33) Speak-N-Spell

The shift had been insane, especially with a copycat killer on the loose. At home, Catherine was dealing with Lindsay and her boyfriend – she wasn't ready to deal with it yet. Her mother with her experience was better suited to keep the girl on the straight and new. She found herself frequently sneaking away to The Wall after her shift to watch the morning news and read a book for a few hours. After all, they never met at Frank's anymore and since Grissom's announcement, everyone seemed to want to hide in their own shell.

She was surprised no one else had come down since she'd started this daily ritual. And no more rules had been added since rule 528, over three months ago. Maybe they'd given up on the rules and moved on since the team was slowly unraveling and falling apart. That made her sad, so she refocused her thoughts on her book.

Catherine slowly looked up when she heard the familiar sound of someone slipping between the filing cabinet and wall. Maybe she'd spoke, er, thought, too soon. Nick came in carrying a piece of paper and roll of tape. He turned and smiled when he saw her, then headed for the refrigerator.

"What are you doing?"

"Hanging something on the refrigerator."

She closed her book, leaning forward. "That looks like a list. Nicky, what are you doing?"

"I told you already."

"We already have a list. It's on the walls."

"This is a vocabulary list. It doesn't really fit on the walls."

"I have to read this before you put it up there."

Nick turned, staring at her.

"You can read it after I hang it up."

"I want to read it now."

"Geeze! I think you've gotten bossier, if that's even possible. Here."

Catherine just smiled and took it. She sat back, reading the first word and definition out loud. "ACCOMPLICE: Any sibling or best friend that helped another sibling do something they weren't supposed to do. That's not the definition of accomplice. What is this?"

Nick sat down on the arm of the chair. "I had two calls tonight that had kids and when I asked one if he knew what fingerprinting was, he gave me the definition on here. The other case, a kid overheard me tell an officer we needed something to hold the suspect on and gave me that one. So on my lunch I made a list of all the words I've ever had kids give me crazy definitions for."

She looked up at him, realizing there was more to this. "Did you give Grissom a copy?"

"He wasn't here. No."

"You should make him a copy."

Nick smiled, looking at the floor. "If you're done, I'll put it up. I have things to do today."

"You always have things to do today, ever since Warrick died."

Nick nodded, looking up at the walls. "This place feels strange these days."

Catherine agreed as she sat back in the recliner. "It's called change."

He grimaced, looking back at her. "I must be getting old or something. I'm not real keen on change."

She patted his hand. "That's not age, Nicky. That's normal."

"Why are you so calm about it?"

"I'm old. I'm used to change."

He laughed. "No. Really."

She shrugged. "Someone has to keep the boat afloat. Somehow I became that someone."

"Is that good? Or bad?"

Catherine looked at the list. Instead of answering, she smiled and read the next term, "ALIBI: A character in the movie 'Aladdin.' That is a very good answer. Do you remember how old this one was?"

"I remember how old they all were. This one was six, and Disney's Aladdin had just come out. I think she was a little confused about the character names."

"Sounds it. ALS LIGHT: Strange blue light that kind of looks like a flashlight. How did this kid know what the light looked like?"

"Too much TV, I think."

She chuckled, reading, "BIOLOGY: The word mom and dad used a lot when trying to explain why I caught them in bed without clothes on." Catherine laughed so hard she began tearing up, well aware that Nick was staring at her.

"It was funny. It wasn't that funny," he told her.

"Lindsay caught Eddy and me once when she was five. We had a lot of explaining to do."

Nick laughed.

"BOIL: The point a parent becomes when the police ask their kid questions without them in the room."

"Creative little buggers, aren't they?" Nick asked.

"They make so much sense too."

"CRIMANILIST: Someone who commits crimes and gets put on a list."

"That is one of my favorites. That one took a lot of creative."

"CRIME: Any time a younger sibling has stolen something from an older sibling and won't admit to it."

"Bradley. Age nine." Nick sighed, shaking his head.

"Special kid?"

"I just remember him. His younger cousin shot him by accident and I rode to the hospital with him. He told me that on the way there."

"DETECTIVE: The guy on T.V. that never does anything but catch bad guys."

"Another case of our job glorified for the sake of entertainment."

"Hey, if it keeps people talking to us, I don't care." Catherine commented. "DNA: Something mommy and daddy use when they don't want me to know what they're talking about. Ohhhhhh! Now that's good. Really, really good."

Nick nodded.

"FEEDBACK: The result of something being fed with a child does not like. FINGERPRINTS: A colorful decoration made in art class, daycare, or summer camp. FIREARMS: Arms that are on fire, and FULL NAME: What a child is called when they've done something wrong and their parents are angry with them. Do any of your kids ever say anything boring?"

"Oh yeah. These are just my rare gems, that's all."

Catherine nodded. "So how many came up with this one? HANDCUFFS: Where your shirtsleeve meets your hand."

"Two, but completely unrelated."

She nodded, continuing, "HEARSAY: When a toddler or kindergartner repeats a dirty word. That's good. KITCHEN: The only room used to eat crumby snacks. True. Oh, I like this one! LAB: A big dog next door that likes it when I throw sticks for him. " Catherine laughed as she read the next one. "LATEX GLOVES: Balloon. Simple and I can see that how a child would think that, you're going to have to help me with this one. LUMINOL: Something that makes everything in the room brighter."

"That's a good one. Kevin was six and Sara and I didn't know he was still in the house. His mother hid him and his sister in separate places when someone broke into the house, then went out the back and to the neighbors to use the phone. The sister snuck out, leaving him. The robbers got into a dispute in the house and ended up stabbing and shooting each other. Well, we started spreading luminol everywhere before we knew he was there. In the middle of it, the luminol drew him out and he was fascinated by it. I told him what it was, but when he told his sister, that's what he told her it was."

"How cute. So, a magnifying glass is the thing you use to set ants on fire?"

"Didn't you know that?"

"No. Now what kid can't say this one is true POLICE CAR: The thing that makes daddy drop his cell phone when he sees it."

"Heck, I've done that when I went back to Texas or out of our jurisdiction."

"Me too. POLICE STATION: The place we go a lot because the mommy gets mad at the neighbor's band for playing when I'm in bed. This kid's mom must complain a lot?"

"I left out the part where he added, 'and when mommy is out with his girlfriends.'"

"Oo. Bet your glad you're not that husband."

"There are days I'm glad I'm not any husband."

"POLICEMAN: The nice guy that took me back to my parents and told them he'd ground them if they forgot me again. That's sad!" Catherine said.

"Yes. It was sad, but not in a bad way. It was sad because they had a huge miscommunication. He thought the kid was with her. She thought the kid was with grandma. Grandma didn't think the kid was even in Vegas – she was pretty tipsy. So when they realized that no one had the kid, they freaked out, called the police. Turns out the kid was at the buffet, eating loads and loads of sugar. I'm sure no one, including drunk granny, got much sleep for two or three days. That boy was bouncing everywhere!"

"I've never been so careless… Course… I've never taken Lindsay to Las Vegas to lose her."

Nick stared at her.

"What?"

"You live in Vegas."

"And so you understand my point."

He laughed. "How about this one?"

QUESTIONED DOCUMENTS: Things written in Word that you have to ask your teacher about.

"That's cute. And here are all the things my refrigerator is used for too. REFRIGERATOR: The place for soda, cake, artwork, and hiding mom's chocolate."

"Really? You hide your chocolate in there?"

"Yep. In the back, in a bag of lima beans. She's never caught on. Yet."

"You are an unfair and unjust momma."

"Damn straight. These are so cute! SPECIMEN SWABS: Things daddy uses to clean his ears, SUSPECT: The person mommy thinks let the wet dog in before grandma and grandpa came over, TRACE: What you do with a pencil and paper you can see through, and TWEEZERS: Something used to pull dad's beard when he's napping and snoring."

"I'm rather fond of the tweezer one myself. The kid was probably three, just learning to talk. So it really came out something like, I knowth whaf tweverth areth. When daddy sleep Sundayth, and snore, I pull hith beard and he maketh noiseth, rollth over, and stopped snort-thing."

Catherine was laughing so hard she had to lean over. She grabbed Nick's sleeve. "That is adorable!"

Nick just grinned. "Her name was Kayla. She had leukemia and died last summer. When I'd had a bad shift sometimes I'd go visit her. Even in the end she was always ready with a smile and a story. She liked to make them up and her mom would write them in this blank book as she told them. Said she might get it published someday."

Catherine sat back, watching Nick while he told the story. She wondered what other secrets about him she didn't know, what other amazing things he'd done that he'd never mentioned to anyone.

"She sounds like a very special little girl."

Nick nodded. "Yeah."

"So what about this UV GOGGLES: Scientist goggles that make them look silly, and WITNESS: Someone the cops asks the same questions lots of times just in different ways."

"The goggles were Rachel, and the witness one was Chance. Chance had it really rough. Sixth child in a family of gang members. Even his mother was in a gang. The whole neighborhood was sure he'd become a gang member too. I met him when he was seven, when he said that to me. But he's doing well. He's doing great in school, plays football. He calls me for rides home when it's dark so he doesn't have to walk those streets alone. He's afraid some rival gang'll shoot him. Do you know what I helped him do?"

"What?"

"I had him come in one night and asked Grissom to help him write an essay for a scholarship so he could go to a private school."

"Did he get it?"

"No. But Grissom gave me a list of other scholarships and we just kept trying. He couldn't get enough to go to any school here, but he did for one in Pennsylvania. He starts next fall. He's excited too because he can get away from the guns and drugs – I hope, anyway."

She leaned forward, smiling at him. "You surprise me, Nicolas Stokes."

"I do?"

"Yeah. You should keep trying to find that right someone, and then have a whole bunch of kids. You'd be an excellent father."

Nick took the paper, shrugging. "Don't know about a whole bunch, but maybe one or two. I've made a promise to myself. If I turn forty-five and haven't married, I'm going to try to adopt. Find some siblings maybe and keep them together."

She smiled when he looked down at her.

"Think I'm crazy?" he asked.

"No. I think you are anything but."

Nick got up and taped the paper to the refrigerator. He turned, pointing at her.

"Hungry? I'll buy."

"Frank's?"

"Yep. See if my favorite red-headed waitress is still working."

"Sure." Catherine got up, slipped her book in her purse, and her purse on her shoulder.

The two left the room.

"No one has wanted to go to Frank's for a while," Nick commented.

She shrugged. "I've thought the same thing. Think we need to work on our communication skills."

Nick laughed, holding the door of records open for her.

"Thank you, sir."

He grinned, following her out.