An: I would like to take time out to mention on of my special reviewers. However I can't name them because it was anonymous. Fist of all, Greg was comparing her DNA to the DNA Grissom found, not to Nicks. In order to test paternity you would have to compare. Second, Nick is not necessarily old old, which you will find out later on. And if the person that wrote that is reading this now, HA! I guess you did like it! Now on with the story......
Chapter 4:
Nick took the girls out to breakfast the next morning. They went to the dinner close to the lab, not the one that Stephanie worked at. Katie looked over at April who was happily using her fingers to munch on her bacon. "If it's ok, there's something I need to pick up at the house." She said.
"I was going to take you to get some new things today. I figured it would help in making a new start." He said sipping on his coffee.
Katie got confused. "I thought this was only for a few days."
"I wanted to talk to you about that." He said. "I was thinking last night. How would you like to live with me?" He asked cautiously.
Katie put her juice back down. "I told you, she's going to want us back in a few days."
"I couldn't care less." He said seriously. "I'm concerned about you two. It's not good for you to go back."
She looked at April who looked from Nick to her. "What about April?"
"What about her?" He asked.
"She's not your child. Some people find that hard to deal with." She said. Her mother didn't want to be reminded of Nick, and Todd wasn't her father so they thought of her as the help, instead of a daughter.
"That doesn't matter that she's not blood related. I'll treat her the same way I would treat you." He said.
Katie looked to April again as if April would tell her what to do. April put her juice down and slid under the table. "April sit up." And she did, but she sat next to Nick. Her eyes pleaded with Katie to let them stay with him. "I guess we can see how it goes, for now." She said. Wanting to find out more about Nick before she agreed to live with him. "I still need to stop by the house for a minute." Nick nodded his head and they finished their breakfast.
He pulled the car to the curb of their house and put it in park. "Do you want me to come in?" He asked.
"No, stay with her." She said so that she wouldn't have to carry April in. She came back five minutes later, with a small bag over her shoulder. She sat down in the passenger seat and buckled her seat belt.
"Is that all you have?" He said noticing the small bag.
"Yeah, um could we please go." She said placing her hands over her face.
Nick pulled away from the curb and a few blocks later he pulled over. "What happened?" He asked.
"Nothing." She said trying to compose herself.
"Katie, tell me."
"I need to go to CVS." She said simply. He took a breath and merged back onto the road. Five minutes later he pulled into the CVS and the three of them went in. Katie took April's hand and led her through the isles until they came to the first aid section. Katie reached in her pocket and pulled out a ten and a few ones. She looked at the ointments and picked the cheap CVS one and also picked out a pack of large band-Aids. She walked up to the register when Nick found her.
"Does she need sippy cups?" He asked holding a pack of four. Katie nodded, and hid her purchase. He put the cups on the counter and told her to put her things up too. He wouldn't let her pay for it so she slid them up. He paid and carried the bag out. "What's this for? I thought we took care of everything last night." He said as they sat in the car. She looked out the window. "Katie please." He said softly.
"I wouldn't have gone back but we needed something from our room." She began, tears welling in her eyes. "When I came back down the stairs he was waiting with his belt." She cried and showed her arm that had an open gash on it.
Nick drew in a breath, and then anger hit him. "I promise you, I will never let anyone hurt you again." He said as he helped her dress it. She nodded and looked back out the window. "Why don't we go to the mall, I bet we could find some nice clothes and toys for you." He said to the girls, trying to cheer them up. April liked the sound of new toys and smiled. He pulled out of the parking lot and took them to the mall.
Since the parking lot was outside Katie took April by the hand and they began to walk from the car to the mall. Nick held out his hand for Katie to take and she looked at it and gently placed her hand in his. April saw this as Katie coming around to him and so she let go of Katie's hand took Nicks other hand. The first stop they made was at a clothing store. Nick could tell by the clothes that she wore, that she probably hadn't gotten new clothes in a couple years. They went through the store picking out jeans, shirts, skirts, he let her pick out anything she wanted. She was hesitant at first but by the time they finished she had the biggest smile on her face and a few nice clothes to go with it. They stopped at a kids store and got April some new clothes as well, and since she never had a dress, that's all she wanted. So the three of them picked out a few nice sun dresses and Nick paid for them as well. Their last stop was at K B Toys. Nick didn't have much for them to do at his house so he let April pick out some toys to play with and Katie got a few books at the bookstore next to it. She was thumbing through a new book by J. Tucker, when April ran up to her.
"Katie?" She said tugging her shirt.
She squatted down, "What's up?"
"I don't want to go back to mommy. I want to stay with Nick." She said.
"We can for now, but won't you miss mommy."
She shook her head. "Nick is nicer than Todd, and mommy was never home anyway." She said.
Katie was about to answer when Nick came up. "She ran ahead of me." He said. He looked down at April.
"No more tickling." She said giggling. Katie smiled as Nick picked April up and swung her in a circle before throwing her over his shoulder.
"Find anything?" He asked as April was in a fit of giggles.
"Two." She said as they went up front to pay. 'Maybe this could be a new start for us.' She thought.
They left the mall and Nick took them to his house. "I figured you could have this room." He said to Katie as he showed her the room next to his. It was a two bedroom house but there was a den that he figured he could turn into April's room. "We could paint it, you could pick out some cool sheets, maybe get some posters." He said enthusiastically and Katie laughed. It was the first time he heard her laugh and he was hoping it wouldn't be the last. "We could hang a mirror here, hold on." He said placing a hand on the dresser and a hand on his head. "I'm getting overwhelmed by my own good taste." He joked.
"Am I in here too?" April asked.
"You, my dear." He said picking her up. "Will be in here. Although for the time being you'll have to sleep in Katie's room." He said showing her the den. "We could get a cool bed, maybe one of those race car ones."
"Noo." She giggled.
"No?"
"Those are for boys." She said.
Nick remembered she picked out a Disney Princess Barbie doll. "Maybe a white bed with princess sheets?" He smiled.
Her eyes got really big. "Really?"
"Really really." He said putting her down.
"Katie!" She yelled going into the other room. "I'm getting princess sheets." She said happily.
"Wow." Katie said. "Why don't you open up your new Barbie." She said handing her the box. April ran out to the living room and sat in the middle of the floor and began to tear open the box. "You don't have to make anything special." She said to Nick, not getting use to the fact that he actually wanted to.
"I want to. It will be fun, we could all do it together." He said. "I don't have to be at work until tomorrow night so tomorrow we could get paint and paint the two rooms, then order the bed for her room, shop for sheets and posters, it'll be fun." He said.
Katie's eyes welled up with tears as she walked toward him and hugged him. "Than you so much." She said wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Don't mention it. You're my daughter, I need to make up for lost time." He said hugging her back.
Katie lay awake in bed that night. She looked down at April who was fast asleep next to her. She heard the dim sound from the tv in the living room. She slowly got out of bed and padded her sock clad feet out to the living room. Nick was sitting on the couch wearing a t shirt and pajama bottoms with his sock covered feet propped up on the coffee table. He looked up when she came down the hall. "Did I wake you?" He asked.
She shook her head and sat next to him. "I couldn't sleep. You?"
"I'm use to working now." He said. Flipping channels. He landed on the discovery channel talking about penguins.
"Did you know that penguins use their wings for swimming, not flying, and that their beaks are hooked on the end to help them catch fish." Katie said quietly.
Nick looked at her curiously. "You know a lot about penguins." He said.
"I know a lot about birds. I love birds. Besides the discovery channel is the only thing worth watching when you can't sleep." She said. "My mom hates birds."
Nick was shocked. She propped her feet on the table next to his and began to rub them together. She would rub the top of her left foot with her right, and then switch, making sure she rubbed them equally. He looked at his own feet as he was unconsciously doing it himself. "Do you like socks?" He asked, wondering if she had the same answer as he did.
"I love wearing socks. I hate going barefoot." She said.
"Me too." He said. The two smiled at what they had in common. "She use to hate it when I talked about birds, then again it was pretty much all I talked about." He said.
There was silence for a minute. "What was she like?" Katie asked. "I mean back when you knew her."
Nick sighed. "She was a great person. We met in highschool, back in Texas. We started dating junior year. She use to have this glow about her. She was always laughing or smiling, and she was nice to everyone. That summer changed her though. She stayed over one night when my parents went away. Then three weeks later she just disappeared. There was a rumor that went around that her family had just decided to move away." He thought for a second. "Now that I think about it. They probably found out she was pregnant and moved her away." He said.
"And she never told you?" She asked.
Nick shook his head and then looked at her. "But I'm glad I found out, even if it was years later." He smiled slinging an arm around her pulling her close. She lay into him and fell asleep a few minutes later, watching about the birds.
An: I realized while I was writing that I shouldn't have lashed out at my reviewers I realized why he/she posted the review and I give out my pity for him/her. (We all know why) Hope you liked. I will post again soon.