Chapter Two:
Settling In
Norah and Nick walked into the building too busy laughing and catching up for them to notice the receptionist who gave a calm, "Hello, Mr. Stokes," as they passed by.
Norah was a slender, average height girl with an olive complexion, dark brown hair and bright green eyes.
As a teenager she was quite lanky, until she grew breasts, finally, when she was almost sixteen. She grew wilder, too. She was scorned when she lost her virginity at 17, the ultimate social sin. Obviously, the "popular" crowd was, to say the least, different from the normal popular clique in America. The social code of normality called for Mary Jane's, meticulously clean pleated skirts and an even more spotless reputation to make sucking up and getting brownie points much easier. Norah was stunningly beautiful and rebellious. People were afraid to let both their children and their boyfriends near her. They thought she would either soil them spiritually or steal them. But Norah had bigger things planned for herself. She was labeled an outcast until the most popular girl in school, Laurel Somantuan, found out she was the niece of the nearly legendary Nick Stokes. The first thing Norah said when Laurel asked if she was related to the former football star was, "No, I only sign my last name 'Stokes' so that dumbasses can come up and kiss my butt to get his phone number." Filling the social norm wasn't hard for Norah, she just would rather have been known as a 'rebel' than a 'clone.'
Nick and Norah were close until Nick started high school, Norah was five and felt neglected by Nick. She became frustrated with him always too busy with sports and girls to even read her a bedtime story, but they again grew closer after Norah graduated from high school.
She landed in a college in France. Four years of drama school, twenty boyfriends and six ex-fiancée's later she came home without her thick Texan accent, money and a job. But she could say 'cheese omelet' in French and that must count for something.
She moved in with her mom and started saving money to go to California to start an acting career. Fortunately, after a year her mom got tired of her living there and paid for her to go to California. She left Texas only to return on Christmases, although she still struggled at getting a job in show business. She landed a few roles in some dreadful horror movies and did a couple of nude scenes for some big movie. They cut out her face and only used her body, placing the main character's head where hers used to be. When she asked the producers why they just rambled on about it being cheaper than getting the donut-of-an-actress into a gym to get her into shape. She shrugged and figured it was a job to pay the bills and didn't complain anymore. Her beauty sparked a couple of relationships in Hollywood, one with a big shot actor. It was a good one until the tabloids found out about the romance. Needless to say, Norah was dropped like a hot potato by the cocky star. He mumbled something about loosing his teenybopper fanbase because of the relationship while he tossed her bag of shoes out of his posh mansion.
She got on a bus the next day and found Mr. Right. A tall, blonde California-native named Owen, he too was an aspiring actor. He was funny and drop-dead gorgeous, so much that girls would drool as they walked down the streets, some 'aww'ing, some glaring at Norah. They were engaged until Norah met his parents. They were strict and thought Owen should go for a more traditional girl--preferably one without a tattoo. When she asked him what was wrong with her tattoo, a ring of thorns around her bellybutton, which was his favorite part of her body, he mumbled something about his parents being right. She left him after throwing a plate at his head. But don't worry--it only made his head swell more.
She enjoyed the single life and partied often. One day at a club a more- famous Owen came up to her while she was having a drink. After she almost choked, a surprised Norah exchanged phone numbers with the now godly handsome Owen. He was even more down-to-earth and Norah fell in love again. They hung out a couple of times but never dated again, mostly because of his parents. They became best friends after a few weeks and became inseparable. He landed her a few major roles in some independent movies, saving the bigger ones for himself, but she didn't mind. She was just glad to have a friend in Hollywood. After a month-and-a-half of an acting drought, Norah decided to move to Vegas. Nick was happy, Owen, however, was furious. He professed his love to her and begged her to stay in California. When she told him there was nothing there for her he murmured something about being patient. She left that night leaving Owen nothing but a goodbye note.
She bought a one-way ticket to Las Vegas and the next thing she knew she was in the LVPD's crime lab.
Nick and Norah walked into the break room. Warrick stood up and Norah and him embraced. "Norah, how have you been?"
"Okay, how about you?"
"I've been good."
"That's great!"
"How do you two know each other exactly?" Asked an abnormally quiet Greg. He was again sitting upside down on the couch. He was visibly jealous.
"That's Greg, isn't it?" Norah said, very sure that it was.
"So, Nick does say nice stuff about me?" Greg asked semi-hopefully. Nick bit his lip, hoping Norah would fib.
She looked at Nick. "Yeah, all the time."
Nick and Warrick laughed behind her.
"But, it's your voice...you know, Nick's cell," she continued.
Greg ignored the laughter from the peanut gallery. He now deepened his voice, "A lot of people think it's sexy." Now Norah could barely resist laughing and the howling behind her grew louder.
"Oh, it is," Norah said with a smile and a wink.
Greg looked her up and down, noting especially her clothes--a pair of jeans and a red, low-cut, V-neck, practically see-through shirt. She didn't normally wear clothes this revealing, she preferred to let the men's imaginations run away with them, but she ran into--literally--an actor, at the Hollywood airport, she had worked with earlier that year. His coffee was everywhere so he insisted on giving her a shirt from his girlfriend's wardrobe. Norah was skinner than her, but her boobs filled the extra space nicely. She vowed she wouldn't give it back and also promised herself a new tank top to wear under it.
"I don't remember how you two said you knew each other," Greg pushed, looking at Warrick, then Norah's boobs, then her face, then Warrick again.
"She's my girlfriend," Warrick lied to see Greg's reaction. He put his hands on her hips and gave her a small peck on the lips.
Greg flipped over again, off the couch and headed to the door of the break room, rolled his eyes and looked at Norah's butt before leaving in a huff to go back to his lab. "Laugh it up! I'm always the butt of the jokes," he screamed down the hall when he got to the lab.
All three started laughing, even though they genuinely felt bad for mocking him.
The next thing they heard was Grissom telling Greg that he was loud enough to wake the dead. Greg then shouted something about not worrying because he wasn't in the autopsy room anyway.
Grissom then headed to the break room to see what the laughing was all about.
"This is my niece, Norah."
Grissom extended his hand, "Gil Grissom."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Grissom," she said, giving his hand a friendly shake. Suddenly her cell rang. "Excuse me," she said walking out of the room. She looked at the phone to see who it was. She sighed and rolled her eyes when she saw that it was Owen.
"Hello?"
"Norah, where are you?"
"Las Vegas," she replied a little too casually for Owen.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
"I told you already, Owen," Norah started.
Nick stuck his finger down his throat when she said his name. He knew the whole story about Owen and presumed more.
She continued, "Hollywood isn't for me. It has nothing to offer me."
"What about me?"
"Fly your butt down here if you want to be with me, because I'm not coming back."
"What about my career?"
"What about mine? My fifteen minutes of fame is up. I'm sick of being body doubles for chunky stars. Goodbye Owen," she hung up before Owen could say anything else, she paced the hall for a moment.
"Boyfriend?" Warrick mouthed to Nick. He moved his hand back and forth to indicate he was kind of her boyfriend. They didn't even know their status. Grissom half glared at them both as Norah came back in. She forced a smile, "You guys can get back to work.I don't want to intrude." She glanced at Grissom and then back at Warrick and Nick.
All three smiled sympathetically at her and left her alone in the break room. She left to go out to Nick's car and came back in with her laptop. She set it up and began to sign on to the Internet.
-------
Sara walked into the lab and sat the "mysterious wet spot" from the baseball park down on the table across from a daydreaming Greg, who was currently in Tahiti with a topless Norah. They'd just found out the spot was actually chewing tobacco and spit and she needed to know if the spit belonged to their victim. "Greg?" She waited to see if he'd snap out of his daze. "Greg," she shouted.
"Damn you! It was just getting good," Greg said.
Sara looked at Greg with bewilderment.
"I want her," Greg said, zoning out again.
Sara was puzzled at who "her" was, "Okay, well.I'm going to leave you this, test it, please."
Greg nodded absent-mindedly, not really listening to Sara.
Sara growled at Greg and walked out of the lab, with the sample, in frustration.
Greg then saw Warrick and Nick pass by the door and decided mentally that it was a good time to find Norah-without Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb around.
-------
He watched her brilliant eyes dance across the screen of her computer. He tried to think of a clever one-liner before she discovered him in the doorframe of the break room.
She felt like she was being watched but didn't bother taking her eyes off the screen.
"Whatcha doing?" Greg asked her breasts. 'Damn, damn, damn! How stupid was that line?' He mentally slapped himself.
'God, do I need to wear a sweater to get this guy to actually talk to me instead of my boobs?' she mentally slapped him. "Just checking some e- mails," she forced a smile.
'Must look higher!' He forced his eyes to hers and off her breasts. He mentally patted himself on the back. "That's cool," he said to her face and smiled.
'Finally, God!' She mentally patted him on the back. "Yeah," this time her smile was authentic.
'Go for it, Greggo, ask!' "I was wondering if, maybe, you want to want to go to dinner with me tomorrow night," he asked as calmly as he could.
'Oy, the guy's hitting on me and he just met me a half hour ago, and just discovered I had a face two seconds ago!' "Sure," she couldn't help it-he was so cute.
Greg smiled again as his eyes slid down her neck to her chest again. He slapped himself-this time not mentally. Norah's jaw dropped at Greg's self- abuse. Greg prayed she wouldn't wear that shirt the next day as he walked out of the room.
-------
After meeting virtually everyone in the building, Nick took Norah to his house. He had to do more work, but figured he'd drop her at home to rest.
They stopped at a stop sign. Norah told him Greg had asked her out on a date and how he couldn't stop looking at her chest and how he had slapped himself. He loved how Norah made his emotions change so quickly. He went from "Aww!" to "I'm going to shoot his penis off." to laughing his butt off. Listening to Norah was like watching a movie. Her facial expressions and impressions would make Adam Sandler jealous. While some of the stories themselves would make for good tearjerker chick flicks, some so sad they even made him cry. And listening to her impersonations of the "technical breakdowns," as she put it, of her toaster, microwave, and computer were like sound effects out of a sci-fi movie.
They left the car and he helped her carry her luggage into his house.
"I'll just put this stuff in my bedroom and get my pillow to sleep on the couch with," he said knowing Norah wouldn't let him sleep on the couch.
"Nick! No way, I'll sleep on the couch," Norah objected.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yeah!"
He kissed her head and said goodbye but not before handing her the remote control. She smiled and thanked him. She was lucky, and grateful. Her Uncle Nick was the closest she had to a dad, although he was more of a brother, if any relation at all.
He was her confidant.
Her mother-Libby-got pregnant at the early age of 20. Everyone in the Stokes household was supportive, and that was a lot-she had six siblings plus her mom and dad. She was the oldest, Nick the youngest. When Norah was born all 16 hands helped Libby with the baby. Nick felt he had the closest connection to the baby, him being only 10 years older than her.
She always remembered adoring him.
Norah fell asleep thinking of the "good ol' days," as her grandmother might have said.
Norah and Nick walked into the building too busy laughing and catching up for them to notice the receptionist who gave a calm, "Hello, Mr. Stokes," as they passed by.
Norah was a slender, average height girl with an olive complexion, dark brown hair and bright green eyes.
As a teenager she was quite lanky, until she grew breasts, finally, when she was almost sixteen. She grew wilder, too. She was scorned when she lost her virginity at 17, the ultimate social sin. Obviously, the "popular" crowd was, to say the least, different from the normal popular clique in America. The social code of normality called for Mary Jane's, meticulously clean pleated skirts and an even more spotless reputation to make sucking up and getting brownie points much easier. Norah was stunningly beautiful and rebellious. People were afraid to let both their children and their boyfriends near her. They thought she would either soil them spiritually or steal them. But Norah had bigger things planned for herself. She was labeled an outcast until the most popular girl in school, Laurel Somantuan, found out she was the niece of the nearly legendary Nick Stokes. The first thing Norah said when Laurel asked if she was related to the former football star was, "No, I only sign my last name 'Stokes' so that dumbasses can come up and kiss my butt to get his phone number." Filling the social norm wasn't hard for Norah, she just would rather have been known as a 'rebel' than a 'clone.'
Nick and Norah were close until Nick started high school, Norah was five and felt neglected by Nick. She became frustrated with him always too busy with sports and girls to even read her a bedtime story, but they again grew closer after Norah graduated from high school.
She landed in a college in France. Four years of drama school, twenty boyfriends and six ex-fiancée's later she came home without her thick Texan accent, money and a job. But she could say 'cheese omelet' in French and that must count for something.
She moved in with her mom and started saving money to go to California to start an acting career. Fortunately, after a year her mom got tired of her living there and paid for her to go to California. She left Texas only to return on Christmases, although she still struggled at getting a job in show business. She landed a few roles in some dreadful horror movies and did a couple of nude scenes for some big movie. They cut out her face and only used her body, placing the main character's head where hers used to be. When she asked the producers why they just rambled on about it being cheaper than getting the donut-of-an-actress into a gym to get her into shape. She shrugged and figured it was a job to pay the bills and didn't complain anymore. Her beauty sparked a couple of relationships in Hollywood, one with a big shot actor. It was a good one until the tabloids found out about the romance. Needless to say, Norah was dropped like a hot potato by the cocky star. He mumbled something about loosing his teenybopper fanbase because of the relationship while he tossed her bag of shoes out of his posh mansion.
She got on a bus the next day and found Mr. Right. A tall, blonde California-native named Owen, he too was an aspiring actor. He was funny and drop-dead gorgeous, so much that girls would drool as they walked down the streets, some 'aww'ing, some glaring at Norah. They were engaged until Norah met his parents. They were strict and thought Owen should go for a more traditional girl--preferably one without a tattoo. When she asked him what was wrong with her tattoo, a ring of thorns around her bellybutton, which was his favorite part of her body, he mumbled something about his parents being right. She left him after throwing a plate at his head. But don't worry--it only made his head swell more.
She enjoyed the single life and partied often. One day at a club a more- famous Owen came up to her while she was having a drink. After she almost choked, a surprised Norah exchanged phone numbers with the now godly handsome Owen. He was even more down-to-earth and Norah fell in love again. They hung out a couple of times but never dated again, mostly because of his parents. They became best friends after a few weeks and became inseparable. He landed her a few major roles in some independent movies, saving the bigger ones for himself, but she didn't mind. She was just glad to have a friend in Hollywood. After a month-and-a-half of an acting drought, Norah decided to move to Vegas. Nick was happy, Owen, however, was furious. He professed his love to her and begged her to stay in California. When she told him there was nothing there for her he murmured something about being patient. She left that night leaving Owen nothing but a goodbye note.
She bought a one-way ticket to Las Vegas and the next thing she knew she was in the LVPD's crime lab.
Nick and Norah walked into the break room. Warrick stood up and Norah and him embraced. "Norah, how have you been?"
"Okay, how about you?"
"I've been good."
"That's great!"
"How do you two know each other exactly?" Asked an abnormally quiet Greg. He was again sitting upside down on the couch. He was visibly jealous.
"That's Greg, isn't it?" Norah said, very sure that it was.
"So, Nick does say nice stuff about me?" Greg asked semi-hopefully. Nick bit his lip, hoping Norah would fib.
She looked at Nick. "Yeah, all the time."
Nick and Warrick laughed behind her.
"But, it's your voice...you know, Nick's cell," she continued.
Greg ignored the laughter from the peanut gallery. He now deepened his voice, "A lot of people think it's sexy." Now Norah could barely resist laughing and the howling behind her grew louder.
"Oh, it is," Norah said with a smile and a wink.
Greg looked her up and down, noting especially her clothes--a pair of jeans and a red, low-cut, V-neck, practically see-through shirt. She didn't normally wear clothes this revealing, she preferred to let the men's imaginations run away with them, but she ran into--literally--an actor, at the Hollywood airport, she had worked with earlier that year. His coffee was everywhere so he insisted on giving her a shirt from his girlfriend's wardrobe. Norah was skinner than her, but her boobs filled the extra space nicely. She vowed she wouldn't give it back and also promised herself a new tank top to wear under it.
"I don't remember how you two said you knew each other," Greg pushed, looking at Warrick, then Norah's boobs, then her face, then Warrick again.
"She's my girlfriend," Warrick lied to see Greg's reaction. He put his hands on her hips and gave her a small peck on the lips.
Greg flipped over again, off the couch and headed to the door of the break room, rolled his eyes and looked at Norah's butt before leaving in a huff to go back to his lab. "Laugh it up! I'm always the butt of the jokes," he screamed down the hall when he got to the lab.
All three started laughing, even though they genuinely felt bad for mocking him.
The next thing they heard was Grissom telling Greg that he was loud enough to wake the dead. Greg then shouted something about not worrying because he wasn't in the autopsy room anyway.
Grissom then headed to the break room to see what the laughing was all about.
"This is my niece, Norah."
Grissom extended his hand, "Gil Grissom."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Grissom," she said, giving his hand a friendly shake. Suddenly her cell rang. "Excuse me," she said walking out of the room. She looked at the phone to see who it was. She sighed and rolled her eyes when she saw that it was Owen.
"Hello?"
"Norah, where are you?"
"Las Vegas," she replied a little too casually for Owen.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
"I told you already, Owen," Norah started.
Nick stuck his finger down his throat when she said his name. He knew the whole story about Owen and presumed more.
She continued, "Hollywood isn't for me. It has nothing to offer me."
"What about me?"
"Fly your butt down here if you want to be with me, because I'm not coming back."
"What about my career?"
"What about mine? My fifteen minutes of fame is up. I'm sick of being body doubles for chunky stars. Goodbye Owen," she hung up before Owen could say anything else, she paced the hall for a moment.
"Boyfriend?" Warrick mouthed to Nick. He moved his hand back and forth to indicate he was kind of her boyfriend. They didn't even know their status. Grissom half glared at them both as Norah came back in. She forced a smile, "You guys can get back to work.I don't want to intrude." She glanced at Grissom and then back at Warrick and Nick.
All three smiled sympathetically at her and left her alone in the break room. She left to go out to Nick's car and came back in with her laptop. She set it up and began to sign on to the Internet.
-------
Sara walked into the lab and sat the "mysterious wet spot" from the baseball park down on the table across from a daydreaming Greg, who was currently in Tahiti with a topless Norah. They'd just found out the spot was actually chewing tobacco and spit and she needed to know if the spit belonged to their victim. "Greg?" She waited to see if he'd snap out of his daze. "Greg," she shouted.
"Damn you! It was just getting good," Greg said.
Sara looked at Greg with bewilderment.
"I want her," Greg said, zoning out again.
Sara was puzzled at who "her" was, "Okay, well.I'm going to leave you this, test it, please."
Greg nodded absent-mindedly, not really listening to Sara.
Sara growled at Greg and walked out of the lab, with the sample, in frustration.
Greg then saw Warrick and Nick pass by the door and decided mentally that it was a good time to find Norah-without Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb around.
-------
He watched her brilliant eyes dance across the screen of her computer. He tried to think of a clever one-liner before she discovered him in the doorframe of the break room.
She felt like she was being watched but didn't bother taking her eyes off the screen.
"Whatcha doing?" Greg asked her breasts. 'Damn, damn, damn! How stupid was that line?' He mentally slapped himself.
'God, do I need to wear a sweater to get this guy to actually talk to me instead of my boobs?' she mentally slapped him. "Just checking some e- mails," she forced a smile.
'Must look higher!' He forced his eyes to hers and off her breasts. He mentally patted himself on the back. "That's cool," he said to her face and smiled.
'Finally, God!' She mentally patted him on the back. "Yeah," this time her smile was authentic.
'Go for it, Greggo, ask!' "I was wondering if, maybe, you want to want to go to dinner with me tomorrow night," he asked as calmly as he could.
'Oy, the guy's hitting on me and he just met me a half hour ago, and just discovered I had a face two seconds ago!' "Sure," she couldn't help it-he was so cute.
Greg smiled again as his eyes slid down her neck to her chest again. He slapped himself-this time not mentally. Norah's jaw dropped at Greg's self- abuse. Greg prayed she wouldn't wear that shirt the next day as he walked out of the room.
-------
After meeting virtually everyone in the building, Nick took Norah to his house. He had to do more work, but figured he'd drop her at home to rest.
They stopped at a stop sign. Norah told him Greg had asked her out on a date and how he couldn't stop looking at her chest and how he had slapped himself. He loved how Norah made his emotions change so quickly. He went from "Aww!" to "I'm going to shoot his penis off." to laughing his butt off. Listening to Norah was like watching a movie. Her facial expressions and impressions would make Adam Sandler jealous. While some of the stories themselves would make for good tearjerker chick flicks, some so sad they even made him cry. And listening to her impersonations of the "technical breakdowns," as she put it, of her toaster, microwave, and computer were like sound effects out of a sci-fi movie.
They left the car and he helped her carry her luggage into his house.
"I'll just put this stuff in my bedroom and get my pillow to sleep on the couch with," he said knowing Norah wouldn't let him sleep on the couch.
"Nick! No way, I'll sleep on the couch," Norah objected.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yeah!"
He kissed her head and said goodbye but not before handing her the remote control. She smiled and thanked him. She was lucky, and grateful. Her Uncle Nick was the closest she had to a dad, although he was more of a brother, if any relation at all.
He was her confidant.
Her mother-Libby-got pregnant at the early age of 20. Everyone in the Stokes household was supportive, and that was a lot-she had six siblings plus her mom and dad. She was the oldest, Nick the youngest. When Norah was born all 16 hands helped Libby with the baby. Nick felt he had the closest connection to the baby, him being only 10 years older than her.
She always remembered adoring him.
Norah fell asleep thinking of the "good ol' days," as her grandmother might have said.