Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, the characters or the story. I do however, own my own ideas and characters.

Zai: Sorry for the shortness of the chapter. I hit a little wall in my writing, but I think I know where the next one is going, and hopefully it will be a little longer, and hopefully it will be written soon. Thanks for all the great reviews, my last few chapters have been getting a lot of reviews and I really do appreciate them.

"Hey Hayden." Nick said as he walked into his livingroom.

Hayden looked up from where he sat on the couch. "Hi, Nick." The boy's reply was so quiet, but Nick's heart soared. Hayden was finally starting to open up to him. He hated that he had to go back to work in two days, but he knew it had to happen.

He sat down on the sofa beside his son. "Remember how we talked about me having to go back to work soon?" He asked his son gently, the last couple of days he had been trying to prepare his son, as best he could, for his return to work.

Hayden nodded, still opting for non-verbal responses the majority of the time.

"Good," Nick said approvingly, "In a couple days I'll have to go to work and Carla is going to come look after you. I told you about her yesterday." Carla was a friend of Catherine's family. The young woman had been looking for a job like this for a while and had jumped at the chance. Yesterday, Catherine and Carla had both come over, while Hayden visited his grandmother. Nick had gotten a chance to get to know the woman, and with Catherine's help, he was getting over his fear of leaving Hayden with her.

"She is going to come over in a little while, just to get to know you a bit before I have to go to work." He explained. After all Hayden had been through in the last few weeks, Nick wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible.

Hayden said nothing, but Nick knew his son was listening. Nick shifted on the sofa so he was looking at Hayden, "Son," He stumbled over the word, but it was becoming easier and easier everyday, "I want you to know, I can't be with you all the time. I want to protect you from everything and never let you go, but it just doesn't work that way. When I'm at work Carla will watch you, and occasionally maybe someone else, and in a few years you'll be in school. . ." He swallowed nervously, this was so damn hard. "I need you to promise me something. Promise me, that you'll tell me right away if anyone ever hurts you. No matter what they say, I'll always be here for you. Okay? Can you promise me that Hayden?"

He son looked up at him quietly, he knew his son did not really understand all he was talking about, but he just needed to say this. Hayden seemed to sense the desperation in his father so he nodded, "Okay, I promise." He said quietly.

About half an hour later Carla arrived. Hayden was his usual quiet self, but he allowed Carla to sit in the living room with him and watch tv. He listened as she talked, and though he offered no verbal response, he nodded or shook his head in response to her questions. From where he was watching in the doorway, Nick could not help but smile when Hayden giggled at something Carla said.

He felt amazingly relieved that he had found Carla to look after Hayden, he still felt some worry, but he knew that it would go away with time. He was so grateful to Catherine for helping him find a nanny in time to return to work.

0-0-0-0-0

Normally he would have found it hard to sleep during the day after two weeks of sleeping at night like the rest of the world. But Nick decided that the lack of sleep must have caught up with him, judging by the way he had just slept.

Although Hayden was getting better, he still had nightmares some nights and Nick always stayed up with him until he fell back asleep. He was a little worried about Hayden having a nightmare while he was at work, but he knew there was nothing he could do about that.

He also knew that he had needed to have this little nap before he went to work tonight or he would not make it through his shift. He had explained to Hayden he was napping and had left his son playing with his toy trucks in the living room with instructions to wake him if needed.

He headed out to the living room now to check on his son. He smiled when he saw his son, curled up on the couch sound asleep. Quietly he headed into the kitchen to start dinner, he would wake Hayden up when it was ready, he just could not bring himself to disturb the child now. He looked so sweet and peaceful.

Far too soon, Nick found the evening sliding past. He put Hayden to bed around eight thirty, but as not surprised when his son wandered back into the living room less than an hour later. He had guessed that sleeping half the afternoon would make Hayden stay up a little but later.

A little later Carla arrived, and Nick asked her to try to put Hayden back to bed after he left for work. And then he headed out the door into the Vegas night to head back to work. The drive was quiet, and Nick realized how little time he had had just to himself since finding out he was a father. He missed it a little, but oddly, not as much as he thought he would. Being around Hayden just seemed so much more important than anything he had ever done in his life.

He pulled into the parking lot at the crime lab seconds after Warrick. "Hey." He called getting out of his car.

Warrick looked over at the sound of his greeting. 'Hey man." He called coming over. "It's good to have you back. How's the kid adjusting?"

"Hayden's doing great, considering." Nick replied as the two friends walked in together.

"I was thinking of coming over sometime, but I didn't want to spring anything on him you know?" Warrick said.

"Yeah, thanks for thinking 'bout it. He's doing better now, but he's still real shy." Nick explained. He did want his friends to meet his son, and he knew they would in time. He was glad they had all decided to give him space during his two weeks.

The rest of the night past in a blur for Nick. He was amazed at how easily he forgot how busy they always were. The team was glad to have him back, although the joked it was more because they were tired of being short staffed than out of actually wanting him back. Nick found himself startled at how much he actually missed them after only two weeks.

He found himself even more startled to realize how much he missed Hayden after just eight hours. He could not wait to get home.