It felt as if a thousand pinpricks were in his eyes. Or, at least, one small pointy finger was poking his eyes. Warrick opened both eyes, rolling quickly to avoid another finger in his eye. Large brown eyes were up close and personal. At this point in the waking process, they were just too personal for Warrick's peace of mind.
"Who you?"
"I'm a friend of your Mom, and of Gil. You know him, right?'
"Gwampa Gil" The little girl nodded, studying him with open curiosity. The kid was adorable, Warrick thought. Big brown eyes, dark brown hair with just enough curl to cause it to branch out in all directions. While her mother was all blonde and pale, this little girl had the complexion that women spent hours in the tanning booths for. If she didn't look so much like Gemma, he wouldn't have thought they were related. He guessed the father was dark.
Suddenly it dawned on him. Gemma was on the run from the family of Tony Latruse, head of a family of Italian-American mobsters. This girl was a Latruse. The files had stated that Gemma had stolen or cheated the family out of money and they were after her to get it back. Gil had circled that fact, marking that it was a lie.
Now Warrick understood. Gemma hadn't seemed the type. She'd seemed too confused, too innocent. He wondered how the hell she had gotten mixed up with the mob.
"I am Grandpa Gil's friend. My name is Warrick."
"Wwaa-" Jessica frowned at the word. Warrick had already noticed her inability to say the letter r. "That funny name."
"Yeah." Warrick smiled softly. "How about you call me Daddy'Oh. That's what my friends call me."
"Da'Oh." The girls tested it out, beaming at him. Warrick's heart felt like it was melting from the brilliance of the smile.
"Perfect. So, where is your Ma?"
"Seepin''
"Why aren't you asleep too?" Warrick rolled up to a sitting position, glancing over at the other bed. Gemma was sprawled out on her stomach, sleeping like a baby.
"Not seepy." Jessica shrugged. "Want eat."
"Hungry huh?" Warrick slid out of bed, taking her hand, he led the little girl to the bathroom. "Okay, let's brush your hair, then we will go fetch some food." Twenty minutes later, he walked out of the motel room with the little girl holding his hand unquestioningly. Gemma had slept through the entire dressing and primping process. Warrick could see where Jessica had inherited the ability to sleep through everything.
"Honey! We're home!": Warrick called as he unlocked the door. Gemma looked up at him from the bed, she looked apprehensive, yet groggy. "We brought breakfast."
"You took Jess?" Gemma blinked as if trying to clear her eyes and her thoughts.
"She was awake. You needed to rest. She helped me pick out what we wanted for breakfast. I left a note."
"I saw it."
"So…….Is there a problem? I know we were gone for quite a while, but we had trouble finding a store that was open. Jessie wanted donuts and candy, but we compromised on strawberries and bagels for breakfast and granola bars as a snack in the car for later.
"It's not a problem, I just barely woke up. I'm just……surprised."
"Surprised?"
"A man taking a child on an excursion….voluntarily." Gemma scoffed. "It doesn't happen."
"I like kids. A friend of mine as a little girl. I've spent a lot of time with her. I've even been known to baby-sit. Jess is cool." Warrick shrugged.
"Thank you." Gemma gave him a rare smile as Jessica crawled up into her lap for a hug.
"Da'Oh fix my hair!" Jessica showed her the braided hair.
"Beautiful!" Gemma complimented the crooked braids before looking to Warrick, with a question on her face.
"I told her that all my friends call me Daddy'Oh. She was having trouble pronouncing my name." Warrick clarified with another shrug, watching the little girl settle down with the coloring book he'd just purchased. Quieter, he added, "It will cut down on the confusion when we are undercover. It will be hard to convince her to call me dad. I figure, if she thinks it's my name, she'll get it quicker."
"You have a way with kids." Gemma looked impressed. "Where are we? Do you have a plan?"
"Yeso, New Mexico. Yeah. Let's eat. We can discuss it while we do. We gotta be out of here in less than half an hour." Warrick went to the table and started pulling out the food and milk he'd brought in.
"Why half an hour?" Gemma rose, coming over to the table.
"I'm supposed to finish signing us in at nine." Warrick grinned boyishly. Gemma shook her head, busying herself with dividing the food out.
Twenty-nine minutes late, they were back on the road again. Gemma knew the general direction they were heading. Warrick had decided to zigzag their way across New Mexico. His cousin had a friend who lived in Encino, Texas. He thought they might be able to lay low there, or at least trade in the car. It was so close to the Mexican border, he hoped to trick their pursuers into thinking they were heading to Mexico.
Gemma was nervous, but she didn't really have a choice except to trust the man. Uncle Gil had told her to trust this man, but trust had become a hard feeling to have anymore. Uncle Gil seemed to be the only one who had lived up to her trust. Now, he had told her to trust this man and she wasn't sure she knew how.
Her eyes told her he wasn't hard to look at. He was a beautiful man. He seemed to actually like hanging out with Jessica. He had a gentleness when he dealt with her. She knew that could be feigned. She saw the intensity in his eyes, the way anger flared up behind his emerald gaze and it frightened her. She'd been on the wrong side of a man with a temper, and it made her leery of them man.
And yet, she was trapped in a car, force to trust his assessment of the situation.
"Have you ever been to Vegas before?" He questioned out of the blue. "Maybe to visit Grissom?"
"No. He used to come visit me at school after my mother died." Gemma studied his profile as he took in the information. He was frowning. "Why?"
"It's just, I feel like I've seen you somewhere before. I had thought, maybe you've been to the lab or something and I'd seen you there."
"No. This was the first time I'd ever been to Nevada. I've always lived in California. I traveled to Oregon when I was Jessica's age, but I don't remember it. I went to Boarding School in Washington." Gemma shook her head. "I don't think I've ever seen you. I think I would remember a man like you."
"A man like me?" Warrick chanced a glance at her. "What does that mean? Is that good or bad?"
"I just meant….with you being so tall, and with those eyes, you make an impression. I'm thinking you attract a lot of attention wherever you go." Gemma rationalized. Warrick was frowning heavily at the road ahead as she gave her reasoning. "Have I insulted you? I apologize."
"No, actually it's a compliment, but it's a good point. I can't go around attracting attention on this trip."
Warrick remained quiet for the next couple of hours. Gemma grew nervous about how much he was frowning. A frowning man usually meant an angry man. She remained quiet, trying to shrink down in her seat, so not to provoke more than an frown.
As lunch time grew near, Warrick pulled off into a busy town and found a grocery store. The gathered groceries and an ice chest rather than waste the extra money on fast food. After the car was loaded and they had eaten sandwiches, Warrick willingly climbed into the passenger seat, ready for a nap.
"We will stop at another motel tonight. We need to change our looks a little." He informed her with a yawn. "We'll take on an alias, that sort of thing."
"How do we do that?"
"Gris set us up with everything."
"How? You mean, fake names and drivers license?" Gemma glanced at him as he levered the seat to a reclining position. "I though it was his job to prevent that."
"We solve crimes and murders." Warrick corrected. "We've got some friends in……bad places." He snickered. 'The friend I told you about, the one with the daughter….she recently found out that her father is a dangerous man. He's a powerful man. Most likely, Gris went to him."
"How long did you guys plan this?" Gemma demanded.
"He told me about it three hours before I met you. One hour of that I was sleeping." Warrick yawned again.
"But, fake identification, they take time, don't they?" Gemma frowned with confusion.
"Gris knew I'd be on board with this. He probably got to work on it as soon as you showed up on his doorstep." With that, he closed his eyes, ending the conversation. He relaxed, secure that Gemma could drive the route he'd set for them.
When he awoke, it was early evening. The sun was riding low in the sky. Turning on his side, he found himself eye to eye with Jessica. She was leaning forward, looking straight into his face. "Da'Oh no seep?"
"No, I'm not sleeping anymore." He murmured, giving the girl a smile. He was beginning to see a pattern of waking with this sweet face in his face. He picked up her stuffed monkey from the floorboard, behind the drivers seat and offered it to her. Jessica smiled brightly at him and hugged the monkey "Dank-you!"
"Anytime Sweetheart!" Flipping back over, he levered his seat to an upright position. He wondered if he could win over her mother if he offered her a monkey.
Gemma glanced over at him, an unfriendly expression on her face. No, he didn't think a monkey would work.