia, Nick and Abby in the back, Norah in the front seat with Greg in the driver's seat. He turned the key and started the engine. They drove to the nearest pizza place.
Norah got extremely tired while she was there, the jet lag really setting in. Before they got out of the car, Norah was asleep, her head against the window. She snored softly.
When Greg noticed she was asleep he suggested they just get it to go and eat it at Norah's place, while she slept. He hoped it wasn't too obvious he was really hungry.
Greg parked and Nick got out of the car and went inside. Lydia was looking for some coupons for the pizza while Greg looked for a good radio station. And Abby, being the little 3-year-old she was, wiggled herself out of her car seat, which was transported from Nick's car to Greg's, and climbed up into the front seat. She sat in Norah's lap and started poking her and playing with her hair and eyelids. Lydia looked up when she heard her giggling.
"Abigail Hope Stokes," she said firmly. "Let Norah sleep." She pulled Abby back into the back seat against her will as she pouted.
About a half-hour later, Nick returned with the pizza. Greg was hand banging to some alternative rock song, Norah had opened her eyes a bit, but was still leaning lazily against the window, and Lydia had given up on the coupon and was now stroking a sleeping Abby's head.
Nick got back into the car and Greg pulled away. He tried to avoid bumps because Norah was starting to fall asleep again. When they pulled into Norah's apartment complex parking lot, Greg pulled into an open spot and got out to help Norah out of the car and into the apartment. He opened the door carefully and gracefully scooped her up and shut the door with his butt.
Lydia followed them.
"Daddy! Do that to me!" Abby giggled, pointing to Greg who was holding Norah and struggling with the door.
Nick picked her up by the feet and shut the door with his hip. "Like this, Abby?"
The upside-down girl giggled more.
He turned her right side up again and put her on his shoulders. Ducking at the doorways, he followed the other three inside and upstairs to Norah's second-floor apartment.
Greg laid Norah on her bed after folding down the blankets. He tucked her in and kissed her forehead, leaving her to rest. He could smell the pepperoni pizza Lydia carried in through the thin walls of the apartment. He left his girlfriend rather quickly for the pizza that was sitting in the kitchen table.
Abby, Lydia, and Nick had already started without him. Greg sat across from Lydia on the stool at the island. He watched her dab her pizza with a napkin to get the grease off. He rolled his eyes and devoured his first piece. Abby lifted the pizza above her head and opened her mouth. The piece was about twice the length of her little arm. Nick was picking off the pepperoni and eating it while his head was turned to watch a baseball game on the television that sat about six feet away from him in the living room.
"Nick, cut up Abigail's pizza for her," Lydia said, her face twisted in a grimace as she threw the grease-filled napkin on the counter-top.
Nick nodded without ungluing his eyes from the TV screen.
"Nick!" Lydia shouted.
"What?" He shouted back.
"Are you listening to me?"
They started to scream back and forth.
Greg frowned and watched Abby struggle with her piece of pizza. "Come on Baby Abby, come into Cousin Norah's room with Uncle Greg." He picked up his plate with second and third pieces of pizza in one hand and grabbed a pizza sauce-stained Abby with the other. Greg carried both into his room and set Abby down next to Norah, who was now awake but could barely move her head.
"You aren't my uncle!" Abby giggled.
"Well, I am today. It's opposite day." Greg said, sitting next to Abby and looking at Norah. "How are you feeling, Nor?" Greg asked when he saw her eyes were open.
"A bit better," she yawned.
Abby, still struggling with her pizza, was now getting it all over Norah's sheets.
"Abby," Greg frowned after seeing the sauce all over Norah's bedding.
Norah didn't mind, though. She laughed. Abby watched her for a second and started to giggle too.
Greg noticed the fighting had stopped. "Better see who was just killed," he murmured, luckily, too softly for Abby to hear. He walked out the door and watched the too making-out on Norah's couch. "Oh, God." He shook his head.
After Abby, Nick, and Lydia left in Nick's car that had been parked some three spaces away and Greg helped change Norah's blankets, Greg and Norah laid in her bed talking about everything that had happened in those four years. Norah was still tired but was too glad about being home that she couldn't fall back asleep.
She was rather joyous about being at her apartment again. She basically gave it to Lydia until she was actually married. Her family didn't approve of Nick and her staying in the same house anymore than they liked the fact that she had slept with him in the first place. It was hers for five months, until Nick and her finally got hitched and she had Baby Abby the month after. They then used it for more or less their guest corridors, with Norah's consent of course. They had relatives, mostly from the Stokes family, visiting from the day after Abby was born up until she turned two- and-a-half. And they came from everywhere to see them and the baby, many from Texas. In return, they paid the rent for Norah, taking the money from the wedding gifts they got from their friends and families.
Norah had fallen asleep again as Greg replayed the very small wedding Norah was invited to, but didn't have the money to go to. She worked at a coffee shop to put herself though college. It paid a little bit more than the casino, but she didn't have the money to fly back to Las Vegas, buy a dress, AND a wedding present for them. Nick said she didn't have to buy a present but Norah couldn't find the time to get back anyway.
He frowned a bit and slid under the covers next to her. He started playing with her fingers in his, when he discovered something was missing. His ring. His heart started to beat faster as his eyes narrowed into a glare. He tightened his jaw and walked across the hall and into the bathroom.
He looked at himself in the mirror that covered the medicine cabinet above the white sink. 'Can you be any more gullible? She's obviously just using you,' his reflection told him. 'If she actually loved you, she would be wearing your ring.'
"There must be a reason why she's not wearing it," he said aloud.
'Duh, I just told you why.' The voice said inside his head.
Greg glared at the mirror and rubbed his eyes. They were filed with fury, his lips shut tightly. He walked out of the bathroom and didn't stop till he got to his car.