"I could be doing so much better stuff right now."
Tim looked over to the dark haired man sitting next to him. It was the last day of the conference and he just wanted it over and done with.
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Playing with my kids, being with my wife. Killing my boss for making me come. Nick Stokes by the way."
"Tim Speedle." they shook hands and continued to quietly talk during the lecture.
"Oh I've heard about you. My co-workers talk about you a lot."
"They know me how?"
"Catherine Willows, Warrick Brown." Nick said. Tim rattled his brain for a second, then remembered them.
"Oh yeah. How are they?"
"Good... Warrick's got a kid and a wife. Catherine is still the same. She's pining over Grissom though."
"Ah, I thought she had the hots for my boss, he's a jackass too."
"Really?"
"Yeah. He doesn't have a family so he doesn't realize that that's where I need to be right now." Tim said.
"You got kids?"
Tim nodded, "Three."
"I got two. Pain in the asses but Sara says they take after me."
Tim laughed quietly.
"How old are they?"
"Six. They're twins. So they're double the trouble. I love them anyway."
"My daughter's six too."
"She trouble?"
"Only if I'm not there so I feel bad for my wife." Tim smirked. Nick chuckled.
"How old are the other two?"
"My oldest is nine and my youngest is one."
"They all get along?"
"T.J, the oldest, and Nicky, the baby, do but Ava doesn't like him. They have the same birthday, coincidentally. She swears to this day he ruined her birthday party." Tim said.
"The boys always stick together." Nick nodded. "Alex and James drive me crazy. I'm always finding strange things in my house or I'm getting bombarded with water balloons in the afternoon. I work night shift so I like to sleep as much as I can in the afternoon but... not happening."
-----------S/C----------
"Well I finally found someone I can relate to." Nick laughed. "How many siblings do you have?"
"One. He's 26." Tim replied, taking another sip of his beer. After the lecture the boys decided to go grab something to eat. "You?"
"Six and I'm the baby."
"Jesus Christ. How did you parents do it, take care of all those kids?"
"I dunno. Sometimes I can't handle two."
"Half the time I can't handle three. I just thank God that I have Calleigh there. She's better with kids. Ava's a daddy's girl though, she doesn't give me any problems."
Nick tossed Tim a picture across the table and he shook his head.
"I thought I was hallucinating for a second." he smirked. "Jesus, identical twins?"
"They piss Sara off." Nick said. "They dress alike, do everything alike and we can't even tell them apart."
Tim leaned over and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. He flipped through it for a few seconds, pulling out random pictures and handed them over to Nick."
"Aww..." he cooed. "Tim's a big softy huh?"
He frowned. All he had in there were the kids' school pictures and one of Nicky taken professionally.
"Huh?"
Nick handed him back a picture and Tim turned red. There was a picture of him asleep, on the couch, all the kids on him, asleep as well.
"Calleigh..." he muttered.
"Woo... is this the missus?" Nick asked. Tim peered across the table and grinned, nodding.
"Yeah."
"She's hot."
"I know."
Nick grinned and handed over a picture of Sara.
"Your wife is hot too." Tim said. "But I prefer blondes."
"And I go for brunettes."
"Give me back my wife." they said in unison, causing them to laugh loudly. They sobered up and talked for a while more.
"That snow is starting to fall pretty hard." Nick said. Tim glanced over at the window and nodded.
"I gotta call Calleigh." he mumbled, going for his cell phone.
"I gotta call Sara too."
They sat in silence as they waited for their respective households to answer the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey princess."
Nick smiled at Tim.
"Big softy." he whispered and Tim gave him the middle finger.
"Hi Daddy!" Ava immediately sounded cheerier. "Are you coming home?"
"Not yet Ava. Tomorrow."
"Hey give it back Nicky!"
"NO! MY PHONE!"
Tim sighed and put his chin in his palm, waiting for his kids to finish fighting.
"You have it upside down!"
Finally, there was silence.
"Daddy?"
"Nicky. When did you learn to use a phone?"
"Watch Ava."
"Oooh. How are you buddy?"
"Crummy."
"You're sick?"
"Yup."
"Oh, that's not good. Is Mommy there?"
"Uh... no."
"Who's there?"
"DEKO!"
Tim jerked the phone away from his ear. Why was it his kids that were so loud?
"Nicky, you're supposed to take the phone away when you yell for someone." Tim heard Ava scold. "But... Uncle Eric I want to talk to Daddy!"
"In a minute Ava. Hey man."
"Hey. Where's Calleigh?"
"At the movies."
"At the movies." Tim repeated.
"Yeah. Her and Max and Alexx went and I'm in charge."
"My three kids are alone with you."
"Yeah."
"Oh God help them."
"More like God help me. They're animals Speed."
"I haven't noticed." he said sarcastically. "Tell Calleigh to call me when she comes home."
Click.
"I'll call back later." Tim sighed, flipping his phone shut.