My Way is Clear

by Simply Ginger

Nick meets a paramedic after getting injured at a crime scene. In an AU, this is their story. This is not a slash and all the characters from CSI show up eventually.

34. Higher Window

Chapter 34 – Higher Window

A/N: I know I said I wouldn't take long to update, but it's difficult to write when the characters aren't talking.

Back to Nick's POV unless otherwise noted

My brother went out first, followed by Grissom, Greg and Warrick. Since Anna had altered the wedding plans, Bryan would join me after he got done walking her down the aisle with his father. I still wished that Anna's parents could put the past behind them and be here for their daughter, but it was a futile wish. Stubbornly, they were allowing her to go through one of the biggest days of her life without them, but given what she's told me of her childhood, most of her life events from birthdays to graduations, were done in the presence of Bryan and his family and today would be no different.

I stood in the doorway of the foyer and looked out at the audience and saw most of the people we had invited, apart from Anna's family. Behind the row with my family in it, Ecklie was seated in the row with his wife and on the other side of them were Doc Robbins and his wife and Super Dave and his fiancé. and Jim Brass was sitting with our newest detective, Sofia Curtis. I didn't know Sofia that well as we hadn't worked together that long, but I liked her and asked Anna if it'd be okay to invite her.

On the other side of the aisle were most of Anna's co-workers from the fire department with their families as well as some of Bryan and Cathy's family members I hadn't met yet. All in all, we had probably sixty-five people in attendance which was most of the ones we invited.

Glancing at Anna's side of the chapel, I just wished her parents would have obliged her and came, but they didn't and there was nothing I could do about it now. I know she was hoping that they'd come but I think she made peace a long time ago with the fact that they simply didn't care. It still hurt her when she'd allow herself to get her hopes up, even slightly, only to be disappointed again. Bryan's whole family was here and I hoped that meant more for Anna. I did feel better when I saw the fire department members, dressed in their uniforms, who had taken a break from the day to come watch their colleague get married. No doubt, the parking lot had enough fire trucks and ambulances in it to make it look to passers-by that the building not only was on fire, but mass casualties were inside.

I took my place at the altar and watched as Anna's bridal party made their way up the aisle and one by one, took their place on the opposite side of me. Cathy gave a sweet smile when she took her place at the top of the stairs. When Cody got to the stairs, he started up them but turned around and came up to me and held up his hand. I gave him a high five before he took his place next to Cathy. I heard a few laughs coming from the audience and knew I had Bryan to thank for that move.

Caledonia started again and the back door to the chapel opened and the first sight of Anna in her bridal dress made me catch my breath as everyone in the audience stood up when she stepped through the doors. She was stunning and for a moment, I had to remind myself that was Anna and not some stranger walking towards me. Her strapless dress was form fitting until it hit her waist and fanned out to include a full skirt with a long train, which was something she said she wanted. With her hair twisted up, the veil was resting in the middle of a tiara which was held in place by the two clips Bryan said Cathy was going to let Anna borrow. On her left side was Bryan's dad and on her right was Bryan.

Stepping in time with the music, the three of them made their way up towards the front of the altar while the minister came out from the same room I was in earlier. When Anna got to the front of the aisle, she stopped and Cody gave her a high five also. I had to laugh and I could tell by the slight shake of her shoulders, Anna got a laugh out of the gesture too as she shook her head at Bryan as the minister approached us.

As the crowd sat down, the minister took his place and looked at me before he turned his attention back to the crowd, "We are gathered here today on this day to witness the marriage ceremony of Nicholas Parker Stokes and Meri-Anna Gabrielle Gigandet." I breathed a sigh of relief when Justin didn't massacre Anna's last name and hoped he remembered not to call her Meri-Anna after this.

"Nick and Anna have already begun their journey together. They have enjoyed the exhilaration of finding one another and they have struggled through many difficulties together. This ceremony connotes the end of that beginning and marks a new beginning; the beginning of a committed lifetime journey. Should there be anyone who has cause why this couple should not be united in marriage, they must speak now or forever hold their peace." When no one spoke up, he looked down at Anna, "Who gives this woman in marriage?"

Bryan's father stepped forward, "My son and I do." He lifted Anna's veil and gently kissed her on the cheek before he took a step back.

Bryan repeated the same process and held on to one of Anna's hands, "Love you, Aggs."

"Me too." She hugged him before he handed her hand to me. I glanced over my shoulder to watch Bryan take a step back before he went behind us to take his place with the rest of the groomsmen.

"Very well." Justin motioned for Anna and me to take a step up and we did before he looked at us and continued, "Nick and Anna, life is given to each of us as individuals and yet we must learn to live together. Love is given to us by our family or by our friends. We learn to love by being loved. Learning to love and living together is one of the greatest challenges of life and is the shared goal of a married life." Turning his attention towards the crowd, he shifted his weight to his other foot and continued again, "Nick and Anna have come here to make public their love for each other; to give notice of their truth; to declare their choice to live and partner and grow together out loud and in your presence, out of their desire that we all will come to feel a very real and intimate part of their decision, and thus make it even more powerful..."

I stole a glance at Anna as the minister was finishing up his speech, "You look beautiful."

She smiled, "I love you."

"Love you, too."

Turning our attention back to the minister, he finished up, "Today you marry an unknown. Only the long unraveling of time will fully reveal each other's depths and intricacies. You know enough about your beloved to know that you love each other and that, as time goes on, you will come to enjoy and love each other even more. Together you are embarking on a journey of discovery and exploration, a path down which you will experience your lives more fully."

Justin led us in prayer to bless our new lives together before he moved on to the vow ceremony. I hadn't really written anything down and I knew Anna didn't either, but we both wanted to speak from the heart, rather than recite the same vows countless others had recited before us. "And now, Nick and Anna will recite their love for each other with vows they have written themselves. Nick."

As Justin stepped back, I took Anna's hands in mine, "Anna, you are everything I need and at this moment, I know all of my prayers have been answered and that all of my dreams have come true. I used to be afraid of falling in love and of giving my heart away. When I met you, I realized how much we could share together. You have renewed my life and today, I join my life with yours. I praise God for you, for all of your love and constant friendship. I promise to be here forever and always and from this day forward, you shall not walk alone. My heart will be your shelter and my arms will be your home. As I have given you my hand to hold, I give you my life to keep."

Anna was having as hard of a time as I was fighting back the tears, "First of all, I love you. I do. You have shown me what love feels like and for that I thank you and you've helped me through a lot. I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for you. I was thinking of what to say while I was getting ready and the only thing I could think of was a poem I had to memorize in college." She blinked a few times to keep from crying, "It went something like 'I carry your heart in my heart and I am never without it. Anywhere I go, you go and this is the wonder that keeps the stars apart.'" I felt Anna tighten her hold on my hands, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all have that person. The person you loved before anyone else. The person you loved before you knew enough to be scared of what you were feeling. The smartest thing I ever did was take a chance with you. I enter into this marriage with you, knowing that the true magic of love is not to avoid changes, but to navigate them successfully. I will follow you anywhere and everywhere you go, hand in hand and heart in heart."

I heard my sisters sniffle and watched as Allison dabbed her eyes. I turned my attention back to Anna as Justin prepared to do the ring exchange and saw her eyes were red, but she wasn't crying.

"And what symbol do you have to show your love?" Justin looked at Cody but he had his head down and looked like he wanted to use our ring pillow as a pillow. Bryan nudged him and pointed towards the minister and when he did, Cody handed the pillow to Justin and got another high five. Anna hid a smile and gave Cody pat on the shoulder before he took his place between Bryan and my brother. Our wedding was going down in the books as an event to remember thanks to our five year old ring bearer.

Unbeknownst to Anna, on the inside of our rings, I had 'Stronger together than ever apart' engraved on them. I had that added to the inside of the band of Anna's ring and on the one she picked out for me.

"Nick, place the ring on Anna's left hand and repeat after me, 'With this ring, I thee wed, and with it, I bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart and hand."

I took Anna's hand in mine and as I looked into her eyes, as I repeated the words as I slipped the ring on her finger, "With this ring, I thee wed, and with it, I bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart, and hand."

"Anna."

Justin held out his Bible and she took the ring off of it and put it on my finger after she looked up at me after she read the engraving on the inside. "Nick, with this ring, I thee wed, and with it, I bestow upon thee all the treasures of my mind, heart, and hand."

Still holding hands, the minister closed his Bible and took a step towards us, "By the power vested in me by the state of Nevada and Clark County, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Nick, you may kiss your bride."

Dropping Anna's left hand, I gently lifted her veil and with my right hand on her waist, I gently touched her cheek with my left hand and kissed her as everyone in the audience started to applaud.

"Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Parker Stokes."

I finally broke the kiss when I heard my brother clear his throat behind me. Anna looked around my shoulder and I could tell she wanted to say something but just smiled and took my hand as I led my new bride down the aisle and towards the reception hall in the next building.

I shoved the door open and held it out for Anna, who refused to let go of my hand. I had to spin around to catch the train of her wedding dress to prevent it from being caught in the door. When I pulled the last part of it out, Anna grabbed me and kissed me hard as the rest of the wedding party started to come out, "Oh give it a rest you two." Jillian broke Anna and me apart when she walked between us, holding Ryan's hand, "You'd think you were newlyweds or something." Smiling as she opened the door to the reception hall, she held it open for us and kissed both Anna and me on the cheek as we walked in.

Part of the wedding package was also the usage of the reception hall for a couple of hours. True to my word, I bought several boxes of Twinkies and the staff at Chapel of the Flowers set them out, no doubt wondering what kind of bride wanted Twinkies for a wedding cake. I had to smile as I led Anna inside the reception hall and saw our Twinkies arranged in a cake formation on a silver platter at the end of the table next to two champagne flutes with lacy ribbon tied to the stems. Anna didn't drink much and had requested a bottle of apple juice in place of champagne and I saw a small bottle with our names on it next to the Twinkies.

"Who is behind the idea for the Twinkies?" Allison picked up two Twinkies and handed one to each of her kids and watched as they ran off with Cody and Lindsey towards the side of the room where some chairs had been set up. "No cake?"

"That'd be me." Anna spoke up as Cathy and my mother were helping her out of her veil, "I told Nicky I didn't want a wedding cake. I wanted Twinkies."

"And I went along with it. This was Anna's wedding to plan from the start."

Jillian came over and announced to us that she had picked out our first song, "The guy over there is about to put it on." She shoved me towards the middle of the room as Anna followed me out there.

"Put what on?" I reached for Anna's hand as Jillian shoved us towards the center of the room.

"I want a Twinkie first." Anna started to protest, but Jillian shook her head and said she'd save her one after we were done.

Right before we got to the middle of the room, the opening notes of 'Because You Loved Me' by Celine Dion started as I put my arm around Anna's middle. "She would have to pick a song she liked."

"I don't mind it." Anna took a step in closer towards me and put her arms across my shoulder as I dropped my other hand to her waist, "As long as it wasn't the Hokey Pokey or that theme from Lamb Chop or something stupid, I don't care."

"You do know she's getting back at you for the Great Twinkie Debacle."

"Meh. It's our wedding and I wanted Twinkies."

As the music played on, I caught sight of our guests as we danced. Sara was talking to Grissom in the corner of the room, oblivious to everyone around them. They could deny it all they wanted, but everyone knew something was between them. It was just a matter of time before they figured out what it was. Weddings always seemed to put people in a romantic mood, so who knows what was to happen after we left.

Warrick had brought someone to the wedding that he met a few weeks ago. They seemed to be hitting it off pretty well. Catherine brought Lou and Greg was by himself, talking to Wendy, Mandy and Hodges. Ecklie was with his wife, talking to Doc Robbins and his wife and Super Dave and his fiancé were sitting down at the same table as Sofia and Jim, watching us. It meant a lot to me to see our friends here. Most of Anna's co-workers from the other stations had stayed long enough to greet us when we came in and had left before they got another fire call but since the station Anna worked at was just around the corner, her co-workers from there were still here.

"Who are you looking at?" Anna had slowed down dancing, but was still letting me lead, "You look like you're miles away and looking for the nearest exit."

I smiled, "I don't want to bolt if that's what you're asking. I was just watching everyone here, grateful that they came. I saw a lot of your friends from work."

"Yeah. I saw the fire trucks in the parking lot." She started to laugh, "I bet everyone who drove by thought the building was on fire. I can only imagine what the other people getting married here thought."

The song ended and Bryan broke in for a dance with Anna while Cathy took my hand. A few other people joined us on the dance floor until it was time for the obligatory feeding of the wedding cake, or in our case, the Twinkies. Anna told me if I hit her in the face with the Twinkie, she wouldn't sign the form Justin had. I fed her the part of the Twinkie gently and resisted the urge from my co-workers to smash it in her face. Anna respected me enough not to be cruel and didn't hit me in the face with a Twinkie either, much to everyone's dismay.

After the Twinkie feeding came the apple juice drinking. I looped my arm through Anna's and did as best as I could not to spill anything on her dress and was amazed when I succeeded. We broke apart again to mingle before the crowd dispersed as we were nearing the end of our reception time. We had to be out by 7:00 and it was after six now.

Anna was talking to a couple of her co-workers who had left briefly to answer a call, but had come back long enough to snag a Twinkie and a glass of apple juice. Cathy pulled Anna away from her co-workers and I watched as she handed Anna her phone. Anna read something before an annoyed look flashed over her face as she tossed the phone on the table and walked off, headed back towards the group of people she was talking to earlier. Cathy got up to follow her as I made my way to the table to see what Anna was so upset about.

I picked up her iPhone and saw she had an email still open on the screen. It was in French and I could understand parts of it, but not all of it. With Anna towards the front of the room with my sisters and Cathy, I didn't want to bug her so I found Bryan and handed him the phone, "Can you translate? Cathy handed Anna her phone and she looked at it and threw it on the table. With it being in French, I'm fairly certain I know who it's from."

Bryan took Anna's phone from me and read through the message, "It says, 'Meri-Anna, we are truly sorry that we could not make it to your wedding but your father could not get the time off. We watched on the website Samantha gave us and we all agreed that you looked beautiful and I hope you know how much we love you and wished we could have been there. Please convey the same to your new husband. Best wishes, your mother.' Wow." He handed the phone back to me and I stuck it in my pocket, "I can't believe she'd send that and didn't even sign it 'Love, Mom.'"

Glancing over at Anna, she was laughing at something someone had said. The look of annoyance on her face from earlier was gone. Cathy was probably the only one to see it other than me. "Thanks, man." I kept my eye on Anna as Bryan went back to a different group of firefighters that were near the original group Anna was with.

Before we knew it, we had run out of time. Putting on a show, I took off Anna's garter belt and launched it over my shoulder. Hodges caught it and immediately flashed a crimson red before he stuffed it in his pocket and stood behind Wendy.

Seeing what I had done, Anna picked up her bouquet of flowers and with my help and subtle hints on where to aim, she tossed her bouquet straight into Wendy's arms. The look of embarrassment on her face was every bit as hilarious as the look on Hodges's face, especially knowing Anna threw the bouquet at her on purpose.

With everyone lined up on either side of us, we spent the next few minutes thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate with us. Finally reaching the outside of the building, we were bombarded with loads of bird seed as we made it to my truck, which someone had painted with shaving cream and windshield chalk. Tied to the tailgate, the antenna and the wheels were strands of yellow crime scene tape. I had to smile, knowing that considering what Anna and I both did for a living, crime scene tape was more fitting than streamers or strings with old shoes tied to it. I helped Anna in the truck, being careful with the train of her dress and shut the door as Greg and Warrick threw what seemed like half a bag of bird seed at me. I had seed down my shirt, in my hair and I was sure in other places.

I got in before they could reload and rolled the window down to wave as we drove off towards the Venetian. I had already arranged for everything and as the valet helped Anna out, I waited on her and escorted her inside to check in.

The attendant told us congratulations and handed me the envelope with the room keycard in it and said she had a surprise delivered to our room, which got Anna interested but that was short lived when I told her it had nothing to do with where we were going.

"So where are we going?"

I leaned down and kissed Anna, "No. You'll find out tomorrow."

"I'll just check my suitcase then."

"No you won't. It will be dropped off tonight at an unspecified location." The elevator stopped and the doors opened and I led Anna towards our hotel suite, "You'll find out tomorrow. Everything you'll need tonight and tomorrow is in this bag. You'll find out where we're going tomorrow." I got the card key out of the folder I was given and stuck it in the lock, kissing Anna again, "You've survived the wedding. Now let me have my fun." I took her hand after dropping our bags on the bed, "We have an appointment downstairs."

For the next hour, the photographer led us around the grounds of the hotel, snapping photo after photo. We got well wishes and congratulations from complete strangers staying at the hotel who stopped to watch us as the photographer did his thing. When we were finally finished, he said he'd have the prints to us by the time we got back from our honeymoon. Hearing that, Anna perked up and asked him if he knew where she was going. I had to hide a smile at the fact Anna was doing everything in her power to find out where I was taking her. I made a mental note to thank Jillian for not blabbering my secret to her.

Two weeks later, I was lying in bed, about to go to sleep as I watched Anna getting ready to head in to work. It was her first shift after we got married. Reacting quickly to avoid being hit in the head by a flying duty belt, I caught it and tossed it on her end of the bed. Deep inside our closet, I could tell Anna was looking for something, but with her inside the walk in closet, I didn't know what it was.

"You okay in there?"

"Yeah." The closet went dark as Anna stepped out with a crumpled uniform shirt in her hands, "Apparently before we left, I forgot to do laundry and now I can't find a clean uniform shirt anywhere. This one smelled the least offensive. I started a load of clothes before I got in the shower. Before you go to work, can you stop by the station and bring me a couple shirts? They're in the washer right now."

"Yeah." I yawned. "Is it almost done? I don't think I can stay up much longer."

Anna tossed her boots on the floor next to her side of the bed as she disappeared in the bathroom a moment, coming out a few seconds later with a black hair scrunchie. Twisting up her hair, she sat down on the edge of the bed and started to tie her shoes, "Should be. Twenty minutes, max."

"Too bad you don't have twenty minutes." I sat up and pulled Anna in closer to me, causing her boot to slide off her foot and fall to the floor, "I'd stay awake."

She laughed, "And you could explain why I was late for my first shift back."

"Oh, I think they'd know."

Anna blushed, "Nicky…" She shook her head and put her left boot back on and tied the laces, "Hand me my uniform shirt. It doesn't smell that bad, does it?"

"Nope." I smelled it before I handed it over, "Smells like that lotion you wear." As I got ready to hand it to her, the white letters spelling out her name caught my eye, "So, when will your new shirts be in?"

"Huh?"

I watched as Anna pulled the shirt over her head and after checking to make sure the shirt didn't knock the scrunchie out of her hair, she started to tuck it into her pants, "Your new work shirts with your new name on it. You were still planning on using my name, right?"

"Yeah. I don't get a uniform allowance until December, Nicky."

"So?"

Anna sighed, "Nick, those shirts are almost thirty dollars a piece and they provide six short sleeved and six long sleeved shirts. You do the math. My dress uniform I'll have to get that brass nameplate thing redone. I'll get new uniform shirts in December. Everyone knows I'm already married at work. Plus there's this." She held up her hand to show me she was wearing her wedding ring, "I think that's pretty much a given."

I noticed that Anna had on her wedding ring, but her engagement ring was off. "Where's the engagement ring? You not gonna wear that anymore?"

"Oh, I will, but I can't at work. The stone that sticks up would rip the gloves as I put them on. When I'm not at work, I'll wear both. I just can't wear the engagement ring when I work. Besides…" Putting her hand on my cheek and kissing me softly, "You have nothing to worry about. Everyone else at the station is married. I'm the lone holdout or I was at least."

I fell back onto the pillow and watched as Anna went to the bathroom to throw her shampoo and conditioner into her duty bag, "I trust you. I didn't mean that I didn't. I just want your last name to be the same as mine."

"It already is." Anna peeked out the door, "Nicky, we've been back from Hawaii a day and a half. I haven't gotten my driver's license changed yet or my new social security card. I haven't even applied for that or a change of name on our bank account or anything else. My uniform shirts are small in comparison to all that. I need our marriage license to do all of that first and it hasn't come in the mail yet."

"I'm making a big deal out of this, aren't I?"

Smiling, Anna agreed, "Yep." Finishing her packing, she let her bag drop to the floor before she climbed on top of me in bed, "I love you and I'll talk to Zach when I get to work about getting new uniform shirts ordered early since I got married and since it's so important to you."

"You're not mad?"

"Over uniform shirts? Please. Our first fight as a married couple is gonna be over something a lot more serious than that. It's important to you, so I'll see what I can do. That's what marriage is all about. Compromise." Leaning down to kiss me, she started to slide off of my stomach, but I stopped her and held on to her, trying to entice her to call in sick. It wasn't working, "Nicky, I'm about to be late. I'm gonna have to break several traffic laws just to get to work on time."

Reluctantly, I let Anna go and got out of bed to walk with her to the door, "Please don't forget to throw my shirts in the dryer. That will be our first fight as a married couple if I don't get a clean uniform shirt before you head into work." Reaching up on her tip toes, she kissed me before grabbing her keys, "Love you."

"Love you too." I stood in the doorway and watched as Anna got in her truck and left, heading in to work.

Since I was already up, I walked to the barn to check on the horses. Two of them were in the center hallway, dozing and the others I didn't see. Checking to make sure they had plenty of hay available and their trough was full of water, I petted Amy before reaching for Gypsy and leaving the barn. Our barn kid would be back tonight, but not having laid eyes on them since we got back, I wanted to be sure before I fell asleep.

I stripped out of my shirt as I came inside and tossed it on the floor. Cassie and Draco were still with Bryan. Cathy said she'd bring them by on her way to work later on tonight. With the two dogs gone, the house was eerily quiet. Danilla was hiding in the closet, mad at Anna for being gone so long. I tried to entice her to get on the bed with me so I'd have some company, but after her hissing at me, I gave up and shut the light off, leaving the door cracked slightly. Right before I turned the light off, I caught sight of Anna's wedding dress in the corner of the closet and smiled. I was really married.

Looking down at my left hand, the wedding ring Anna placed there a little over two weeks ago was shining back up at me. I shut the light in the closet off and went up front to throw Anna's shirts in the dryer. Setting the timer on the dryer, I knew I wouldn't be able to stay up that long and hoped she wouldn't be that mad if they were a little wrinkly. I threw another load of clothes into the washer and started that, but yawning as I dropped in the detergent, I shut the lid and came back to the bedroom and it wasn't long before I was asleep.

Waking up about ten hours later, it was nearing four in the afternoon. Checking my phone, I had two texts from Anna and one from Cathy. She wanted to know if it was okay to drop the dogs off at six. Checking the time on my phone, I responded back with that was fine and if I wasn't home to just use her key and let them in. Anna reminded me once again to bring her shirts by and that if they weren't there, she wanted me to use my key to her truck and leave them there, telling me they had been pretty busy today.

Cathy stopped by with the dogs and while Draco went to find Anna, Cassie rolled around on the floor in front of me, begging me for attention. Playing with her some, I finally conceded and took another short nap and when I woke up again, I was running later than I wanted. I barely had time to get dressed and head out the door so I wasn't late for work. I'd drop Anna's shirts by the station on my way out to the call out I got. I didn't have time before work.

"Nick." Grissom looked up from his desk, "I already gave your assignment to Sara. Welcome back by the way."

Damn. I was later than I thought. Grissom was one of those people who didn't have to say anything to show he wasn't happy with the situation and sometimes, that was worse than an ass chewing. "Thanks. What'd Sara and I get?"

"Robbery at a gas station on the strip. Shouldn't take that long. Oh and Nick?"

"Yeah?"

He put his pen down on the desk and stood up, "Shift starts at eleven." I was about to say something in my defense, but Grissom started to smile, "I'll excuse it this time since you're a newlywed and all. Welcome back, Nicky."

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