A/N: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews! I really love hearing from you guys. Many of you think you have an idea on who "James" is. Whether your right or not, well, that's for me to know and you to find out, eventually, if you review enough ;-)
SO, review!
--Emily—
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. I want to own CSI. I WILL own CSI one day. I just don't at present –Author smiles as she looks over "the plan"-
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Sandy Stokes stood on the front porch of the large ranch house on a quiet afternoon. It was fall, almost three months since the death of her son. The thought still brought tears to her eyes. She wished desperately her son had left some reminder of himself, she wished he could have settled down and given he a grandchild before he died. She wiped a tear from her eye as she watched the approaching mail truck rumble down the rocky driveway. She met it at the mailbox, thanking the man before walking in. as she entered the house, she flipped through.
"Bills, bills, junk, more junk." She murmured to herself as she went through the letters. But as she came to one, she stopped.
"Sara Sidle
Las Vegas, Nevada." She read out loud. She quickly abandoned the stack and tore open the letter.
Dear Mr. And Mrs. Stokes,
You don't know me, but I knew your son, Nick. I guess first I should tell you my name. My name is Sara Sidle. I worked closely with Nick, we were close friends. Actually, in all truthfulness, we were a bit more then friends. You see, we had been dating each other for about two months when he died.
I'm not really sure how to say this, but I will try. You see, right after the funeral, I found out that I was having a baby- Nick's baby. I know I should have told you in person, but I couldn't. It's hard enough writing this. I just thought you would want to know about the baby- you have the right to know about your grand child. And so you know, I was truly in love with him.
Sara Sidle
Sandy shakily sat down as she reread the letter. Nick had left part of himself behind? She let out a small sob as she buried her head in her hands.
"Mom, what's the matter?" drawled her oldest daughter, Kate, who had been staying with her mother since Nick's death.
"Oh God, Kate, call your Father. Tell him to come home now." She managed to say through her tears. Kate quickly did as she was told.
"Daddy? You need to come home. It's Mom, I don't know what happened but you need to get here now." Kate hung up and walked over to where her mother sat sobbing.
"Mom, what happened?" she asked, concerned for her mother. Wordlessly, Sandy handed over the letter. As Kate read it, her eyes widened.
"My god. What are you going to do? Are you going to call her?" she wondered, her hands trembling as she held the letter.
"I don't know. I just don't know." Kate embraced her mother in a comforting hug. That was how Tom Stokes found them twenty minutes later.
"Sandy, what happened?" he asked, rushing over to where his wife sat.
"Just read." Was all she said? Kate looked at him and gave him the letter, now stained with tears. He looked up in astonishment as he finished it.
"My lord. What are we going to do?"
"I think we should call her." whispered Sandy, her voice almost inaudible. Kate and Tom just looked at her.
"Honey, I don't know. Do you think that would really be the best…"
"Tom, don't you think we should know the young lady who happens to be carrying out dead sons child? This could be our last connection to him. And I for one don't plan on ignoring it." Her voice was louder now; her eyes silently daring her husband to just try to argue with her. Realizing it was futile to argue, Tom just nodded.
"When do you want to call?"
"Now."
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Sara sat in the dark apartment, just staring at the picture she held in her hand. She had been like this for the past half hour, just sitting and gazing at a picture of her and Nick that had been taken a while before his death. Both had wide smiled on their faces and had their arms tightly wrapped around one another.
-Ring-
The sound of the phone brought Sara back from her daze. She picked up the receiver, preying it was not her mother on the other end.
"Hello?" she asked groggily.
"Hello. Is this Sara?" replied an unfamiliar voice. The voice was female and carried a heavy Texas accent filled with pain.
"Yes. Who is this?"
"This is Sandy Stokes. Nick's mother. We got your letter today."
"Oh, um, good. I'm glad I got the right address." She said lamely, not quite sure what else she could say.
"Yah, you did." There was a long pause before Sandy spoke again. "So, how far along are you with the baby?"
"Three months." Sara replied with a smile as she moved her hand down to her abdomen.
"How is it all going?"
"Great. Hopefully this will be an easy pregnancy."
"We hope so to. Umm, listen. My husband Tom and I would really like to meet you. I don't know if you want this or not, but we both would like to be in our Grandchild's life." Sara grinned. She had secretly been hoping this would be the case.
"I am very glad to know that. I know that's what Nick would have wanted." She said, her voice sincere. Both ends were quiet for a moment at the mention of Nick's name.
"When would you like to get together? You can come here or we could fly to Vegas." Sara thought for a moment.
"What would be easier for you?"
"Well, probably if you came here. The whole family would like to meet you. But if you cant do that, we will just come there." Came the answer.
"No, no problem at all. When would you want me to come?"
"How does next month sound? December fourth?" Sara glanced at her calendar, though she knew there was nothing she had scheduled in it. The only plans she had ever made in there had been dates with Nick.
"That's fine."
"Great. We will call you later to discuss details. Talk to you later?"
"Yeah. Bye."
"Bye." Sara hung up and let out a relieved sigh. She had secretly been scared that his parents would not accept her. But they had. A smile formed on her face as she let herself drift to sleep right there on the couch.
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"Hey Sara. You look happy this evening." Commented Catherine as Sara entered the break room. It was true, Sara looked happy, something she hadn't truly looked since the death of Nick.
"I wrote to his parents. You know, to tell them about the baby."
"Sara, that's great! I am really proud of you. Did you send it?"
"Actually, I sent it two weeks ago." Sara said sheepishly.
"And you didn't tell me?" exclaimed the blonde.
"Sorry. Anyways, his parents called me this morning. I'm going down to Texas next month to meet them." she said, her smile broadening.
"I am really happy for you Sara." Catherine said. She had in truth been worried about the younger woman for some time. It was a great relief to see Sara somewhat happy again.
"Catherine, we got something on the case." Said Grissom, poking his head in the break room. Catherine smiled at Sara.
"See you later."
"Bye Cath."
"So, what is it?"
"We got a hit on the blood sample we collected from the scene."
"Oh my gosh! Who is it?" she asked, following Grissom to where the computer sat. She looked at it.
"Meet Chase Rickter."
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A/N: well, did you like? Please tell me your thoughts on this story. The more reviews I receive, the faster I update. So, review!
--Emily--
