Love Is Your Color

Chapter 14: Changes

Roxie rolled over in bed. She didn't want to get up. She already hated the fact that they were no longer in Hawaii. The last three weeks had been the definition of perfection, but now it was time to get back to real life and go back to work. She turned to Nick who was next to him. He ran a hand over her belly and gave her a kiss.

"We've got to get up." Nick said.

"I don't want to." Groaned Roxie.

"I don't want to either, but Sophia needs us to make money." Nick said referring to the baby girl that Roxie was carrying.

"I miss Hawaii." Roxie said as she slid out of the bed and walked over to the closet to figure out what she was going to wear. Nick also got out of bed and walked up behind Roxie. He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close.

"I miss it too." He whispered in her ear. "I miss being by the ocean, I miss the relaxation in the air, I miss having sex with you… every day." He planted kisses down her neck.

"I miss all of that and more." Roxie said. "Ughh I guess we work." She said as she pulled a dress from the closet. Her favorite thing about being pregnant and not working in the field was she could wear dresses to work. She had a stripped hot pink and black maternity dress that she picked up in Hawaii that she decided would be appropriate for her first night back at work.

Nick had been called away to a scene as soon as he and Roxie were ready. Roxie drove herself into work. When she walked into the lab things just felt different. She could tell things had changed just from how she felt. She put her things away in her locker and started towards the fingerprint lab. She knew if anyone could tell her anything about what was different it would be Mandy. She found Mandy at her computer.

"Oh my gosh you're back and your bump is showing. It's so cute!" Mandy said excitedly.

"Hey Mandy." Roxie said as she walked over to Mandy's desk. "So things seem different…"

"They are very different." Mandy said. "So after the whole IA thing with Ray and the Haskell case. Things went south after you guys left. So Catherine was demoted and we've got a new boss."

"A new boss?" questioned Roxie who was now super intrigued.

"Yeah he is a bit… I don't know how to describe him." Mandy said.

"He's weird." A voice came. Roxie turned to see Hodges. "The new guy is weird. Just plan weird."

"Umm ok." Roxie said. "But you're weird."

"Whatever." Hodges said as he turned and left. Roxie simply rolled her eyes.

"You'll meet him soon enough." Mandy said.

"I'm intrigued. I guess I will need to see him anyway. I've got some paperwork that the boss needs to sign." Roxie said. "So Mandy do you need any help around here until everyone gets back?"

"Yes I do. I have a ton of prints from a bar fight. It will take me forever to process them alone." Mandy said.

"Well I'm here to help. No field work means I'm available." Roxie said.

Roxie wandered back up the hall towards the locker room after spending her entire shift helping Mandy. She pulled a packet of paperwork from her locker and went to see if Nick had returned. She walked to where his office was there, but it seemed to no longer be Nick's office and there was Nick with a box of his things going into the break room. She saw him and Greg talking to a blonde girl she didn't recognize.

Roxie walked back towards the office and knocked on the doorsill. The white-haired man looked up from his desk at her as she stood there.

"Hello." The man said.

"Hi." Roxie said nervously.

"Sorry. I'm DB Russell the new supervisor and you are?" he questioned.

"Oh…I'm CSI… Stokes." Roxie said.

"Wait you guys have to be playing a prank on me. I just met a CSI Stokes at the crime scene and he was a white male, which you are not." Russell said. He was rubbing his head and royally confused.

"You might have seen my name somewhere as CSI Roxanne Jones… Sorry the name just changed to Stokes. That's my husband you met earlier, which is why I'm here. This paperwork needs to be signed so I can take it over to Human Resources. I've got to turn it in to get my new ID card with the new name." Roxie explained as she handed him her paperwork.

"Oh yeah Jones I saw you are on lab duty because you are pregnant." He said giving her a kind smile. She couldn't see why this guy was so weird he seemed pretty nice.

"Yes I am." Roxie said as she watched him sign her paperwork. "Due in December."

"Well here you go CSI Roxanne Stokes and Congrats on the baby. I'll babysit anytime." He said.

"Thanks." Roxie said. "And call me Roxie. Everyone else does…or they call me Rainbow Brite, but that is another story."

"It's alright. Apparently I've inherited the name Moonbeam." He said with a laugh. "So when did you guys get married?" he then asked.

"3 weeks ago now. We just got back from our honeymoon and tonight is our first night back to work and my first night as CSI Stokes." She said happily. It felt good to test out her new last name.

"Wait I thought he was at a training for 3 weeks?" questioned Russell.

"He was… I just tagged along and we made it into our honeymoon." Roxie explained.

"Killing two birds with one stone… I like it." Russell said.

"Well I better go and find some work to do." Roxie said. "And I might take you up on that babysitting thing." She then gave Russell a wave and left the office.

She wandered down the hall towards the break room where she saw Nick sitting at the table with boxes next to him. She realized the boxes were all things that he had in his old office. She sat down at the table next to Nick. Nick gave her a smile. Tonight had been an interesting one. He hadn't been totally informed about how much things had changed since he and Roxie were away. It really hurt him that he was kept in the dark, he considered these people his family and as family he should have been shown more courtesy.

"Hey umm… I saw you were evicted." Roxie said looking at Nick's things.

"It seems so." Nick said somberly.

"Well I got my paperwork signed. I'm going to head to Human Resources before going home. Hopefully it won't take long to get my new ID. Then I can officially be CSI Stokes." She said happily.

"Yes you will be… that is going to get confusing." Nick said as he thought about it.

"Maybe… we'll see." Roxie answered. "Are you about ready to go home?"

"No. I've still got some paperwork to finish." Nick said looking at the mess in front of him.

"Alright well I'm going to head home. I'm sleepy." Roxie said with a yawn.

"Okay love I'll see you at home." Nick said as he placed a hand on Roxie's belly. Suddenly Roxie felt something move and Nick felt something against his hand. Sophia had kicked. Nick couldn't help, but smile. He rubbed Roxie's belly hoping it would happen again, but after a moment there was nothing more.

"It's still early. There will be plenty of them to come." Roxie said giving him a smile. "See you in a bit." She said as she stood and made her way from the break room.

Roxie saw Catherine on her way out and gave her a wave. Roxie continued towards the locker room. She grabbed her purse when she heard raised voices coming from up the hall. She could tell they belonged to Catherine and Nick. As Roxie entered the hall she could see other's looking also. Suddenly her phone beeped. She looked down to find a text message: Breakfast on me. D.B.

Nick sat in the diner with everyone else, but he didn't say much. He wasn't sure how he felt about all of this and whoever this D.B. Russell guy was. He watched as Roxie chatted away with him. She was laughing and seemed to be having a good time; he just didn't get it. For a second he considered the job offer he was made in Hawaii. While in his training he met the director of the lab in San Diego who offered him a position on his team. He hadn't told Roxie about it only because he was afraid of her reaction. Could he really leave Vegas? Could he take Roxie away from Vegas? In this moment he considered it. This wasn't the place he left behind and now things were upside down.

Roxie turned to look at Nick. He sat on the other side of the table and he hadn't said much. She stood from her seat and walked over to where he was sitting and sat on his lap. He gave her a weak smile, but Roxie knew that so much more was going on in his head.

"Ready to go home?" she asked looking in his eyes. He nodded. Roxie stood and walked back over to her seat and picked up her jacket.

"Are my Dos Stokes leaving already?" Russell asked.

"Yeah we're pretty tired and my wife here needs her rest. She's got a baby growing in there who needs her to get some rest." Nick said as he walked to Roxie and helped put her jacket on.

"Alright then I will see the two of you later." Russell said giving them a smile. Roxie smiled back at him. He was fun. She figured she would like him, but everyone else seemed a little standoffish bout the whole thing. She knew feelings were hurt, but they still had jobs to do.

Roxie lied in bed with her head on Nick's chest. She was flipping through a pregnancy magazine as she lied there. She could feel Nick rubbing her back. She looked up at him. He had been pretty quiet all day from the diner to home and even now that they had awoken from their nap together. He just didn't say much. She closed her magazine and looked up at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"You know what's wrong." Nick said. He truthfully didn't feel like talking about it. He was still doing a lot of thinking.

"I know it's going to take a minute to get used to the changes, but maybe they are for the better. Things got out of hand this spring and I can see why Ecklie and the Sheriff wanted to reign it all in and bring in someone new. I know it's hard on everyone, but we've got to roll with it." Roxie said looking at him. Nick's eyes then met hers. He got what she was talking about, but it still didn't help that everything came as such a huge shock.

"What do you think of him?" Nick then asked.

"He seems great. I'm looking forward to working with him." Roxie said truthfully.

"He's just so…weird." Nick then said.

"And everyone thought I was weird too… just try and get to know him like you did with me." Roxie said.

"You want me to get him pregnant and marry him?" Nick questioned with a grin on his face. Roxie rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

"No silly. Just get to know who he is as a person. It won't hurt to give him a chance." Roxie said truthfully. "It didn't hurt with me, right?"

"No it didn't hurt." Nick said before he kissed her forehead. "You make everything make sense."

"I'm your wife, that's my job." Roxie said proudly. "And as my husband your job is to go to In N Out and get me some food."

"Of course it is." Nick said looking at her. Roxie gave her a sweet smile that he couldn't resist. He got out of bed and put his pants on and a t-shirt.

"Thank you. Sophia and I appreciate it." Roxie said.

"You two better." Nick said bending down and giving Roxie's belly a kiss and then planting a kiss on her lips. "I'll be back in a bit." He said before disappearing out of the bedroom.

Roxie wandered around the lab looking for things to help out with. She was starting to hate being stuck in the lab while most of the team was out. Today they had been out at a house where an entire family was murdered. Roxie found herself in a room filled with evidence from the crime and that mysterious blonde girl she has previous seen; whom she learned was Ecklie's daughter Morgan. She remembered Nick talking about her when he returned from LA.

"Hi anything I can help with?" Roxie asked.

"Yeah." Morgan said. "Lots of things in here to process. I'm Morgan by the way."

"Roxie." Roxie said as she got herself a pair of gloves. "How's your first day on the job been?" Roxie asked.

"Good so far… Interesting, but good." Morgan said. "Have you been here long?"

"I've been working grave for nearly a year now. I was brought on from days as extra help getting some cases closed up. Before that I worked Day shift for about 2 years." Roxie explained.

"So you know everyone pretty good?" Morgan asked.

"I know them alright." Roxie said. "Most people didn't really try to get to know me even on Days. My hair was strange colors and I dress a little funky."

"So you know that guy Nick? He's pretty cute." Morgan said. Roxie then smiled to herself. Morgan obviously didn't know that Nick was married and married to her.

"Yeah I know him pretty well." Roxie said.

"Do you think it's weird that I am crushing on a guy much older than me?" Morgan asked. "Can't help it though he is pretty cute and that butt… he has a nice butt."

"He does, but I don't think his wife will like you checking out his butt too much." Roxie said.

"Oh gosh of course he would be married." Morgan said turning red.

"Very married." Roxie said as she took off her glove and held up her hand revealing her own wedding ring.

"You're his wife?" Morgan asked with a look of shock on her face.

"Very much his wife, but it's ok. I totally understand where you are coming from. I was you nearly a year ago with a crush on that hot older CSI." Roxie said.

"Well lucky you. At least you got him." Morgan said to Roxie with a smile.

"Alright so let's see what we have here." Roxie said as she put her glove back on and started working.