Chapter 4

AN: This is the everybody-meets-everybody-else chapter. I am not sure how this thing will go. I have multiple scenarios running around in my head. And my plot bunnies are putting in some overtime. We will just have to see what happens.

Rico had grabbed the agency laptop before they had left the office. And e was so glad that he had. He put the name 'Nash' in and did a search. He was surprised at the number of Nash's who resided in California. But, when he narrowed his search to San Francisco, that produced just 3 prospects. Two with just biological information. The last one had newspaper articles and pictures, many pictures.

"Nash Bridges!" Rico said, smiling broadly at his partner.

"What?" Sonny said as he came up behind Rico to see the computer screen.

Sonny studied the pictures for a moment. Some were not of the best quality. But there was no mistaking that this was his brother. There were many pictures from Nash's childhood, on up. Many of the articles were of the accolades he had gotten as he came up through the police academy. There were pictures from when Nash had played football and several other articles and pictures of several other events in his life.

Sonny and Rico read the articles in silence.

"Sounds like you…minus the alligator and the boat. Rico added.

Sonny nodded ad sighed. He missed Elvis. "He was an excellent watch-gator."

By the time Sonny and Rico left Vice, Elvis was considered elderly. And, he had been cohabitating with humans much to long to ever be released back into the wild. So, Sonny arranged for an alligator farm in Dade County, Florida to take him.

Sonny paced the room, thinking out loud as he walked. "My brother is a police inspector, very impressive."

"Here's his wife and daughter." Rico said, pointing to another article.

Sonny sat and looked at the pictures as Rico scrolled through a few of the articles.

"Wife number 2." Rico said, stopping on picture of Nash with an attractive blonde woman.

Sonny stood up and started to pace again. "So, wife number 1 is Lisa. He has a daughter named Cassidy and a second wife named Kelly.

Rico nodded. "Nash is the head of the SIU." HE paused. And he's got 4 people working under him: Joe Dominguez, Harvey Leek, Evan Cortez, and Bryn Carson." Tubbs had put that information together after perusing several articles connected with the SIU.

Tubbs closed the computer. "I've searched all I can search, via the Internet. What…what's next?"

"Nash is probably looking for me by now." Sonny surmised. "That clerk had to talk. He was dying to tell somebody something. Maybe he even knows Nash personally and called him."

"If Nash is half the detective you are, he's had his people look into you, by now. And he knows everything, except your shoe size." Rico stated. "And he probably even knows that."

Sonny parked the rental car on the pier when the SIU barge was moored at Hyde St. Pier. He and Tubbs got out of the car, and immediately there were whispers.

People were staring, pointing, open-mothed at the guy who looked like Nash Bridges…but not quite.

"I feel like the at freak at a carnival." Sonny whispered to his partner as they walked up the stairs to the walkway that connected the pier to the barge.

Several people started to say 'Hey, Nash.' But something stopped them. Something was very off.

Sonny halted just inside the doorway. "Could somebody direct me to Nash Bridges?"

The room as silent for a long moment, everyone stopped and stared. He looked like Nash. He even sounded like Nash. But this was NOT Nash Bridges.

Harvey broke the silence. "I'll be damned." He said, looking at Sonny.

Sonny grinned and chuckled. He extended his hand. "I'm guess you work for Nash."

Harvey did extend his hand. But he could not speak. He was too shocked to say anything.

"My name's Sonny., Sonny Crockett. This is my partner, Ricardo Tubbs.

Sonny and Rico could still feel the eyes on them as they both shook Harvey's hand. It took a few moments before Harvey finally found his voice.

"Nash…he had to go take care of something with his daughter, Cassidy." Harvey looked at his watch. "He should be back any time now."

Sonny nodded. "You got somewhere we can wait?"

The other officers and staff were still kind of watching the spectacle as Harvey tried to deal with the situation. Joe, Bryn, and Evan had stopped working and were watching, in shock.

Harvey nodded. Still a bit dazed. He took them to the table that they used for interrogations. "Would you like some coffee?"

Both Sonny and Rico nodded.

"Thanks, Harvey." Sonny said, after Harvey had placed the coffees on the table.

Harvey just stared at Sonny for a moment.

"You checked me out. I checked you out." Sonny said as he took a sip of the coffee. "You know the game. And, I'm sure you checked Rico out, too." He said, indicating his partner. "Nash and the SIU have been in the paper, a lot, over the years. That made our search that much easier."

Nash has never mentioned having a twin." Harvey stated. He shook his head. They even had the same rough, gravely tone to their voices.

"I don't think that he knew." Sonny replied. "I think that our parents were told that only one of us survived.

Harvey and the rest of the team were shocked at this tidbit of information. They were heartbroken for Nick. They could not imagine the pain that he must have gone through. The pain that he must still be going through. They said you never got over the loss of a child.

The entire boat knew of Harvey's findings on Sonny Crockett within 2 hours of him reporting to Nash. And, the place had been abuzz ever since.

######

By the time Nash got back to the SIU, a loose circle had formed around the team's interrogation area. Nash made his way through as officers and staff stepped aside t let him pass.

Nash just stood and stared at the sight before him. Sonny and Rico were sitting at the interrogation table with his team members.

Nash looked at his brother for a moment, taking it all in. Sonny was a bit more tan, his hair was longer, with blonde highlights. Probably bleached from the Miami sun. And, he was a bit leaner. Nash unconsciously tried to suck in his gut.

Sonny stood. He was a bit taller than Nash. Sonny walked over to his brother rand extended his hand. He smiled. "Nash Bridges."

The throng of people quietly watched as the drama played out before them. Slowly more people took notice of the crows that was forming. They stopped what they were doing and joined in, trying to see what was going on.

"Sonny Crockett." Nash said as he extended his hand. They shook hands, then Sonny pulled Nash into a quick hug. "It's nice to finally meet you. I've been waiting a long time for this."

Sonny stepped back and looked at Nash for a moment. "You had no idea you had a twin."

Nash shook his head as he took one of the two empty chairs. "Not a clue, until a few days ago.

That sent a collective gasp through the onlookers.

Sonny sat down, too. "My parents…I've always known I was adopted. They told me I had a twin brother, early on. I just…I think that they felt guilty separating us."

"Nick…my/our dad said you had died in childbirth." Nash said. "That's what he was told."

There was another burst of chatter at that announcement.

"I was afraid of that." Sonny replied. "So, our dad is alive. What about our mom?"

Nash shook his head. "No, Virginia died when we were kids. She was just 28."

"We?" Sonny asked. He could not get access to Nash's birth certificate, so he could not look up his parent's names, to see if there were other children. The possibility of other blood siblings had crossed Sonny's mind. But he had not given it a lot of thought.

"I…we had an old brother, Bobby. He never came home from war." Nash paused. "We have a little sister. Her name is Stacey. She's an assistant D.A. here in San Francisco."

Sonny smiled. "That's…I was not expecting other siblings, to be honest. My adopted parents, they had 3 kids after they adopted me. I have a brother and 2 sisters." He sighed. There was almost a shift in the environment. "There is another reason I'm here, Nash. And it directly affects you and your family."

TBC