It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Sparazza's owned this bar. When Nick had walked in, the bouncer had immediatly lead him over to the private booth Mike was waiting for him in. The place was packed and very loud out in the main part, but quiter and calmer where Mike was sitting. Mike smiled as Nick sat down across from him and slid a full beer bottle over to him. Nick faked a smile and just sat there, waiting for Mike to say something, which he finally did.
"I'm glad you decided to come," Mike said genuinely. "It's not every day I get to meet my little brother."
"It's not every day I get to watch my older brother in an interrogation room either," Nick said, unable to stop himself to think before he spoke.
But Mike just laughed. "Jack said you were a sarcastic guy. I guess it runs in the family."
Nick shrugged. "Yeah, well I wouldn't really know."
"Hey, that's not my fault," Mike said. He took a sip of his beer before continuing. "I would have loved to have been around when you were a kid, but things were kinda complicated then. And then you were gone and I wasn't supposed to even talk about you, let alone see you. Jack especially told me to stay away. He wanted to keep you safe."
"And he did," Nick replied, "for thirty years at least."
"And then it all came out," Mike said with a small smile.
Nick nodded. "Yeah," he said. "So why now?"
"You can only go so long without meeting your brother," Mike answered. "And dad misses you. We wanna get to know you, be a family again."
Nick shook his head. "That's bullshit."
Mike's smiled widened. "Jack said you were smart too. He's the only one that knows anything about you," he said, but his eyes were giving something away to Nick that told him he was lying.
"And the only thing I know about you is that you're a criminal and you killed a guy," Nick said.
Mike held up his hands. "Woah woah woah. You were watching, right? You saw the cut on my leg, and the reciept. I have an allibi. Add that together, and you get innocence."
Nick rolled his eyes. "You had that receipt ready before you even walked in the building. You knew exactly what you were gonna tell them before they even asked you any questions. You set them up to ask what you had answers to."
"I didn't kill that guy Nick," Mike said with what sounded like pure honesty. "Do me a favor. Stop being a cop, or a CSI, or whatever for just a little while. Come on, have a few drinks with your big brother. Relax, and let's get to know each other, brother to brother. No bullshit."
Nick smiled slightly. "No bullshit?"
Mike nodded. "No bullshit."
"Alright, sounds fair enough to me," Nick said before he finally took a sip of his beer.
Mike's smile widened. "Alright, good," he said cheerfully. "I guess we should start with the basics. Are you married?"
Nick shook his head. "No."
"Ever been married?"
"No. What about you?"
Mike sighed heavily. "Yeah, for about fifteen years. Then she got cancer and died a few years ago."
Nick wished he hadn't asked. "I'm sorry."
Mike nodded slightly as he pulled his wallet from his jacket and removed a picture. "Yeah. Asheley was my wife, and that's our daughter Lauryn."
Nick smiled as he looked at the picture. "They're both beautiful. How old is Lauryn?"
Nick handed Mike the picture and he put it back into his wallet. "She's eleven now. She lives with her great-aunt Michelle in Chicago though, because I'm always on business traveling and everything. I get to see her alot though."
"That's good. So do we have anymore siblings?"
Mike laughed lightly. "No, it's just me and you. Mom and dad split up after you left. They were on the rocks for a while, and tried to stay together when they had you, but it just went all downhill when you were taken away. And I know you remember what everyone thinks you don't. Dad doesn't know you know, but I'm not gonna tell him. Let him figure it out on his own."
Nick couldn't argue with that. "How come I don't remember you being around when I was younger?"
"I was," Mike answered, "but when you were really little. When you were two I dropped out of high school and got my own apartment so it'd be easier for me to do my work."
"You never went to college?"
"No, I never needed to. I never even graduated from high school, and I'm one of the most successful people in America."
"And you're also one of the most wanted people in America," Nick replied. "If you're good at this, you could have been good at anything."
Mike shook his head. "No, I'm not like you. I'm not smart or talented at anything other than what I do, and I'm really good at what I do. Even if I had went to college, I wouldn't have been at anything else. You're different though. You would be good at anything you wanted. You can literally do anything you want."
"Just because this is the only thing you've ever done doesn't mean it's the only thing you can do," Nick said.
"Same to you," Mike retorted. "You're a great CSI and all, but you could be anything. Dad wasn't forced to be what he is, Jack introduced him to it. I chose it too."
"And you want me to chose it?" Nick asked.
Mike shrugged. "It's a family business, and whether you like it or not, we're your family. We're the most powerful people in the country."
"But you're criminals," Nick said.
"I'm still your brother," Mike replied. "No matter what, I'm still your brother."
"A brother that I didn't even knew existed until yesterday, and I haven't seen or spoken to anyone else in our family for thirty years. Family or not, that's not normal."
Mike sighed as he leaned back against his seat. He folded his hands on the table and looked down at them. "Speaking of all this...I think there's something else you need to know."
"What?" Nick asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know, but needed to at the same time.
Mike looked up at Nick. "Mom passed away, about ten years ago now. I know you never really knew her because she wasn't around much, but I still thought you should know."
Nick didn't know what to say. "Oh," he said weakly, and just looked at Mike.
"I know you never got a chance to know her, but trust me Nick, she wasn't worth knowing. She didn't care about me or dad and blamed us for losing you. We hadn't talked to her in between the time you left and she passed," Mike said.
Nick still didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything at all. He looked down at the table and tried to think of something to say, but there was really nothing he could do. This whole situation was incredibly confusing and overwhelming for him. Nick had no idea what he was supposed to do. He knew, as did everyone else in the country, that the Sparazza's were criminals. Rich and powerful, but criminals nonetheless. But they were still his family. That thought plagued his mind. They were still his family.
Mike spoke again after a few moments of silence. "I know it's hard for you to trust me because you just met me and I'm not a saint, but I would never do anything you hurt you. You're my little brother, the only one I have. I know I'm not an ideal brother, but I'm willing to at least try if you'll let me."
Nick looked up at Mike and smiled. "I don't see why I wouldn't."
Mike returned the smile. "Good to know."
Nick had been nervous when Grissom had called him into his office at the beginning of shift. With the way things had been going, he didn't know what to expect. Anything could happen now to turn his world completely over. Nick still didn't know what was going to happen, and was basically fearing for the worst. But the light-hearted atmosphere between Grissom and Brass in the office when Nick walked in relieved his worry. He sat down next to Brass and breathed a sigh of relief.
"How ya doing Nicky?" Brass asked.
Nick shrugged. "Fine I guess."
"How about with all this craziness with the Sparazza's?" Grissom asked, starting to become serious.
Nick knew better than to lie, especially to these two. "I went out to a bar that they own last night with Mike, just to talk."
"What did he say?" Brass asked.
"That he knows it'd be hard for me to trust him but that he's not going to hurt me and him and my dad just want to talk to me and stuff because they're still my family, even if I wish they weren't."
Grissom frowned. "Do you with they weren't?"
Nick sighed. "I don't know. I guess they haven't exactly done anything bad to me directly. I know they're criminals and everything, but they never tried to hurt me or anything. I don't know what to think."
Grissom nodded slightly. "We kinda expected that, but we just want you to know that you shouldn't feel like you have to avoid them. Granted it won't look too good, but there's nothing we can do about that. Keep it quiet for as long as you can, but if it comes out it comes out. Mike's right, you are their family. Family's family."
Nick nodded. "I know. I just don't know what to do or what they want with me. Jack's the only one I know I can trust for sure."
"Then Jack's the only one you trust," Brass said. "We just want you to be careful Nick. They're dangerous people, and although I don't think they're trying to hurt you, still be careful."
Nick nodded again. "I know, I promise I will."
"It's not a big deal if you talk to them or whatever because they are, in fact, you're family, but this could turn into something different and dangerous, so we have to be ready for that and cautious that it might happen at all times. We don't want you getting hurt Nick," Grissom said, looking at his CSI.
"Maybe I can figure out what they want from me and just say no and maybe they'll just leave me alone," Nick suggested.
Brass glanced at Grissom before saying, "Yeah, maybe that'll work." He tried to say it genuinely, but Nick could tell he highly doubted such a thing would happen.
"Does anyone else know about this?" Grissom asked.
Nick shook his head. "No, I still haven't told anyone."
Grissom nodded his head once. "Good, let's try to keep it a secret for as long as we can, for everyone's own good until we know what they want or what they're planning to do, just to be safe. You never know what could happen."