DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it from time to time. Dance Monkeys! Dance!
RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"
SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?

A/N: Glad to see everyone enjoyed having the Doc back... Now, on to that dinner.

REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.


Chapter 46
18:00 – 2006.12.29
Mataam Fez Moroccan Restaurant

As they walked into the dimly lit restaurant a feeling of unease came over Nick. Nothing inside the place looked even vaguely familiar to him, and the aromas filling every corner were even more foreign. Nick was quickly becoming concerned at his decision to let the professor choose the restaurant. His concern was legitimized when he heard Dr. Desmaiseaux speaking with the manager in what he assumed was French.

Once they were seated in the back of the restaurant, Nick picked up the menu and was once again filled with dread over the choice in dining location. When he looked up from the menu, he found the professor suppressing an amused smirk. "Don't worry, Cowboy… If you can handle meat and rice, then you won't starve. Anything else is totally optional."

Nick's guarded smile was his answer. He noticed that she had yet to pick up a menu, and felt compelled to ask why. "Do you eat here a lot? I mean, you haven't even touched your menu, and you were talkin' with the manager and all."

"I get a lot of takeout from here, but yeah, I know the owner. And I do have a lot of meetings here. It's quiet, the food's good and the lights are dim, so it makes it easier for people to have a real conversation with me." She lifted the lid off of a metal steamer atop the table and took out a hot towel. She used it on her face first and then over her hands before she motioned for Nick to do the same. "A little of the old world tradition, and it makes Nadir feel like a host instead of a businessman." She gestured around the small curtained alcove in which they were sitting, "He has a few of these for the high rollers and fellow travelers. And it gives him a chance to practice a little of the lessons he learned as a boy. Plus, it's nice for me to be around one of my father's friends."

Nick was shocked at her statement and he needed to ask her about it. "How did your father know him?"

She shrugged and placed the towel on the side of the steamer closest to her. Nick followed the gesture with his own towel. "Met him when he was working on a research team in Morocco. I think they stayed in the hotel run by Nadir's family as their guests, but they became fast friends. Nadir showed my father the everyday world of Moroccan society and culture. When I was a little girl, Nadir came to the states and my father offered him his hospitality until he knew what he was going to do."

The curtain parted and the man in the silk jacket came in saying, "And it was there that I learned of the American taste for the exotic. Some might say that my path was chosen for me."

The professor was about to rise from her seat when the diminutive man gestured for her to remain seated. He placed the tea pot he carried in onto the center of the table. "Hadi will have your food very soon, mon cher. Please, enjoy your meal." The man exchanged nods with them both and was out of the alcove without another sound.

Nick looked suspiciously at the menu and said, "So, this thing is just for show?"

She smirked and said, "Nah, but you can figure out what you're eating after the fact. It's a mix of Middle Eastern and Moroccan cuisine. He'll probably start us off with some hummus and pita, and probably a little Orange Flower Beet Salad." Nick's nose turned up at the word beets, and the Doc laughed. "Don't worry, I love the stuff, so if you don't like it, I'll be happy to take it off your hands."

Nick blushed at her comment, but he felt like he needed to explain himself. "Sorry, I guess I'm not much of an adventurous eater."

"With my parents… I had trouble understanding the pull of a regular pizza or burgers. Both of them were ridiculous cooks, so I'm fairly certain there isn't an exotic dish I haven't had at least once."

Before he could ask about her parents a young man in an unusual waiter's outfit came through the curtain with a tray. And true to her assumption, there was pita bread and hummus and a red salad that Nick had to assume was the beet thing she had mentioned. When the young man in the red sashed, white cotton uniform left, Nick released a breath he had not realized he was holding.

"Don't sweat it… I won't be insulted if you don't like it, but you should at least give it a try. You never know what might strike your palate." Dr. Desmaiseaux placed the napkin in her lap and reached out for a piece of the pita, which she tore a piece from and then scooped out a trench of the hummus.

Nick decided the stuff was probably okay, because he had seen both Sara and Stephanie eating it before, so he grabbed his own piece of pita and threw caution to the wind. When he plopped the piece into his mouth, he was pleasantly surprised to find that while the texture took some getting used to, the nutty flavor of the dish was actually very good.

After the two of them had practically killed the plate of hummus, Nick looked down at the deep red salad in front of him. For some reason, beets had always caused a scowl to descend over his face, but he honestly could not recall ever having eaten them. When he looked across the table, he found the Doc enjoying her salad and decided he might as well give it a try. The only thing he had to risk was a bad taste in his mouth and possible embarrassment. It's not like I haven't already done enough of that around the woman.

As he lifted the first bite to his mouth, Nick realized he was being watched. "Well, here goes nothin'." He nodded at the professor and forged on ahead. Once the forkful hit his tongue, he found that he had bitten into something oddly sweet, with just a hint of salt and a tanginess that usually came from citrus. When he started to chew, he found that it was actually very tasty. He looked over at the Doc and smiled as he continued to chew it up. "Wow… That's actually pretty good!"

She laughed at his shocked response. "Don't be so surprised, Mr. Stokes… People have been eating beets on purpose for an awfully long time. There had to be a good reason for it."

"Yeah, well the color alone would cause suspicion in any house in Texas." Her laughter was unexpected, because Nick had not thought the joke that funny.

"Pinko! Right… Too funny." Nick was surprised she caught the subtle joke. "Man, you must've really grown up conservative, huh?"

Nick nearly choked on his second mouthful of the salad with her question. "Um, I ah, guess so… But it was more like a split personality house. My father's a judge and Mom's a defense attorney… It was kind of like a Harvard debate at the dinner table every night."

She shook her head and said, "Yeah, I can see that… Mine was more like a summit meeting with wine and grass."

"Excuse me?" Nick was not sure he had heard her right, or that she would have admitted such a thing.

"Yeah, one of the many drawbacks having overgrown hippies for parents. Although, I have to admit, the allure of smoking pot and getting drunk was a foreign concept to me. My biggest rebellion in college was grabbing some food at McDonald's." Nick realized just how differently they had grown up. While Nick was never inclined to experiment with drugs (more from fear than anything else), he certainly experienced more than his share of drunken idiocy in the name of exploration. He wondered how his life would have been different with a liberal upbringing.

"So, what kind of kid were you?" Nick was unsure where his question had come from, and instead of dwelling on it, he continued to put away the salad in front of him, waiting for her answer.

"I'm pretty sure my parent's thought they'd gotten the wrong kid, but since I was born at home, they'd have been hard pressed to deny me. That and the fact that I look too much like them." She pushed her plate away, and Nick saw that she had already finished her salad. He was impressed, because outside of Stephanie and Sara, he had trouble remembering any other woman who ate with such abandon. "I started organizing my books in alphabetical order by the time I was four, and I was performing a crude version of materials analysis in my mother's pottery shed to make sure the pots she made would hold up by the time I was eight. I got thrown out of grammar school when I was nine because I called the science teacher a hack for not knowing the correct order of the accepted geologic eras at the time. I was meticulous, a voracious reader, knew three languages by the age of twelve, and never accepted anything at face value… Basically, a hippie's worst nightmare."

Nick pushed his plate away, laughing at her self description. "And they couldn't say a thing without going against their own ideals of the freedom of expression, huh?"

"Oh yeah! I'm willing to bet Marlo Thomas never thought her Free to be You and Me would be used to defend the right of a fourteen year old to invest her allowance in mutual funds." They were both laughing at the admission when the waiter came through the curtain again.

The young man placed what looked like a pie plate into the center of the table. He removed the discarded dishes and then put out fresh ones for them. Before he left, there was a serving spoon placed in the dish and another basket of pita bread was left on the table.

Nick eyed the dish with apprehension, but his nose gave him the impression that it was worth a try. "It's a B'stilla. Sort of like a Moroccan pot pie. Nadir's is made with chicken, vegetables, garlic, onion and phyllo dough. All mixed together with some traditional spices and then baked until the phyllo is nice and crusty." He watched as she scooped a piece of the odd looking pie onto her plate. As she cut into it, an amazing aroma escaped, telling Nick it had to be tried, so he followed suit with his own plate.

With the first bite, Nick's taste buds were assaulted with the unfamiliar flavors. "Is that cinnamon?"

"Very good… There's a lot of cinnamon in Moroccan cooking."

He took another bite and found there was something foreign in the mix. He knew there had to be sugar in the recipe, but the spice he tasted seemed to have its own style of sweetness, along with a savory flavor as well. "What's this other thing?"

Her sly, sideways smile met his question. "Kind of sweet, but unusual?" Nick nodded his head, knowing that she had caught on to his question. "It's saffron; another spice popular in North African and Middle Eastern cooking."

Their small talk continued in an oddly comfortable fashion. Nick told her of his family, and his five sisters. She told him about the year she spent in Europe with her parents when she was fifteen. He told her about coming from a long line of people in the legal and law enforcement field. She told him about how her parents were forced to home-school her after being thrown out of several schools, but how home schooling really meant she taught herself most things through reading and traveling with her parents. By the time he finished off the last of the curried lamb shanks and she leaned back from the remnants of the keefta he realized they had been talking and eating for nearly two hours, and not once did they argue.

When the manager showed up to help clear the remaining dishes, he brought what looked like a small tea pot and three very small cups. Nick was about to refuse the offer, when the professor spoke up. "Ah… My favorite part of the meal."

The man set the cups down and began to pour the thickest, brown liquid Nick could ever remember witnessing. As he placed the cups in front of each person, Nick watched as the other two lifted the cups in the air, and Nick felt compelled to follow suit. "Oh, just remember… Only sip. I don't want to be responsible for your coronary." The Doc's warning seemed ominous and Nick decided to take it seriously.

The man then spoke in his thick accent, "Aimez la vérité même si elle vous nuit, et détestez les mensonges même si ils vous servent."

Dr. Desmaiseaux nodded her head and added, "Salút!"

They each sipped at the cup, but Nick was the only one to sputter at the assault of the liquid to his tongue. The man smiled and nodded at the Doc before disappearing behind the curtain. "Are you okay?"

"Man! And I thought dayshift coffee was strong."

Dr. Desmaiseaux laughed at his outburst and offered, "Sorry, I probably should have warned you about the Turkish coffee. It's a little strong."

"Yeah, like I'm only a little southern. That stuff could clean a carburetor." Nick took a full drink from his water glass as he tried to get the coffee paste out of his mouth.

"Actually, try the wine… It works better than water."

Nick followed her advice and found that the wine did help with the taste. Once he felt more settled he realized he was curious about what the manager had said. "So, I figured with the timing and all, that he said a toast or something…but I have no idea what he said."

"Oh, sorry… I sometimes forget that not everyone picks up languages like magazines." Nick suddenly understood a little more about the woman. "It was ah, an old Moroccan saying. Nadir says it reminds him of me whenever he thinks about it… Aimez la vérité même si elle vous nuit, et détestez les mensonges même si ils vous servent. Love truth even if it harms you, and hate lies even if they serve you. Nadir says he uses it for scientists and policemen."

Nick smiled, knowing that the conversation she had with the manager when they arrived had probably been about him, just a little

Just as he was about to thank her for the explanation, the waiter returned with two more plates. When the young man left, Nick looked down into a plate filled with a coiled snake made of pastry. When his gaze trailed back up at the professor, she had another amused smirk on her face. "It's M'hanncha, also called 'The Snake.' It's fried phyllo dough with an almond paste filling. Nadir's wife makes hers with lots of cinnamon and orange flower water, so I can never pass it up." She watched Nick eye it suspiciously when she said, "Don't worry, if you're worried about your figure, I can have Hadi box it up for you."

"No, it's fine… I'm just not used to so much rich food is all."

She chuckled as she pressed her fork into the coiled pastry. "Don't tell me you're one of those frozen burrito guys." When Nick nearly choked on his wine, she had her answer. "Well, that explains a lot about your disposition."

While she obviously meant the remark as a joke, Nick decided to take it as the perfect opening to finally bringing the conversation back to its origins. "Yeah, well, I guess I shouldn't go lookin' for people to help me when I'm tired and cranky either. Makes me forget the lessons I've learned."

"Hmmm… If I took that advice, I'd never talk to anyone." Her expression told him that she was making a joke and it served to ease the tension that had suddenly fallen between them. "So, if you don't mind…" Nick gestured for her to continue. "What prompted that whole…apology?"

"Believe it or not, a holiday trip to Texas with the family… That, and havin' my tail handed to me by nearly every woman I know. Tends to make a guy think about the things that make him tick."

It was her turn to nearly choke on something at his admission. "God! You must have one seriously thick skin… To survive something like that with any ego left at all."

Nick blushed at her outburst and then did something that shocked her to her very core. "Yeah, well I'm a pretty easy target, so I must've just built up a resistance. But honestly, I wanted to thank you for givin' me the what for… I'm not sure if I would've ever come to terms with this stuff if it wasn't for you makin' me question everything I ever believed in."

"Ya know, most people would be out for blood after all that… How the hell are you grateful for it?" She sat back in her seat, the dessert completely forgotten.

"Well, I guess it's because I never would've seen what I was doin' wrong if you hadn't thrown it in my face like that. See, when I complained about what happened, I found out what my friends and co-workers really thought about me. And that seriously bothered me, but the worst part was…I couldn't say anyone was wrong. I'm not givin' you all the credit, 'cause I've been dealin' with a ton of changes, and frankly, I'm not so great at that, but if it wasn't for you makin' me question my attitudes, I might've really screwed things up. So, yeah, I wanted to apologize to you for bein' a jerk and to thank you for helpin' to hold a mirror up for me."

They sat there in total silence for a few minutes. Just when it started to become unbearable, the professor spoke. "Damn!" Nick thought that was all she was going to say until she shook her head and continued, "I can honestly say…I have never experienced anything like that in my entire life… Mr. Stokes, I should thank you. I know I can be a real bitch, and sometimes I don't even realize how bad, because it's just become second nature to me anymore, as a way to make it through in a world that would rather I didn't exist. But I have never in my life had anyone apologize for anything I've deemed a slight, let alone had them thank me for calling them on their prejudice. It takes some real guts and…I don't know…" She struggled for the words to express her feelings in that moment, and Nick found that he was hanging on the conclusion. "And an amazing sense of self to be able to seek out someone like me and even try to apologize. You not only have my gratitude, Mr. Stokes, but also my respect. Thank you."

"Wow." Nick was rendered mostly speechless by her response. He never expected anything like that, but she impressed him with her sincerity. It made him wonder what would have happened if he had come to his epiphany before having met the woman.

They both opted to have their desserts boxed up and quietly made their way out of the restaurant. Nick carried both boxes as he walked with her to his truck, and then helped her in so that he could return her to her own vehicle.

When they returned to the mall's parking lot and Nick found her truck far from the entrance, he found himself getting a little angry at her having had to walk that far to the entrance. After he helped her out of his truck, he waited for her to climb into hers before handing her the boxed dessert. She set the box down on the seat beside her, and then reached over into her briefcase to retrieve a business card.

"You might want to give this place a try… On your wedding gift hunt." Nick looked at the card and then she explained, "Great for finding gifts for the science minded couple. If you had a little more time, I'm sure they would've been able to help you find something really special. Their procurement guy is amazing… But I'm willing to bet you'll find something there to suit a physicist and an entomologist."

Nick looked up with a blush when he realized that she knew who he was shopping for. "And pass on my congratulations to the happy couple. I hear it was quite the adventure getting those two together." Before he could ask how she knew that, she turned over the engine and dropped the truck into reverse.

Nick was still chuckling at the turn of events as he watched her truck speed away.