A New Addition
Pairing: Nick and Sara
Sara's first day back from maternity leave starts with a party and an interesting case at Lady Heather's place.
A/N: I have wanted to bring Lady Heather into a chapter, so I wrote her in this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own Nick, Sara or any other CSI character. I do own Nick and Sara's families and any other non-CSI character.
Back to the Old Routine
Catherine and Warrick each brought a box of pastries into the break room. Greg made his famous Blue Hawaiian coffee. Grissom and Archie hung up a banner saying 'Welcome Back, Sara!'. Greg saw the pastries and attempted to grab one until Catherine caught him and swat him in the hand. He winced.
"Greggo, can't you wait until Nick and Sara arrived before you eat," Catherine hissed in anger. "This is Sara's first day back from a four and a half month long maternity leave. We want to make her return extra special."
"Didn't Nick tell us that Sara didn't want us to go through all this trouble?" Grissom asked.
"This is our welcome of saying 'welcome back and we miss you'," Warrick said. "I am sure she'll appreciate this."
Crime Lab Parking Lot
Nick and Sara got out the Tahoe and started walking towards the building. They were holding hands and smiling. However, Sara's smile turned into a look of concern and Nick immediately picked up on it.
"Sara, what's wrong?" Nick asked.
"I am a little worried about Abigail," Sara said. "Is she going to be fine with your cousin watching her?"
"Sara, she'll be fine," Nick said. "Janine raised two daughters of her own. I trust her to take great care of our daughter. Do you trust her?"
"I do," Sara protested. "I just can't believe I am going back to work and I miss her. She really doesn't like the bottle. I can't believe I would see the day that I would be grateful for my stupid mother giving me that breast pump as a wedding gift."
"That nut gave you that!" Nick was astonished at his wife's latest revelation. "Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I didn't want you to be angry at me," Sara said.
"Sara, I would never get mad at you," Nick said calmly. "I am furious with that woman you call mom and I call mother-in-law."
"Nick, don't breathe a word about this or you may never father another child," Sara lightly threatened as they entered the building.
"I value my manhood and I want to have another child with you," Nick chuckled knowing Sara could never harm him. "I wouldn't dare say something like that. Grissom and Catherine know that I get nervous when I talk about your mom."
When they arrived at their floor, it seemed empty. Maybe they were late and Grissom already handed out assignments.
"Hello!" Nick said. "Grissom! Catherine! Greggo! Warrick! Are you here?"
There was silence until David Hodges approached them.
"Where's the baby?" Hodges asked not seeing Sara's once pregnant belly. "Where is he or she?"
"I had a baby girl on Halloween," Sara said and left it at that.
"Well, congratulations on her arrival," he said and walked towards his lab.
"What an ass-kisser!" Nick and Sara said at the same time.
First, they went to the locker room to put their things away. Sara noticed Nick hung three photos of Abigail inside his locker door. She put small frame containing a photo of the infant on the top shelf of her locker. They headed towards the break room and smelled coffee and pastries. As Nick and Sara entered, they noticed it was empty. Nick was wondering where everyone gone to. All of a sudden, Grissom, Brass, Catherine, Warrick, Archie, Bobby, Jacqui, Dr. Robbins, Mia, David Phillips and Greg appeared from almost nowhere scaring the happily married CSIs.
"Welcome back, Sara!" they shouted and took turns hugging Sara.
"Sara, you look wonderful," David Phillips said. "It's as if you were never pregnant, but we knew you were. How is she?"
"David, thank you for the compliment," Sara smiled. "Abigail is a good baby. She's three months old now and growing steady for a baby girl."
"Stop overwhelming Sara and let's enjoy some of my Blue Hawaiian and baked goods," Greg said.
"Gee Greggo, is that the way you welcome back a CSI that just became a mommy a few months ago?" Sara asked hurt.
"I think he's saying that we should eat before Grissom hands out the assignments," Nick whispered into his wife's ear.
A half-hour of eating, drinking, talking and laughing later, the lab tech left to resume their work. Grissom loudly cleared his throat to get the still chatty CSIs' attention.
"It's assignment time!" Grissom said. "Catherine and Warrick, you are with me on a 419 at the Gold Coast. We're meeting Brass there. Nick and Sara, you are with Greg on a 419 at Lady Heather's fetish club. Vartann will meet you over there."
"There's been another murder at that dominatrix' place?" Nick asked remembering when a young dominatrix was murdered by a client. "Don't tell me it was another one of her girls!"
"Nicky my boy, you will have to wait and see," Grissom smiled.
"Hey, I want to be dominated," Greg smirked.
"Down boy!" Nick said slapping Greg on his back.
About half an hour later, Nick, Sara and Greg were with Vartann at the front door. Nick volunteered to ring the doorbell. A woman in her late 30s/early 40s opened the door and looked at the four people outside her door.
"Let me guess, a detective, two married CSIs and a rookie CSI," she said.
"I am Detective Vartann," Vartann did the introductions. "This is Nick Stokes, Sara Sidle-Stokes and Greg Sanders."
"Mr. and Mrs. Stokes, I was correct in my assumption about two married CSIs," she said. "I'm Lady Heather by the way. I assume Mr. Gil Grissom sent you here to investigate the dead body."
"Is it one of your girls again?" Nick asked.
"No Mr. Stokes, it was a client this time," Lady Heather said. "Why don't you, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Vartann process the crime scene while I talk to your wife for a few moments."
"Sure," Nick smirked. "Lady Heather, why do you want to talk to Sara?"
"I just want to get to know her a little and maybe you," she smiled at Nick and turned to Sara. "Mrs. Stokes or do you prefer Ms. Sidle-Stokes or Sara?"
"Well, since I don't know you that well," Sara said. "You can call me Mrs. Stokes or Ms. Sidle-Stokes. I'm flexible!"
"You can follow me," Lady Heather said taking Sara to the parlor room. "Have a seat. I am going to make some tea and put out some scones."
"Ma'am, I should be helping my husband and Mr. Sanders process the evidence," Sara said.
"You will," Lady Heather smiled as she brought the tea service and scones. "This will only take a few minutes."
"Sure," Sara said.
"How long have you and Mr. Stokes have been married?" she asked.
"We've been married for 20 months," Sara smiled. "Our second anniversary is in May."
"You have a child," she inferred. "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"A little girl born on Halloween," Sara said.
"How long were you out of work?" she asked
"Four and a half months," Sara said. "Today's my first day back at work. My mother-in-law stayed with us for three and a half months. We get along fine, she is a very good friend."
"You don't get along with your own mother," Lady Heather said. "It's obvious. I don't think you like to talk about her much. I also sense that your husband hates her too."
"Even my brother can't stand her," Sara said and the dominatrix almost choked on her sip of tea. "However, both loved our maternal grandparents. Our grandmother was the sweetest and kindest soul who couldn't understand why she raised a woman like that."
"Sometimes good mothers can have bad daughters and vice versa," Lady Heather philosophized. "Now about your husband, you've met him at work. Both of you have flirted with each other for a few years. Meanwhile, you were smitten with Gil Grissom, your boss and had a boyfriend who used you to cheat on his girlfriend."
"Wow, you know some things about me," Sara was stunned. "Did Grissom tell you?"
"No, I sense these things," Lady Heather smiled.
Sara and Lady Heather talked for a few more moments, drank tea and ate the scones. Lady Heather told Sara that she could start processing the scene. They shook hands. Sara got up, grabbed her kit and looked for Nick, Greg and Vartann.
A Room Upstairs – Crime Scene
"Greg, stop flirting with the girls!" Nick said. "You need to focus on the evidence, not finding the future Mrs. Greg Sanders here. If you keep this up, I will call either Warrick or Catherine to come here and I'll send you to Grissom."
"Sorry, Nick, but there are a lot of beautiful girls in this place," Greg smirked. "How can I resist?"
Nick finished putting a small clump of hair into a bindle and placed in his box. He immediately grabbed his cell phone and started scrolling down to find a number he wanted to dial. Greg saw this and immediately got to work.
Another Room Upstairs
Sara was still looking for her husband and colleagues. She heard a woman softly moaning and went to investigate the source. She went into a room and found a young woman trying to wake up. Sara knew that somebody rendered her unconscious. Was it a client or a fellow dominatrix who was jealous? She immediately ruled out the fellow dominatrices since Lady Heather told her that no one in her club were jealous of another.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Sara asked the waking dominatrix.
"Yes, but I am woozy," she said.
"I'm Sara Sidle-Stokes from the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Sara introduced herself. "I am investigating the murder of a client of this fetish club. What's your name?"
"Leanne Davies," she said. "The victim is my client. No, I didn't kill him. I was drugged until I was rendered unconscious before he was killed. I think his killer dragged me to this room."
Sara collected some evidence of Leanne's dazed body and helped her to a chair. She knew that she needed some assistance and her instinct told her to get Nick.
"Nick!" Sara shouted. "Could you come here, please? I think we have a secondary crime scene!"
Primary Crime Scene
Nick heard Sara shouting for him to come to her. He got up from his squatting position and stood up. He approached Vartann.
"I am going to see what Sara wants," Nick said. "Can you keep an eye on Greg just to make sure he's doing his job and not flirting with any the dominatrices?"
"Sure, I'll watch him closely," Vartann said.
"Nick, come here now!" Sara shouted from another room.
"I'm coming Sara!" Nick shouted. "I don't know where you are. Shout and I'll find you!"
Secondary Crime Scene
Nick finally found Sara in the room where Leanne was dragged to before her client was murdered. He saw the two women and immediately entered.
"Sara, what's going on?" Nick asked. "Where were you?"
"Don't ruffle your feathers, Nick," Sara said. "First, Lady Heather wanted to have tea, scones and conversation with me. Then, I tried looking for you, Greg and Vartann. I found this young woman, Leanne Davies, coming out of being drugged unconscious. The victim was her client."
"Ms. Davies, I am Nick Stokes with the Las Vegas Crime Lab," Nick said. "My wife and fellow criminalist just told me about want happened. I just need to ask a few more questions."
"The two of you are married to each other?" Leanne asked. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, and it's okay," Sara said. "We have a beautiful three month old daughter."
"Were you still conscious when your client was murdered?" Nick asked. "My colleague found a small rag on the floor that smelled of chloroform."
"No, I was dealt with first," Leanne replied calmly. "He must've been killed shortly after I was unconscious and dragged to this room."
"Before you were drugged," Nick started to ask her. "Did you hear the alleged killer say something? Was it a man or a woman?"
"I heard very unfamiliar female voice calling me a slut and a whore," Leanne said heavily. "That was when all hell started to break loose. If you want to ask me what she looked like, I can't she snuck behind us."
"Well, that's all we want to know for the moment," Nick said. "If you can remember anything else, here are our business cards."
"Thank you," Leanne said. "I am sorry I couldn't help you."
"You've helped us more than you think," Sara smiled. "Get some rest now."
Nick and Sara went to see how Greg was doing with the primary scene. There was a smile on Nick's face after Vartann reassured him that Greg was on his best behavior and focused on collecting and documenting the evidence and the victim. The coroner already took the body for Dr. Robbins to examine. Greg, Sara and Nick split up to talk to the other dominatrices to see if they had seen or heard anything. They were either busy with their own clients or some went out to dinner. One of them was able to produce a credit card receipt to check the alibi. Sara was sent to talk to Lady Heather since she developed a rapport with the dominatrix.
"Why would someone do something like that to Leanne?" Lady Heather asked. "Drugging her unconscious and killing her client!"
"I don't know," Sara shook her head. "She told my husband that there was an unfamiliar woman that called her a slut and a whore. That was when she was knocked out cold by the chloroform soaked rag. Did you see anyone besides your girls and clients coming in and out?"
"You know what," Lady Heather said. "I do remember seeing a woman around your age. She was about two inches shorter than you with blond hair. I thought she was a new girl or a delivery person."
"Thank you for sharing that," Sara said.
"No problem," she smirked. "You are more than welcome to come over for tea and scones."
Sara rejoined Nick, Greg and Vartann at the lobby and they left for the crime lab. Once they arrived, Sara, Nick and Greg dropped off the evidence at Hodges' and the Trace labs. Almost immediately, they went to the morgue for a conference Doctor Robbins on their victim. The COD was asphyxiation due to strangulation. He found some fibers on the victim's neck and gave them to Nick. He went took them to trace and told the techs that it was related to the case. He was about to return to the morgue when Vartann told him that the victim's girlfriend called the police to report him missing. She was at the police station and the two men went there to talk to her. She answered their questions and they took her to the morgue to identify the body.
Nick and Sara went to see Hodges for the DNA results. Sara saw Nick's suspicious body language and facial expression, she was very concerned.
"Nick, what's the matter?" Sara asked.
"I don't think the girlfriend is as innocent as she appears to be," Nick sighed. "There is something in my gut that tells me that she's a phony."
"How can your gut tell?" Sara asked.
"I was there with Vartann at the station," Nick said. "We talked to her about her boyfriend and his trips to the fetish club to get dominated. She had an indifferent expression in her face. When we took her to the morgue to ID his body, she was crying, but not in the way that is mournful. I could see that it was an act to fool us."
"I just hope your gut is right," Sara said. "I hate sympathy junkies."
They entered Hodges' lab and he told them that CODIS had a match. The woman was there because of her record. She served very little prison time for them. Nick still had that sinking suspicion that it was the girlfriend, even his wife shared that suspicion. He just needed something to prove or disprove it. They saw the girlfriend about to leave the lab and they stopped her. Greg joined them, learned of Nick and Sara's suspicious, took a DNA sample and brought it to Hodges. While that was processing, Nick, Sara, Greg and Vartann were in the interrogation room with the suspect making small talk. Greg was paged by Hodges for the results. They could place the girlfriend at Lady Heather's and she killed her boyfriend. The foursome confronted her on the evidence and wanted to know the motive. She told them she didn't want him to visit the fetish clubs since she wanted him to spend more time with her. Sara was sickened by was the woman said. Vartann immediately had her arrested.
An hour and a half later, Nick and Sara were home after having breakfast at the diner and happy to be there. They both looked forward to spending some time with Abigail before they went to sleep. It was an exhausting shift, but at the same time, it was satisfying. Janine saw them and immediately ran to them.
"Sara, how was your first day back at work?" Janine asked.
"It was great," Sara smiled. "However, it was draining, but it was rewarding when we arrested the killer. How's Abigail?"
"She was a little angel," Janine said. "She slept through most of the night and only needed to be changed twice. She wasn't hungry, but I'm sure she'll be now that her mommy's home."
As if on cue, Abigail started to cry and her parents went to her room. Sara gingerly picked up the infant and sat on the rocking chair. She nursed Abigail until the baby's stomach was full. Sara burped Abigail while Nick looked at his wife and daughter with a smile. After a grueling case, their baby girl provided them with comfort and joy. Nick took her from Sara's arms and did a diaper change. They kissed her before Nick gently put her back in the crib.
Another fifteen minutes later, Nick and Sara were in bed. Sleep would be welcomed by the exhausted couple. They were watching CNN since they didn't feel like watching anything else.
"I love you, Nick," Sara purred.
"I love you, too, Sara," Nick whispered and they kissed.
A few moments later, they drifted off to sleep in each other arms.
TBC