A/N: Wow, chapter ten. I never thought I'd get this far on a story. I'm seriously neglecting my other one and it has my best friend in fits. This one is just too hard to put down. To all my reviewers: I love you to death. I'm just shy of 100 reviews and it's all because I have the best readers in the world.
Headliner
Chapter 10
Sara peered down the ladder at her daughter. She held a burned-out light bulb in her left hand and a brand new one in her right. Lexi was spotting her at the base of the ladder.
"Lexi, we don't need to discuss this now. Will you please just take the light bulb?"
"Mom, we do need to discuss this now. It's a very important issue. We can't keep putting it off forever."
"Can it at least wait until I'm off the ladder?"
"Fine."
Sara screwed in the bulb and hopped off the ladder. She flipped the switch and smiled as the room became brighter. "Now, how about some breakfast?"
"Mother!"
"Alright, alright. We'll talk."
"Good, because I have something very important to tell you."
"Oh you do, do you?"
"Yes. I'm moving in with Dad."
Sara raised her eyebrow skeptically at her daughter. "You're doing what?"
"I overheard you and him talking the other night, and I agree with him completely. I'm going to move in with him. You can come too."
"Thanks for the invitation. Lex, we really can't do that?"
"And why not?"
"Lexi, you don't just move in with someone because they share your DNA."
"Says who?"
"Okay, listen, we may do it eventually, but it's just not the right time now. Besides, we still have the apartment. The lease is clear through the end of the year."
Alexis frowned. She knew this wasn't really a problem. Sara and Alexis both knew the landlord quite well. It would've been relatively easy to get out of the lease. Not to mention all of Sara's connections with lawyers. She was stalling. Lexi was glad that she had recently called Lindsey. With her help, they had come up with a plan to get Sara and Nick together. Lexi had high hopes for the plot and phase one was about to begin.
Sara threw the file on Grissom's desk. Ever since she had announced the fact that she had a child, he had been stricter about her work. She thought that she had somehow let him down with this information. That puzzled her. Maybe he was upset at the fact that Nick was becoming a larger part of her life due to the child. That puzzled her even more. Over the years she had yearned for Grissom's affection. He had turned her down numerous times. Now, when things were just starting to get in order, he had to mess them up. She adjusted her shirt. No, she was not going to let that happen. Grissom blew his chances. If she wanted to care more about her daughter than her boss, then so be it. He wasn't going to stop her.
She pulled her car into the parking space in front of the apartment. She glanced up and saw that there were no lights on in her home. She grabbed her purse and headed up the walk. She made her way to the ever-familiar leaf shaped dish and paused. There was a note taped to the stem. It was in Lexi's handwriting.
"Mom, I told you I was moving in with Dad, and so I have. I'll be by to get the rest of my stuff sometime tomorrow. See you there? Love, Lexi."
Sara dropped her keys onto the counter and ran to Lexi's bedroom. She pushed open the door. The room was nearly empty. Only her bed, desk, and dresser were left. Even the stereo set had been removed. She threw open the closet doors. The only things that remained were the Stokes shirts from her trip to Texas. Sara felt anger bubbling throughout her body. She ran back to the kitchen and picked up the phone. She punched in Nick's home phone number.
"Stokes residence."
"Nick, what the hell is Lexi doing there?"
"Sara? Jeez, calm down. No need to explode. She's watching TV. Would you prefer she do something else?"
"Cut the crap, Nick. Let me talk to her."
"Okay, but don't blow her eardrum out."
"Hello?" Lexi said timidly.
"Alexis Nicole Sidle, you get your butt back home right now!" Sara yelled into the phone.
"I am home, Mother. Nick is my father and I live with him. You should come."
"Alexis! I do not have the patience for this. Get in the car and have him drive you over here right now."
"No. I'm staying here. He wants to be my dad and I'm going to let him. If you don't want to be here, that's your problem."
"You have ten minutes to get over here or I'm grounding you."
"From what?"
"Theatre rehearsal."
"You want to pay three hundred bucks a month and have it go to waste, fine by me. See you later." She hung up the phone.
Sara threw the phone across the room. What on earth was her daughter trying to accomplish by these little antics? She heard a nagging at the back of her mind. It told her she should know exactly what was going on. Lexi was doing everything in her power to get all three of them to live together. She was going to stay at Nick's until Sara gave in and ran to be with them. Sara bit her lip. She was the mother in the house, not Lexi. Shouldn't she have the say in what goes on? Somehow it wasn't turning out to be like that.
Lexi paced around her room. The plan was failing dismally. Sara had called back twice and each time Lexi had given her the same answer. Still, Sara had not given up and come over. Phase one might've pushed some buttons, but it wasn't enough to get Sara to cave. Nick hadn't even resorted to going over and carrying Sara to his house like Lexi wished he would. She bit her nails. She was going to have to start phase two. As angry as phase one had made Sara, phase two would make her furious. Lexi had a feeling that Nick wouldn't be too ecstatic about this phase either. No, Lexi knew that this next portion was going to get her into serious trouble. And because she had no one else to turn to, it was going to get Lindsey into trouble as well. Lexi hesitated going through with it at all. Lindsey had insisted it was the right thing to do.
She glanced at the clock. A few more minutes and she'd be on her way to a lifetime of punishment. Somehow she doubted missing theatre practice would come close to anything Sara could dish out. She just hoped that the reward would be worth it. She looked at the clock once more. She took a deep breath. Show time.
A/N2: I realize that I haven't ever put up a disclaimer. "I don't own anything to do with CSI." There. Now that I've done my job, I must ask you to do yours. Please let me know what you thought! Muchas gracias.
