Disclaimer - I don't own CSI.
A/N: You guys are the best! The next chapter will, unfortunately, be the last. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it!
"Shit!" Catherine exclaimed as she casually looked at her watch. "I'm gonna be late for that bloody meeting."
I started laughing at her unladylike outburst, to which I received a glare in return.
"Remind me to pick up Olivia after I'm done," she smirked.
"You better not forget," I raised my eyebrows.
"I won't," she chuckled as she closed the door as she left.
I sighed. "Right then, off to bed," I said to myself, and tried to collect enough energy to move my legs.
I started shuffling along the carpet, in no real hurry. The house was deathly quiet. Ironic. It was just as well I was so tried, I wouldn't have been able to settle, with it not even being my house, and all. As I walked to my room I realised Liv wasn't gonna be there. She'd hadn't been gone long but I missed her so very much. I had just passed the bathroom and was 5 steps away from my bed, and sleep, when there was a soft knock at the door. I turned on my heels and walked back to the front door, thinking Catherine had forgot something, her key maybe.
"Oh, Nick," I stood there, pleasantly surprised.
"Sorry to disappoint," he smiled although I could barely tell, he had his nose buried in a huge bouquet of my favourite flower, Wild Daisies.
"What are those?" I asked.
"Oh, these? I found them here, on your doorstep," Nick lied. "I think they're Wild Daisies."
"Well, you'd best come in then and I'll put these in some water," I smiled, opened the door widen and carefully took the flowers from Nick's hands.
I walked to the kitchen and Nick followed. I found a nice vase in one of the cupboards and half filled it with water. I slowly placed the flowers into the vase, one by one, then placed it on the windowsill.
"Very nice," Nick nodded as he leaned over the counter.
"Thank you," I smiled. "If you've come to see Liv, she's not here. Cath took her to her mum's earlier so I could get some sleep. She'll be back later."
"Good job I've come to see you then," he smiled back.
"Oh, okay. I thought we should talk soon anyway. We need to sort out who's looking after Liv and when. I hope that's still what you want to do?" I asked.
"Yeah, of course. But that's not really why I'm here," he insisted.
"So why are you here?" I asked.
"To tell you I'm in love with you," he said calmly, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
"Excuse me?" I snapped.
"I'm in love with you," he repeated.
"No, no you're not. See, you're doing exactly what I knew you would," I protested.
"And what's that? What am I doing?"
"You're thinking that you love me, when actually you love Olivia. You're confusing your love for her as love for me, 'cause I gave birth to your child. And you just want to do the right thing. So you think coming round here and lying to me will make me tell you my true feelings, but it's not gonna work," I insisted.
"Wow, you've thought long and hard about this, huh?" he smiled. "I'm not lying to you. I love you. I have done since the moment our eyes met."
"Bullshit!" I exclaimed.
"Believe what you want, but that won't change how I feel about you. I love you," Nick shrugged.
"You think that you can just say it 20 times and it'll convince me?" I asked. "Well, it won't."
"I know you're scared. I am too. And I know Olivia has to be your main priority. She's mine too. But don't you just want to do something for you for a change? Break the rules?" he smirked.
"Nope. And don't use my own daughter against me," I argued.
"She's my daughter too, remember?" he questioned as he walked round and stood closer to me.
"How could I forget?" I asked sarcastically.
"I love you," he repeated again.
"Look me in the eye and say that," I insisted.
Nick looked my square in the eyes, his deep brown eyes twinkling as those 3 words rolled of his tongue, "I love you."
I couldn't control myself. I lunged forward, virtually landing in his lap, and kissed him. He kissed me back, unlike the first time we found ourselves in a situation like that. We we're suddenly in this very compromising situation. I separated my lips only to breathe those 4 simple words back, "I love you too."
Things were moving quickly, then again, we were used to it. I thought about pulling away from him, knowing Catherine would have had to come home eventually. But that moment of stopping had long gone. Nick lifted me up and carried me in the direction of my bedroom. Thank God Olivia wasn't there, things were about to get noisy.
Several hours later:
"You awake?" I asked as Nick and I lay on our backs, side by side.
"I haven't been to sleep," Nick smiled.
"No? Me neither," I sighed. "So much for sleeping while Liv wasn't here."
"Oh yeah, I forgot. It's your first day back when I've been working," he remembered. "The old team is back, hopefully for good."
"And hopefully we'll get to work together again, we made a pretty good team," I smiled.
"Yeah," Nick nodded. "Our baby making skills are second to none."
"You know what I meant," I glared. "We were a great crime solving team."
Nick turned his head and smirked. "I guess."
I was about to speak when the bedroom door opened.
"C'mon, sleepy head. Olivia wants her… mummy. Um… sorry," Catherine apologised before she closed the door again after seeing us at that rather awkward moment.
My heart was in my mouth. I could have sworn I was having some kind of panic attack. My mind was barely processing what had just happened when Nick burst our laughing.
"Shut up," I demanded, and thumped him on the arm as I sat up. "This isn't funny."
"Oh, it's a little funny," he smirked.
"Get dressed," I insisted as I slipped out of bed and threw some clothes on that had been conveniently distributed around the room. "Didn't you here her? My baby wants me."
"I want you," Nick smirked and sat up.
I glared as I left the room. I gulped down the lump in my throat as I walked down the hall. What was Cath gonna think? Did I seriously want to know? Probably not.
"Hey," I smiled sheepishly as I stood opposite her in the kitchen.
"Hello," she nodded, and bounced Olivia on her hip before passing her to me.
"Hey baby," I smiled. "Cath, I'm so sorry. I never meant for that to happen, it just did, and I'm…"
"It's okay. I'm happy for you two," she smiled.
"You are?"
She nodded. "So, is this gonna be a permanent thing?"
"Um…," I thought for a few seconds. Honestly, I didn't know. I didn't want to be optimistic either, made that mistake once already.
"Yeah, I think so," Nick answered for me as he walked in. "But only of you want it to be?"
"I do, want it to be," I smiled at him.
He smiled back. "Good."
"Just don't let me ever find you two like that again," Catherine raised her eyebrows.
Beginning of Grave shift:
Catherine and I left for work at different times. She went straight to work, probably to tell them all about my blossoming relationship, while I drove to Nick's house. We'd decided to go in together, knowing gossip spread like wild fire at the crime lab. We arrived at our place of work later than the others but still well within time. As we approached the break room Nick reached for my hand. I held on to it for dear life. I let out a breath I clearly didn't realise I was holding as Catherine copped sight of us.
"Look, look, here they come," Catherine said excitedly. "Everyone, act normal."
"That's gonna be hard for you," Warrick whispered.
Catherine gave him a glare as we walked in.
"Hey guys," Nick smiled, wondering if his friends would notice anything different.
"So it's true then?" Warrick asked. "Something has eventually happened between mummy and daddy?"
"What gave it away, Rick? The fact that we're holding hands, or this," Nick smirked before leaning in and kissing me on the lips.
"Argh, get a room you two," Greg insisted.
"Oh, they did," Catherine smirked playfully at me.
"Cath?" I snapped as my cheeks slowly started turning pink from embarrassment.
"Well, you did," she shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't want to hear it," Warrick protested and threw his hands up in the air.
Nick and I sat down quietly. Grissom wandered in to hand out assignments just minutes later. He smiled to me as he welcomed back 'the old team.' Catherine and I were then assigned a hit-and-run case. Warrick and Nick had a 419 in an elevator. And Greg and Grissom were left with a body in an alleyway. At first, I rolled my eyes at the case Grissom had given Catherine and I, but then when I heard what the rest of 'the old team' had to look forward to, I was suddenly over the moon to have a seemingly easy hit-and-run.
"I'll meet you outside in a minute," Nick told Warrick. "I have to do something first."
"Okay, man," Warrick nodded.
Nick walked threw a few different labs and turned several different corners before he arrived in the lab he was looking for, trace. Hodges had his back turned as he walked in but the sound of movement behind him made him turn face to face with Nick.
"Hey, Nick," Hodges gulped, remembering what he had said about Olivia. "Haven't seen you in a while. Were you off? Lucky you. Good to have you back though. And good to see Sara's back too."
"Yeah, I took a day off, needed a break," Nick smiled. "It's really good to see Sara back."
"You got anything that needs processing?" he asked.
"No," Nick shook his head.
"This is about what I said, isn't it?" he asked. "I'm really sorry Nick, I didn't mean anything by it."
"It's okay, man," Nick insisted. "All is forgiven."
"Thanks," Hodges sighed.
Nick took a step forward and whispered, "But, if you ever say anything like that about my daughter again, you're gonna wish you knew how to control that tongue of yours."
Hodges nodded quickly.
"We cool?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, we're cool," he nodded.
Thank you for reading. Hope you all enjoyed it, especially Nicky standing up for his baby! Review please.
