Chapter 2: Baby Girl

- I don't own CSI or anything CSI related. Just a story from my head...

Nick pulled into his driveway and turned to look at Jules, who had her head firmly against the headrest. She turned to look at him without lifting it off the seat and said,

"We're home I take it?"

Nick smiled sweetly, secretly masking the pleasure he took in hearing her say "we're home", and he simply nodded. She turned away and stared straight ahead. She looked tired. Whatever it was she was holding in, whatever it was that Warrick stirred up, had gotten the best of her. He could see her usually strong demeanor had deteriorated.

Nick shut the engine, got out, and walked to her side of the truck. Together they walked to his front door. It was still dark out and Nick fumbled with his keys. Jules just waited patiently behind him in silence. As she stood in his living room she realized the awkward silence had followed them in.

Nick was the first to break that silence.

"What can I get ya? Are ya hungry? Do ya want a drink? Aww man, I guess we should've stopped at the diner first, huh?" he rambled his thoughts.

Jules was hardly listening because she was intensely scanning the room, looking at the many book lined shelves, the degrees and awards hanging on his walls, and noticing he had a few photographs on his desk and end tables. And, as she was looking around, she realized it was the first time she had ever been at Nick's house. She felt close to Nick and yet obviously she wasn't if she had never even been to his home. And oddly, she imagined his place would look like this. Even the unusual color he chose for his walls didn't surprise her; it suited him.

"Jules? Do you want to answer any of that?" He teased, after watching her blatantly and completely scoping out his place.

"Oh, no, no I was listening. I'm sorry. No, I'm fine. I'm glad we didn't stop anywhere," she told him.

Nick went into his kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed two beers anyway. He popped off both bottle caps and tossed them on the counter as he walked back into the living room, handing her one. She smiled at him as she took it.

"Thank you, Nick. Thank you for everything."

Nick responded with a sweet smile that only Nick Stokes could give.

The two of them sat on his couch for awhile casually drinking their beers and joking about the "Lab Rats" as they affectionately called them. Jules knew everyone there from Warrick and had an uncanny ability to imitate Hodges exactly. Nick started laughing as he told her about how he and Warrick snagged Hodges asleep with his head on the microscope. Jules shook her head, cracking up with laughter, declaring Hodges a complete screwball. Nick clinked his beer bottle on hers in agreement.

The awkward silence began to creep in again. Once again, Nick broke the silence.

"Ya know what, Darlin?" smacking his hand on her knee "I am gonna go grab you something to sleep in; do you need anything in particular?" he asked.

Jules shook her head and added a quick "Nope."

Nick walked to his bedroom wondering what he could get her to wear that would fit her small frame. As he rummaged through his dresser drawers he decided she could wear one of his t-shirts as a nightgown. When Nick returned to the living room he was carrying a t shirt. As she took it from him, she smiled at it…it was the same LVPD T-shirt that Warrick constantly leaves lying around on the floor of their laundry room. She has slept in them many times before…just not Nick's.

As Jules went off to the bathroom to change Nick grabbed another beer and then flopped back onto the couch draping his arm over his forehead. He felt like he knew her for a lifetime. From the first time he met her he was drawn to her; enamored by the way her eyes danced when she told a story and how her laugh was so infectious. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath letting it out slowly. He knew his best friend would not like the thoughts Nick had tumbling around in his head. Nick leaned his head back against the cushion and stared up at the ceiling remembering the night he went to Club Taboo with Catherine, Warrick and Greg. He and Catherine didn't even want to go but Greg and Warrick convinced them that they all needed to get out and relax for a change.

Nick closed his eyes again remembering that cute, little blond at the bar. A real beauty with thick, blond hair that cascaded over her shoulders. The few little freckles on her nose added to her charm. He could still see himself looking over at her while he ordered drinks for his table. Damn, she was hot. They started flirting immediately and idly chatted while he waited for his drinks. Then, when her cell phone rang, she excused herself but he could still faintly hear her tell a friend to come to the club because she had just gotten there. Nick's drinks arrived and he brought them back to his table hoping he could get back to the bar where she was as quickly as possible. Juggling a tray of beers and shots he was glad to see Warrick standing up next to the table thinking he could help him get the drinks on the table quickly. And that's when he saw Warrick pull his phone from his pocket and answer it. As Nick approached he could hear him loudly say,

"Baby Girl? Where are you? It's hard to hear you..you ok?"

Nick could hear that Warrick got an unexpected call from his sister which meant he wouldn't be helping him by grabbing the drinks. Nick knew Warrick always stopped everything when his sister called.

"Damn it, Rick, of all times," Nick mumbled unsure if that babe would still be at the bar when he got back.

For as long as Nick could remember, Warrick always stopped everything for his "Baby Girl". She was the little sister whom he adored. Nick didn't actually know her; she had moved to Jersey before Nick began his career at the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Warrick once revealed that she left to get away from a guy who was not right for her. Nick vividly remembered Warrick's fury when he spoke about the guy. He was enraged that this guy was trying to control her and Warrick had begun to suspect he had been pushing her around. Warrick once confided to Nick that if he ever got his hands on Jimmy Cole he would kill him. Warrick wouldn't discuss his sister too much because, while he knew it was for the best, it bothered him that she was gone. Nick always thought it was nice how much Warrick cared about his sister.

Pressing his cell phone to his ear, Warrick's sister must have told him something that made him turn around. But Nick became distracted because he saw that bubbly blond from the bar coming his way. She was walking toward him and he smirked with confidence. But she stopped and stood behind Warrick with a smirk of her own. As Warrick turned, Nick watched with disappointment as Warrick wrapped both his arms around her and lift her off the ground in excitement. Nick watched disappointingly as Rick kissed her forehead and buried his face in her neck. Nick remembered thinking "Damn, Warrick's got first dibs on his babe from the bar." But Nick's jaw dropped when he heard the words "Baby Girl" come out of his best friend's mouth. Was Warrick actually introducing this blond beauty to the table as his little sister? With all three of them stunned, Catherine, Greg, and Nick first stared at Warrick then stared back at her perplexed. Greg finally broke their silence with one sentence.

"Um, you're white."

Warrick shook his head and rolled his eyes at Greg, but without skipping a beat, the little beauty just smiled and answered Greg.

"Uh, yeah, we kinda get that a lot," she smiled, "Warrick caught a lucky break when his Gram adopted me," she laughed and her eyes sparkled as she looked over at Nick with a smirk of her own.

Warrick introduced her as his kid sister, Julianna Parker-Brown, adding that everyone calls her "Jules". She scooted into the circular, red bench at their table and…

"Nick?"

Jules startled him from his memories. He pulled his head up off the cushion and open his eyes. When he went to answer her, his words refused to leave his mouth. He just stared at her unable to speak. He just wasn't prepared to see how fucking sexy she looked with nothing but his T-shirt on. His eyes weren't even discrete as they cruised the unfamiliar territory. He swallowed hard when he saw that his shirt stopped just below her panties exposing the tan, slender legs of his best friend's sister…Jules Parker-Brown. She took his breath away. With an actual shake his head he raised his eyes back up to her face. He was relieved to find that she hadn't noticed his how rudely he was surveying her until he realized her face looked troubled. As he got up, he placed his beer bottle on the coffee table in front of him, and went over to her.

"What's the matter? You ok," he asked tilting his head unsure.

"I just wanted to say goodnight and to thank you again for giving up your bed. Nick, really, I don't mind sleeping on your couch."

"Not a chance, Darlin'."

She knew it was a waste of time to fight him on it. Nick was a pure bred Texan and he would never let a lady sleep on his couch when he could give her his bed. Without even realizing what she was doing, she leaned into him and hugged him tightly. She had no idea how welcome a surprise it was to Nick as he wrapped his arms completely around her. With her cheek next to his, and her arms around his neck she spoke softly.

"Thank you so much, Nick. You have no idea how much you've helped me. I feel so secure with you and if ever I needed to feel secure it's tonight."

He heard her voice crack so he pulled back and looked into her eyes. He could see them brimming over with tears.

"Then trust me, Jules. Let it out. I want to listen to you. I want to help you sort through whatever it is going on inside of you. I mean it."

Nick took her hand and together they walked back to the couch. She curled her legs up under her while tugging her shirt down over her knees. He sat facing her, draping his arm across the top of his couch.

"Do you trust me?" he asked sincerely.

"I do, Nick. I do trust you. I am not holding back because I don't want to tell you what Warrick told me; I'm holding back because," Jules paused and then began again, "I'm only holding back because I'm afraid that once I start to tell you I will cry, and once I start to cry I won't be able to stop."

She looked down embarrassed as to how hard she was taking Warrick's news. She was shocked really. She hadn't realized how painful it was. She thought she was over this many years ago. She quietly admitted to Nick how much she hated crying and she especially hated crying in front of anyone. Looking back up at him she smiled faintly knowing she already had.

And then, suddenly, Jules took her chances and started venting.

"Nick, she makes me so sick!" she began.

"Who?" he prodded.

"I don't even know what to call her. My…my..mother? I can't call her that!" she frowned.

Nick just waited for her to explain.

"Warrick told me she is in Vegas. She is here. She is here…in Vegas! How long has she been in Las Vegas? Years? Weeks? What?"

Nick knew it was one of her rhetorical questions again so he just tilted his head waiting.

"Apparently the woman is in the hospital and she has asked for me. She won't let up and she keeps calling Warrick with her sad story. She has the nerve? The nerve to want to see me? She actually wants me to go there to see HER? And Warrick thinks…..," Jules was rattling on until Nick shook his head not understanding.

"Wait, I don't," he stammered.

Jules realizes that Nick had no idea what she is talking about. It finally dawns on her that Nick only knew that Jules was adopted by Warrick's grandmother, beyond that he knew nothing. Jules paused and said,

"Oh, ok, sorry, let me explain…my mother, my real mother, Jolene, was a low life junky. She rented the unit next to Warrick and Grams. When I was 7 months old she decided she didn't want that life anymore. She thought it would be better to start a new one. She didn't want her home. She didn't want her job. She didn't want me!" Jules swallowed hard and waited a second before beginning again.

"So, all right, ok, sometimes that happens, right? Kids are put into foster care or given up for adoption all the time. Some are left with their grandmother for safe keeping, and sometimes, as horrible as it sounds, some kids are left at hospitals. I get that. But not this woman. That was not in the cards. She just left. She packed her things. She took everything worth taking…everything but the crib…she left behind the crib and she left behind what was in it. She just closed the door and actually locked it behind her."

Nick tried hard not to gasp.

"She never planned on telling anyone; she just left. She left me behind alone. Like I was an old couch that wouldn't match her new life."

Jules looked down at her hands again, fiddling with her nails, but this time Nick took her hands in his and held them. Jules looked up for a minute and continued her story.

"It was Warrick that heard a baby crying. At first he heard it in the afternoon when he was playing hide and seek with the downstairs tenant's kids. He told his grandmother about it but she didn't pay too much attention to it since babies cried all the time there."

Jules continued to share with Nick the details of how it was that she came to be a "Brown".

"Warrick thought he still heard that baby crying right before he fell asleep that night too, so he put his pillow over his head and went to sleep. But ,when he woke in the morning and still heard it, he climbed onto his fire escape and peeked into our unit. He saw everything empty. He saw it was completely vacant - except for a crib. A crib with a baby in it. Alone and crying."

Jules stopped again, fought back the lump in her thought and then continued, "So Warrick decided right then and there that he would have to break in somehow. He was 7 years old, Nick. He was 7 years old but he had more sense than my own pathetic mother. He knew what to do at age 7 what my own mother wouldn't! Once Warrick got himself inside that cold, dark and filthy apartment, he picked me up and took me to Grams. All I know is that I was hungry, dirty, scared…and Gram was the one who took care of me, just waiting until my mother came back. Gram was just so sure Jolene would come back for me. But days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months," Jules voice trembled and tears brimmed again.

"It's ok Darlin. I am listening. Tell me," Nick pressed and she continued.

"Warrick took me everywhere. I was his shadow. He never minded and I idolized him. He was my hero. And he cherish and protected me and he made sure I had everything including friends, which would have been difficult had it not been for him. A little blond, white girl in an all black community wasn't exactly a welcomed sight. But, they accepted me. I was "the baby girl" that was left behind and they all loved me more than my own mother, Nick. And after a few years, Grams knew my mother wouldn't ever come back for me and so she went ahead and made me her own. She didn't have the money or space for another kid but she made me her own anyway."

Nick intently listened and understanding now how she came to be Parker-Brown. Jules stared through Nick for a few seconds. Finally she muttered,

"That bitch did me a favor. Ya know, even if I close my eyes and try to remember anything about her, I can't. I don't know her and now…now….I just….I…but Warrick says…" and her tears fall furiously.

Nick pulls her close to his chest and whispers "I'm here, sweetheart. Get it all out."

As her head is on his shoulder she says, "Warrick tells me she is here in Vegas and he thinks I should go see her to make my peace, even if that means to tell her to 'fuck off'…but I cant seem to get it, Nick."

Jules picks her head up and looks at him. "How could Warrick WANT me to do that? I never go against him, Nick. He never asks much of me and I never go against him. But right now…right now, he is asking a hell of a lot from me and I don't know why! Nick, even the thought of seeing her, knowing how she left me like a piece of garbage, knowing if Warrick hadn't gotten me I would be just like those babies you guys find dead…" she didn't finish her sentence but she didn't have to.

Truthfully, it even sickened Nick at just the mere thought of what that woman did. Before Nick could even stop himself he reached out his hand and cradled her cheek in his palm. As his fingertips tangled themselves in her hair, he used his thumb to wipe a tear that had fallen. As if instinctively he used his other arm to scoop her towards him. She leaned forward and rested her head just below his shoulder. He smelled the scent of her hair and he just wanted to inhale her. He so badly wanted to hold her face in his hands and kiss her softly on her lips. He wanted to take away her pain and help her forget. He wanted to comfort her, hold her, and he desperately wanted to make love to her. Nick took a deep breath and silently asked himself if was he actually thinking these thoughts as she cries on his shoulder? "C'mon Nick", he thought, "what the hell is wrong with you?".

He really didn't mean to think about it. He just did. He felt secure with her too. He felt like he needed her as much as she needed him. He felt a pull toward her from day one and a closeness with her now that he had never really felt before, at least not in a very long time and never for someone he only knew for a few months. He couldn't help enjoying the feeling the softness of her hair against his face. He closed his eyes and traced his thumb along the small of her back. He was startled by the rise he was getting from just his thoughts. In order to stop it, he softly said,

"Come on, Darlin. You don't have to think about this anymore tonight. You need to just decompress. Just for now, let's get you into bed."

She agreed and stood up. Nick took her by her hand and walked her silently to his bedroom. He guided her to his bed and pulled back his down comforter to make it easier for her to get under. God how he wished he was joining her. Instead he said,

"Go to sleep for me, Jules. I'm not going anywhere. I will be here for you when you wake up."

As he turns to leave her she reaches out and grabs his arm. He turns to look at her. She stares back at him and her eyes plead with him not to leave her.

"Don't go yet, Nick. Just stay here with me."

Nick stares down at her and nods.

"I'll lie here with you, Darlin', and I promise you we will sort this out together in the morning. We will sort it out and you can make your own decisions. And whatever you choose, Jules…I will stand behind you."

He lifts the comforter and crawls under it encasing her in his arms. She snuggles down into the crook of his neck and he hopes she can't hear how loud his heart is beating. As he strokes her hair she is asleep within seconds. Nick watches her as she sleeps saddened at the thought of her being left alone. He is bewildered at how a woman could not only abandon her child but leave her to die . He knew only too well that had Warrick not found her when he did, she would have certainly been dead within a couple of days. It was no wonder why Warrick stopped everything for her. She was his rescue. And he was her Superman.

Nick closed his eyes and held her tight as she slept, as if to protect her from the horrors of her past. As Nick drifted off to sleep, he was enveloped with the desire to be her Superman too.