DISCLAIMER:Don't own anything associated with the show… I just like playing with the characters in it.
RATING: T – Teen (language and adult issues)
PAIRINGS: GSR & Yo!Bling pre-established in previous fics of this timeline.
SPOILERS: Sequel to "Displacement" and "Transitions"
SUMMARY: Everything is changing around Nick Stokes. Can he deal with it, and how it will affect him in the end?
A/N: Well, hopefully I don't lose too many people with the dialogue in this one... But really, that's how they talk, no matter how much education they get. ;)
REVIEWS: Reviews are the way I know if people are enjoying the work or not. So, if you leave one, THANKS! And if not, I hope you found at least a little something to brighten your day, and thanks for taking the time to read.
Chapter 38
14:30 – 2006.12.17
Stokes & Wheel Ranch (Stokes Family Ranch)
The moment the Suburban made it through the front gate, Nick knew he was in for a very long day. There was a banner spread out over the gate with the words "Welcome Home Uncle Nicky!" in great big painted letters. It looked like the nieces and nephews had been turned loose on an old sheet, which only meant that the rest of the family was lying in wait for him once he reached the front door.
He was not disappointed by his family as the Suburban crunched to a halt over the quartz rock drive in front of the house. They poured out of the house, as if on queue, before he could even unbuckle his seat belt. Nick shook his head at the display, but his sister-in-law had a comment to make.
"Nicky, it really has been a while since you've been home, darlin'. And they just wanted to make you feel to home."
"I know that, Louise… It's just a little much all at once." Nick did not have to see his sister-in-law's face to know his words shocked her. He had never shown any displeasure with his family's excesses before, so his comment would have taken them both by surprise.
"Well, either way, you need to cowboy up and take your medicine, jes like the rest of us, Nicky." Daniel pushed open his door and then said, "C'mon and get it over with."
Once he stepped out of the vehicle, everything became a tidal wave of hugs and kisses and tears and slaps on the back and squeals and giggles and serious Stokes family overload. When Nick finally found himself in his father's den watching the second half of the Saints game, while they waited for the Broncos game to kickoff, as they all recapped the Cowboys game from the day before, he knew beyond a doubt that things rarely changed in Texas. And even fewer things changed in the Stokes house.
By the time the Broncos game started, Nick had already reached his fill of football with the brother-in-laws. The Judge and his brother had been bad enough growing up, but the addition of a couple of ex-collegiate ball players into the mix made it practically unbearable. The whole thing made him miss watching the games with Warrick in his living room, or even going head to head with Greg on Madden Live. He had a voice in those circumstances, while in his father's den he would forever be the youngest boy and the one sent to the kitchen for refills.
During the next punt return, Nick quietly slipped out of the room in search of his mother, and the hopes of a quiet conversation. He needed her advice on some things and if he played his cards right, he could catch her alone.
When he poked his head into his mother's parlour, he knew his cards had come up short, as he found the smiling faces of nearly all of the women in his family. The only ones missing were his sister Connie (she was most likely feeding her baby) and his oldest niece Neeley.
"Was there something ya needed, Nicholas, honey?" His mother had always used his full name. She claimed that she had gone to a great deal of trouble naming her children, and therefore she would not sully that work by using nicknames.
"Ah, no Ma'am… Just tryin' ta get a break from the football brigade in there." Nick smiled and moved to take a seat on the ottoman near his mother. He looked around the room for the missing faces.
His mother instantly knew what, or who, he was looking for and spoke up. "Constance is up with the baby."
"Oh, okay… They doin' awright?" Nick tried to engage the women on their level.
His sister Elizabeth was the first to speak. "Oh yeah… But Connie says she's jest about ready to use a bottle and give up the rest. Says it's too much work, even with Michael helpin' when he can."
"Like any man kin help with such thangs, puhlease." Louise always needed to add her own opinion to a conversation.
"He certainly does a lot more than Danny ever did… I don't think Danny was even home long enough to last through a diaper with Neeley." Connie had appeared in the doorway to add her thoughts to the conversation. "I changed more of her diapers than he even thought about, and I was just a teenager. Heck, I think Nicky did more for her than Danny. Isn't that right, Nicky?"
Nick took on the deer caught in the headlights look, but his sister-in-law was on the defensive before he could say anything. "Now, that's not fair. Daniel was in law school when Neeley was born and he had a lot goin' on."
"Constance, I think that is more than enough." Mrs. Stokes was always the last word in a conversation between those two. Connie never liked Louise and often commented about the math involved between their wedding and Neeley's birth.
"Sorry, Momma…" Connie took her seat next to Rachel as the woman slid over to make room for her younger sister. "Rachel, did you tell Nicky about the twins at the science fair?"
"Oh shoot, no, I haven't… Momma, are the pictures still over there?" Rachel pointed at the photo albums beside her mother's chair. Mrs. Stokes reached down and took out an album, passing it to Nick beside her. Rachel watched as Nick flipped through the pages. "All the way in the back, I think."
Nick flipped it over and then started from the back until he found pictures of his twin nephews, Riley and Tyler. "Okay."
"So, they found the instructions fer that volcano ya did when you were a boy, and those two lil' monsters got it in their heads that they could make it better. So, ya know what they did?" Nick knew that if his sister Rachel had been standing, she would have had her hand on her hip.
Nick looked at the pictures and saw that the boys were covered in something black. "Lemme guess… They swiped some gunpowder from Gramps' workshop?"
"YES!" Rachel was shocked that her little brother had guessed what her boys had done.
Connie laughed when she saw that Nick had a slight blush on his cheeks. "Don't you even tell me… It was in yer notes, wadn't it?" Nick cringed when he realized his sister had pegged him once again. "I knew it!"
"Obviously the twins had a little less fear of the Judge than I did." Nick turned to see his mother shaking her head in mock disapproval. "Sorry, Mom, but if I hadda done it, I know I'd have beat that kid with the ants. But the thought of the Judge ridin' herd on my tail stopped me cold."
"Well, I'm sure that wasn't the only thing that stopped ya, honey."
"That and the fear of blowin' up Connie's boyfriend Derek and havin' her beat the tar outta me." That comment brought a round of laughter from each of the women, except for Connie.
"Derek was NEVER my boyfriend. Jes because yer little geekazoid friend had a crush on me and followed me dang near ev'r where I went, DID NOT make him my boyfriend." Connie wrapped her arms around herself with her indignation, but she was quickly hugged by Rachel.
Being that Nick was encroaching on female territory, it was only right when Maggie and Ruth-Anne moved in to lay the hurt down on Nick. "Well, I seem to remember a little girl with headgear and stringy hair followin' your fuzzy butt around for quite a few years." Ruth-Anne took the first shot that started the howls.
Maggie came in for the kill with, "And at least Connie didn't have to get her cousin to go with her to the prom." The laughter after that little reminder was raucous enough to make Nick stand up with his embarrassment.
But before he could make his retreat, his mother had something else to say. "Now, y'all leave him be, or we'll never get him back out here again."
"Oh Momma, we gotta make fun of 'im while we can, since he doesn't exactly give us many opportunities." His oldest sister Maggie got up and crossed the room as she spoke and met Nick at the door. "Now, Nicky, you know we jes like to tease ya, right?" She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and held him tight.
"Yeah, I know… I just forgot how much y'all thoroughly enjoy torturin' me."
Mrs. Stokes reached her hand out to Nick and he took it. "Are you sure you don't need anything, honey? It won't be long for supper, but I can get you somethin' now, if you wan' it."
"No, Ma'am, I'm fine, really…" Nick exchanged a hug with his oldest sister before he continued, "I think I'm just gonna go take a walk, and stretch my legs a little while we're waitin' on supper."
Everyone took his assurances that he was fine at face value, and Nick made his way out of the house. From the moment he entered the parlour, he had the distinct feeling that he was not exactly welcome into their conversation. He had been getting that feeling from his sisters whenever they gathered together for a lot of years, but he always continued to try, because he remembered with a great fondness the days when he was allowed within their circle. The only thing he had ever been able to figure out was that when it became obvious he was, in fact, a guy, he was no longer allowed to join in their discussions. While he could still talk to them individually, if they were assembled, he was an unwelcome guest.
Nick's feet were doing all the thinking as he made his way out the back of the house, and before he knew what happened he was within a few yards of the horse barn and corral. He stretched his arms out and leaned up against the fence to watch the Palomino colt prancing inside the corral.
He was lost in the magic of the creature's delicate steps and bows in the waning light of the Texas dusk. It was one of the things that pulled him back every time: his love of the place, of the ranch, and of his family, it made up the magic in his life. His thoughts were drifting out into the ether and his body was barely registering his existence, until the sounds of hoof beats broke through the natural silence.
When he turned toward the source of the sound, he found his oldest niece atop her Sorrel as she trotted the horse to the corral. "Hey, Uncle Nicky!"
He moved to grab hold of the gate, allowing her to stable the horse without dismounting. As he stepped aside to swing the gate open, Nick watched as Neeley swung her left leg over the saddle, pulled her right foot out of the stirrup and slid off the side of the horse right into her uncle's arms for a hug, as the horse continued inside the corral. "Damn! I've missed you!"
With her arms wrapped tightly around his neck she held onto him with a death grip as Nick laughed at the display. "Well, I gotta admit, that's the best greeting I've gotten since I've been home."
"That's 'cause I'm the only one who kin give ya the Full Neeley." Nick laughed again as he remembered the nickname he had given to her wrestler hugs.
When she finally began to let go of her hold on his neck, he gently lowered her to the ground. "And I see you've been workin' on that trick ridin' again."
"Yeah, but Gramps ain't real happy about it. I think he's still sore I won't ride competitions anymore." Neeley shrugged him off and then walked toward her horse where she took hold of his reigns. "Tsk tsk, c'mon, Sundance."
Nick followed behind her as she led the horse into the stables. "Hey, I thought I was Sundance?"
"Whatever…" She turned to give him a wink and then shrugged, "Either way, I'm Butch."
Nick had to laugh, because he may not have always understood his niece's humor, but her delivery was always dead on. As he watched, she removed the saddle and bridle before getting out the chamois to wipe him down. While she worked, Nick realized how grown up the girl had become in his absence. Eventually, he could no longer restrain himself from saying anything about it. "Man, Neeley, you sure have grown up."
She shook her head and shot back with, "Nah, I'm not any taller… I just grew out in a few places." Neeley was rewarded in her remark with the blush that immediately rose on her uncle's cheeks. "Boy, Aunt Connie's right… Yer way too easy."
"Yeah, well, ya don't need to be takin' any lessons from her. Liable to end ya up working in yer Grams' office." Nick heard the words echoing in his head and realized that in less than six hours his accent had come back with a vengeance.
"Not hardly! They don't make lawyers outta Chem majors." She blasted as she continued to get the horse ready to bed down for the night.
Nick was impressed that his niece had held strong to her interest in science. It was one of the things that drew them together while he was still in Texas. Nick had been a sophomore in high school when his oldest niece was born, so he had been a big part of her early development. He would often sit with his niece when she was little, and she showed an early interest in the homework he did, so Nick tried to nurture that curiosity by simplifying the work for her level. In his first year in Las Vegas, he was rewarded for his mentoring with an excited phone call telling him she had won the state science fair. He knew he should never pick favorites, but Neeley was most definitely his favorite.
"So, you haven't even been here a full day and they're already givin' ya the heebee jeebies? How're ya gonna last more than a week, Uncle Nicky?" And that was the other reason he loved hanging out with the girl, she was the most direct and to the point member of his family. Neeley never stood on propriety or tradition, and if there was something on her mind, she was more than happy to let you know.
Nick winked at her and said, "Odd sleepin' schedule and a whole lotta time on the back a one a them horses."
"Nice!" Her laughter filled the barn and the creatures therein each reacted to the sudden outburst. "Boy, did I miss you!" She shook her head for a bit as she finished up with her horse and then led him into the pen. "So, how much time've we got 'fore Grams rangs that bell?"
Nick looked down at his watch and scrutinized just how much time there was. "Well, I figure you got jest enough time to wash off the dust and sweat to keep her from tannin' yer hide for bein' late to supper."
"Perfect! I timed that just right, then… No time for Momma to read me the riot act anymore tonight." Nick scrunched up his face at her comment, but Neeley tried to shake it off. "It's yer first day back… We kin save the drama fer anotha day… 'Specially since I'm stayin' here fer the semester break." Neeley walked up beside him and leaned in to give him a gentler hug. "I'm really glad ya made it home fer the holiday, Uncle Nicky… I've missed you."
Before he could answer her, she had lit out of the barn at a gallop. "See ya at supper!"
As he watched her disappear into the house, Nick suddenly had an epiphany. His niece reminded him of someone, or more accurately, two someones. She was just like Steph and Sara wrapped up in a thick Southern accent. "No wonder!"