Chapter Twenty One: Family

"Nicholas Stokes, your adoption of Willa Maria Harper is hereby complete, legal and binding. So witnessed by me, Judge Harmony Reiner, of the family court in Las Vegas." She smiled at him, once he had signed the paperwork. "Congratulations, Nick! Diana here will introduce you to your new daughter." She indicated towards the woman sat beside him, holding Willa in her arms.

The social worker smiled at him, carefully handing over his baby girl to him. "Meet your Daddy, little one."

Nick looked down at the little girl in his arms, not sure what he was feeling. Over the past couple of months of taking care of her, she already felt as though she was his, now it was finally legal. Standing Willa on his legs, Nick looked into her eyes a moment, before he touched his lips to her cheek. He closed his eyes as he clutched her against his chest, not even sure why he started to cry.

He loaded her into his car, loosening the tie around his neck as he climbed into the front seat. He smiled as he looked at himself in the rear view mirror, seeing the sight of his puffy eyes. "I hope you know what you've got yourself in for." He looked round at Willa. "Greg's always callin' me a big softie . . . and he's right." He wiped his eyes. "He's right about a lot of things." He laughed at himself, feeling his tears starting to flow again.

Willa wildly kicked her legs in her seat, making soft gurgling sounds as she reached her hand out towards Nick. "Da-da."

Nick wiped the tears from his eyes, reaching through the seats to un-strap her. He lifted her through the seats, holding her tightly against his chest. Willa rested her head against his shoulder, sucking her little fingers into her mouth. He smiled at her, placing his hands protectively over her back. "That's right, baby girl. I'm your Daddy. I'm your Daddy." He repeated it, clarifying it more for himself then he was for her.

A few minutes later, Nick strapped her back into her seat, driving them both off home to start setting up for her first birthday party. He looked at the street surprised as he saw some familiar cars, figuring that some of the party guests had arrived early.

After parking his truck in the driveway, he climbed out the car, lifting his daughter out from her seat. She was wide awake after her short nap earlier, so she wouldn't need another one before her party started. He remembered to grab her diaper bag from the car, before he locked it up, making his way towards the front door.

"Congratulations!" Everyone cheered, jumping out from their hiding places in Nick's house. He gave them all a wide smile, recognising all of their faces as his closest friends and a few of his sisters, who had decided to fly over. While he was at the court house, they had decorated the front room of his house with streamers, balloons and a few large banners.

The most noticeable one was marked, 'Congratulations, Daddy!' in his children's handwriting. He looked around the room, spotting another that read 'Happy First Birthday', obviously for Willa.

"Congratulations, Nicky." Catherine pulled him into the first hug, pecking a kiss to his cheek. His sister Gwen was next, playfully ruffling her hand through her baby brother's hair, before she took Willa off his hands, welcoming her into their family.

"Daddy, Bradley and me made the banner!" Tayla pointed it out to him, in case he had missed it.

"I know, sweetie, it's perfect." He lifted her into his arms, receiving more hugs from his sister Kayla, Mandy from the lab and Tayla's Aunt Angela, before he reached a more familiar face. "Hey Sara, no twins tonight?"

"Not yet. Gil and his mother are bringing them over after their nap. They'll get really fussy otherwise, but I wanted to come here and congratulate you." She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "So, it's official. You're really a Daddy to another little girl."

"Yeah." He nodded, smiling as he watched his sister showing off Willa to the party guests. "I'm glad you're here, Sara."

"I know someone else who woulda loved to have been here for you." Pulling back from him, Sara looked into his puppy dog eyes, realising he knew who she meant, just from the lost look in his eyes. "You could call him, you know. Greg would drop everything for you."

"I know, but I don't wonna ruin his holiday." Setting Tayla on the ground, Nick watched her skipping through the crowd of people in his front room, towards her brother sat on the sofa. "I don't need him here with you lot around anyway." He smiled at her, wishing they would stop reminding him that he was gone. As Sara gave him another hug, he caught sight of Warrick lingering around the kitchen, with a guilty expression on his face. They hadn't spoken to each other since the locker room, so Nick was surprised that he would even come here.

Nick greeted the other guests, before he stepped outside with Warrick, seeing the man's nervousness while he was around him. "Why'd you kiss me?" He demanded to know.

Warrick shrugged. "It seemed like the right thing to do at the time." He gave his friend a nervous smile. "Greg... he somehow got it into his head that I had a crush on you. But I don't." He quickly defended himself. "When I kissed you the other day, I didn't feel anything. I do love you, Nicky... but not like that. I love you like a brother, which is what I was telling Greg all along, but he must have felt threatened or something."

"You kissed me because of somethin' Greg said?" Nick looked at him confused.

"That... and I saw how lonely and hurt you were. I didn't even know what I was doing at the time." He laughed at himself, rolling his eyes. "Man, I can't believe I kissed you. It feels as though somebody else was controlling me when I did it. I've felt terrible about it since. I feel as though I've broken Greg's trust and committed some terrible sin by kissing my brother. But I'm not attracted to you or anything like that... I don't know what the hell I was doing. I think it was more to do with the fact you said that you were leaving... then me liking you like that. You're practically my brother and the thought of never seeing you again, it scared me a little."

Nick smiled at him, awkwardly stuffing his hands into his pockets. "I have to say I'm kinda relieved. I've never had a guy... do that to me before."

"Kiss you?"

"Overpower me." Nick corrected him. "It didn't feel safe like it does with Greg. And I was avoidin' you, tryin' to think up a way to let you down easy. I'm still in love with Greg. I don't think I'll ever stop."

"Good to know." Warrick gave out a small sigh of relief. "So eh... should we just forget it ever happened? Go back to drinking beers and exchanging fake stories about the women you've dated?" He smirked. "And you really shouldn't be scared of me. I have absolutely no desire to... overpower you like that again." He assured him. "Friends?" He hesitantly reached his hand out towards Nick, feeling like a kid on the playground again.

"Yeah." Nick nodded, placing his hand in Warrick's. "And if you always kiss like that, it's no wonder you can't keep a date."

"Me? You're the one who drooled all over my chin. Greg must have to wear a bib when he's kissing you."

"You caught me off guard." Nick laughed with Warrick, glad they could joke about this. "Just don't go kissin' me again." He warned him. "You never... you didn't kiss Greg, did you?"

"No way, bro." He assured him. "I wouldn't do that to you, and I don't think that I'm exactly gay. As much as I love you as a brother, I like chicks that little bit more. I mean, a lot more. Curvy women are my thing, not strapping guys like yourself . . . no offense."

"None taken." Nick laughed, pulling open the door for him. "You wonna beer?"

"Definitely." He nodded, following him into the house to get back to the party.

Nick grabbed them some beers from the fridge, before he was pulled away from the kitchen by Gwen and Catherine, towards the dining room. The girls had set up two cakes on the table, one for Willa with one candle on it, marked 'Happy Birthday' and another for him, with pictures of his three children on it in cake icing.

"Wow, who made this?" He pointed to the cake, spotting a familiar face in the crowd. "Mrs Sanders?"

"Oh please, call me Jean." She stepped forwards. "I think we're past the formalities now. Greg told me about your very romantic... proposal." She whispered. "And your sister Gwen invited me over for your daughter's first birthday party."

"Gwen did?" Nick looked round at her surprised.

"I hope that's alright with you." Jean spoke softly, before she pointed out the cake she had made. "When they told me that your adoption of Willa was going through today, I just had to make you something special. Greg sends his love, he'd be here for you if he could, but he's travelling the world. He always wanted to do that when he left college, but his father found him a job right away, so he never got around to doing it."

"Did he tell you where?" Nick curiously asked her, holding his arms out for Willa as Samantha handed her over. "I'm not gonna go lookin' for him or anythin', I just wonna know that he's okay."

"He's fine, sweetheart." She assured her future son in law. "I don't think anything will keep that boy away from you for too long. You're all he's ever talked about on the phone." She took a step back as Nick's sisters lit the candles on the cake, starting to sing happy birthday to his one year old daughter.

Nick clutched the little girl tightly against his side, starting to feel his tears coming on again. He blew out the candles for each of the cakes, letting Jean have her first hold of Willa, while he stepped outside. He looked up the clouds in the sky, wondering if Greg was looking at the same ones somewhere else.

A few minutes later, the back door opened and Catherine stepped out. She dropped into the seat beside him, giving him a suspicious look. "What?" He snapped, as she continued to stare at him. "I smoothed things over with Warrick if that's what you're here for. He's not interested in guys, or me. So he's wide open to you."

"I'm not worried about Warrick, he's not the one making rash decisions out of the blue." Catherine set her drink on the table, clasping her hands together in her lap. "You're suffocating with the pressure here, Nicky. You're trying to do right by your kids, making promises to them that you can't keep. Like moving out to Arizona with this woman that you barely know."

"I'm not movin' for her." Nick stopped her there. "I'm movin' for my son."

"Nicky, you've gotta stop letting people walk all over you like this. You live here." She pointed into the house towards all of his friends. "You leave Las Vegas; you leave all of this behind. You're gonna be on your own, trying to raise these three kids in a city that you don't know, just because this woman that you barely know, wants to move her son out there for her career."

Nick looked down his hands, feeling them shaking in his lap. "I'm not goin' for her."

"Give me one good reason why you're going, and don't say Bradley. I know he needs you, but you can share custody. Samantha's had him for the past thirteen years of his life, no court is gonna deny your right to parent him for the rest of his life." Catherine explained to him, hopping one seat over to perch herself on the edge of his own. "Greg left to get you to do things on your own, make decisions for yourself on what's best for your children, but you've just found someone else to lean on."

"I'm not leanin' on her." Nick shook his head, trying to think of a good reason, but his eyes were starting to water again. "This move will be good for us, the girls too."

"How? You're moving them away from their last memories of their mother." She tried to get through to him. "You can't all move for the sake of this woman's career. There's social service agencies all over Las Vegas, why can't she get a job here?"

"I promised Bradley that..."

"Bradley can live with you." She interrupted him. "If you ask me, the only person being selfish here is Samantha. It's like she's planned it this way on purpose. A pampered little princess. That's what she is." Catherine made her conclusion about her, even though she didn't know her that well. "Do you really want Greg to come back and find out that he left you for six months for nothing? Do you know how hard it was for him to leave you?"

Nick nodded, raising his hand to his eyes to wipe away his tears. "Yeah, it was even harder for me to let him go."

"So, why are you planning to move away with this woman? You slept with her once in college, you don't owe her anything and you don't know anything about her, not really." She pointed out to him, realising that Samantha must have easily manipulated Nick in his weakened state. She started to hate the woman even more for doing this to him, wishing she knew what she looked like, so she could give her a piece of her mind. "You have your whole life here, Nicky." She pointed his attention back to the party inside. "Your friends, your family... we're all here. Why would you want to move away from that? You moved from Texas to here because you had nothing, now you have everything, and you're giving it up for some... bimbo career woman."

"She's not a bimbo." Nick chuckled softly, sniffling back his tears.

"Then you are." She playfully ruffled her hand through his hair. "You're certainly acting like one at the moment." She reached for her purse, retrieving him a Kleenex from inside. While he was drying his eyes, Catherine gently placed her hand on his shoulder, hoping she wasn't the one who had upset him, but she knew that he needed to hear it. "Please tell me that you're reconsidering. If you make one plan to move away with this woman... I'm gonna, lock you up for insanity."

Nick chuckled again, wiping the back of his hand across his cheek. "I know." He looked round at his house full of the people he loved. "I don't know what I'm doin'." His voice broke with emotion.

Catherine gently wrapped both arms around him, holding him close as he really started to cry this time. "It's okay." She whispered softly, smoothing her hands across his broad back. "Oh Nicky, you're gonna have me in tears too at this rate." She felt the tears stinging beneath her eyelids. "Greg always said you were a big softie at heart."

Nick laughed into her shoulder, pulling back so he wouldn't drip his tears onto her clothes. "Don't talk about Greg." He tried to gulp back his emotions, but there was no stopping them now. "It makes me cry even more when I think about him, talkin' about him is even harder."

"Jeez, he's not dead Nicky. He's just gone away for a little while on a short vacation." Catherine handed him another Kleenex. "If you need him so badly, why don't you just call him?" She suggested, lifting his shaky hand into her own. "This is where having a fiancé really comes in handy." She smiled at him.

"He called yesterday. I told him about the custody case and Willa's first birthday party. We talked for two hours, before either of us even realised the time. I always feel like a teenager around him." He leant back in his seat, looking up at the sky above him for the longest moment. "So you don't think that me movin' away is such a good idea?" He finally asked her, looking towards her sat by his hip.

"A horrible one, just like dipping your eyeballs in hydrochloric acid." Catherine nodded. "You can't seriously think that it's going to make everything easier for you, or anything for that matter. If you really want to make things better for your kids, then find a new place here. Somewhere that you can all start fresh, within Las Vegas city limits." She quickly warned him, catching a smile spreading across his lips. "You have plans for your future, Nicky. You're gonna get married. You're raising your son and your two little girls. You have a great career ahead of you. This woman lost everything in Texas; maybe she saw an opportunity to knock someone else down a peg."

"Samantha isn't like that." He shook his head, sitting up straight again. "I know that I haven't exactly known her that long, but she's... she's always been like a sister to me, and she's the mother of my son. Why would she wonna knock me down a peg, when she was the one who practically forced me out the door to see Greg before he left?"

Catherine gave him a shrug. "People can be cruel. Our jobs have taught us that, even our lives. Remember the pink rock chick who left Lindsey in the car to die? Or sweet innocent Molly, who tried to blackmail Greg into marrying her with rape charges?" She reminded him. "If there's one thing that life has taught me, it's that you can't trust anybody until they've earned your trust. You may have known this Samantha from thirteen years ago when you knocked her up, but you don't really know anything else about her. The woman was married to a man who..."

"Don't say it." Nick cut her off, starting to wish he had never told her the details.

"Even you Nicky, you know a little something about not trusting strangers." She reminded him of his unfortunate incident as a child, making him wish he had never told her anything secret from his life. "If you move out there to Arizona, you're putting all of your trust in Samantha."

"I won't move then." He suggested, leaning back in his chair again. "I never made any official plans, it was just a thought that I had."

"A very dumb one." His long time friend grinned at him. "You shouldn't be planning a huge move like this anyway; you should be planning your wedding or finding a house that's big enough for your new family."

"When I was a teenager," Nick leant forwards, looking her in the eyes. "I couldn't wait to grow up and have a family of my own, but now that I do, I don't feel old enough or mature enough to handle it. I'm thirty five, so I should be ready, but this isn't just a day dream, they're real kids and Greg's a real person. I feel like I'm gonna screw it up and lose everythin'."

"That's not going to happen." She lifted his hands into own. "You're not gonna screw it up, and there's no way that you're ever going to lose Greg. You should stop worrying. Given the circumstances, you're doing great. If I was your mother, which I'm not because I'm nowhere near..."

"Not even close." Nick complimented her.

"Thank you, but... if I were your mother, I'd be proud of you, Nicky. Very proud. And no offense intended here, but your mother's an idiot for pushing you away. After listening to your sisters' stories of their cheating husbands and their screwed up kids, I think you're the most capable of them all." She smiled at him. "Your parents shouldn't be pushing you away. You're the best they've got."

The Texan flashed her his sunniest smile, feeling his emotions starting to change to a much happier balance, rather than the unstable one he was experiencing earlier. He looked towards the back door as it opened, smiling towards his little girl. "Hey, sweetie. You finished your cake already?" He noticed the smears of pink icing around her mouth.

"Uh huh," She stepped out the door with two plates of cake, handing one to her Aunt Catherine and the other to her father. "Mrs Sanders said I should give you a piece, before Uncle Warrick eats it all up." She pulled herself up onto her father's lap, reclining back against his chest. "Why do you and Aunt Catherine look like you've been crying?" She curiously looked between them.

"Your Daddy just can't believe that his little girl's turned one already." Catherine covered for him, gently patting the man on the knee. "So Tayla, how do you feel about finally living with your Daddy, with your brother and sister around you?"

"I love it." She titled her head back against her father's shoulder. "Daddy said that Greg will be living with us soon too, but we need a bigger house, because Daddy's still sleeping on the sofa, while Samantha is in his room."

Catherine nodded to her, relieved to hear that Samantha and Nick weren't sharing the same room. "I'm gonna go and get some more of that champagne." She climbed to her feet, leaving the two of them alone. "And Nicky, you should listen to your daughter, she knows what she's talking about."

Nick smiled at her, watching her stepping back into the house. Once she was gone, he wrapped his arms around Tayla, clutching her tightly against his chest. "You really want Greg to live with us?" He asked her, resting his chin on her head. "Because he doesn't have to, if you don't..."

"Yes." Tayla interrupted him, tilting her head back against him. She watched him taking his first mouthful of Willa's birthday cake, before she asked, "Daddy, if you and Greg get married, does that make him my Daddy too?"

"I guess so." He looked down into her eyes. "Would that be okay?" He brushed his thumb across her lower lip, wiping away the pink icing from her mouth. "You don't have to call him Daddy if you don't want to. I'm sure he'd be fine with you just callin' him, Greg."

"Daddy, Bradley said we're moving to Phoenix. Is that true?" She gave him an accusing look. "If we do, how will Greg find us?"

"No, it's not true, baby. We're not movin'." He shook his head, setting his cake down on the table beside him. He turned her on his lap so she was facing him, looking her in the eye to explain. "We're not movin' anywhere, except maybe a new house somewhere here in Las Vegas. Samantha is movin' to Phoenix for her new job, but we're stayin' put. Bradley too." He assured her, pecking a kiss to the side of her head. "You have nothin' to worry about. We're goin' to stay together from now on. All of us."

"Do you promise?"

Nick gave her a nod, knowing that was a promise he could keep. "I promise. We're goin' to be a real family from now on." He lifted her as he climbed to his feet, perching her on his hip as he made his way back into the house. As he looked around the room at the artificial family he had made here, he couldn't believe he was considering giving them all up and moving away. "Sam," He caught her attention, setting Tayla down. "Can I talk to you a minute?"

"Uh..." She looked at the serious expression on his face, giving him a nod. "Sure." She pointed him towards his quiet bedroom away from the party, closing the door once they were both inside. "Whatsup?"

"We're not movin' to Phoenix with you." He told her straight up. "My family is here in Vegas, I can't just leave them."

"Okay, fine." Samantha nodded. "We'll have to sort out some agreement. Maybe Bradley could come over to you every holiday."

Nick shook his head. "When I say that we're not movin', I mean none of us are. Not me, Bradley, Tayla or Willa. We're all stayin' here. You can't take my son away from me. You don't even have a proper place to live, and you've never had a fulltime job. If you're that desperate for a fresh start, why don't you try it here?"

"You're not goin' to let me take Bradley with me?"

Nick rolled his eyes at her, realising that was all she heard. "You can't hold onto him like a possession for the rest of your life. He's your son. If you're that lonely, get a dog or somethin'. He needs some kinda stability, not to be carted round like some possession so you don't feel so lonely. He's stayin' here with me."

"I'm his mother!"

"I'm his father!" He shouted back at her. "I can put his needs before my own, and he's stayin' here. He needs some kind of stability. I mean... how could you not know, Samantha?" He gave her an accusing look. "There's warnin' signs for this kinda stuff all the time."

"So you're blamin' me now?"

"No, I just think that you two need some space. After I..." He dropped back onto the edge of his bed, looking up at Samantha as he admitted, "I was nine years old when I was molested by my babysitter. I never told my parents... not anybody. I started to blame what happened to me on my mother for leavin' me, and our relationship suffered for it."

"You're sayin' that Bradley blames me?"

"Look at it from a child's perspective, Sam. You're the one who brought Gary into the house, you left him alone with him, and for all Bradley knows, you knew exactly what was happenin' to him and you never did anythin' to stop it. Children see their parents as Gods. They believe that we can do anythin', know everythin' and can protect them from everythin' too. When you failed to do that for him, he immediately wanted me." He pointed out to her, looking at the tears in her eyes. "He doesn't want me to leave him alone with you, because he's scared that you're goin' to let it happen to him again. I know that it wasn't your fault, but Bradley's just a child. He can't see it like that. He's gonna need a little time to adjust back to normalcy."

"You've talked to Bradley and this is what he wants then?" She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. "You weren't exactly there for him either, Nick. Did you ever stop and think that he might blame you too?"

"I blame me." He climbed to his feet. "But pointin' fingers at everyone who was involved, isn't goin' to help our son. From the way he reacted when you told him that you were takin' him away from me, I think I know exactly how he feels about the move. And I'm pretty sure that his therapist wouldn't think it was a good idea either."

"You can't stop me from takin' him, Nick." She made her way towards the door. "We're leavin' at the end of the week. You can't do anythin' about it, because you can't accuse me of kidnappin' my own son."

"Yes, I can." He forced his hand on the door, stopping her from opening it. "The courts might just find you as an unfit mother, but I'm providin' him with stability. They're not gonna let you take him away from me." He gave out a sigh, quickly changing his tune to try and reason with her, so no one would overhear them arguing. "Samantha, we don't have to put Bradley through the court system, we can just work this out between us. You've already had sole custody for the first thirteen years of his life. I'm not goin' to take him away from you, that's the last thing I want to do."

Samantha wiped her eyes, starting to actually listen to what he was trying to say. "What am I supposed to do without Bradley?"

"This is exactly what I mean about the possession thing, Sam. You're his mother, but he's not extra luggage that you can take with you anywhere you want. You can still leave in a week for your job in Phoenix, but you're not takin' Bradley with you. Once you get settled in, maybe he could come over for a weekend or somethin'. But he's not movin', is that clear?" He asked her, looking towards the door as it opened.

"Everythin' alright in here?" His sister Gwen looked between the two of them, with one of her eyebrows raised. It didn't look as though her brother and his ex-girlfriend were involved in anything intimate, from the expressions on their faces, but they still looked a little suspicious.

Nick looked towards Samantha beside him, waiting for her to give him a nod, before he smiled at his sister. "Yeah, sis, everythin's fine."

"Alright, Tayla wants to give her present to her sister." Gwen ushered her brother out the door, giving Samantha a curious look. "Everythin' alright between you two?" She followed her brother through to the front room. "Nothin's goin' on, right?"

"I'm about to marry the man of my dreams, what do you think?" Nick gave his sister a smile, lifting Willa from Jean's arms. "Time to open your presents, birthday girl." He whispered, pulling her close against his chest. He pressed his lips to her cheek, smiling as he looked into her big blue eyes. They were the only attribute she got from her real father, but hers were full of innocence. An innocence that he wanted to protect for as long as he possibly could.

Thank you to those of you who reviewed the last chapter. I knew the Warrick kiss wouldn't go down too well with Nick/Greg fans, but I'm sure you understand why it happened now. Not much more to go now. I'm excited to start some new projects once this one is finished.

Thanks so much for reading, please review!

~ Holly