Chapter Thirteen: Blackmail & Blame
Lifting his hand to rub his sleepy eyes open, Nick gave out a wide yawn, immediately noticing that his son's eyes were open. He moved his chair slightly closer, gently placing his hand on top of Bradley's. "Hey, buddy." He spoke softly, wishing he knew what to say to him. "Do you wonna try and eat somethin' today?" He suggested, watching his son shaking his head slightly, keeping his eyes fixated on the tiled ceiling above him. "Hey kiddo, look at me."
Bradley slowly turned his head, meeting his father's gaze with his own.
"He can't ever hurtcha again." Nick assured him. "He's out of your life for good."
"You're not gonna start babyin' me, are yah? I get enough of that from Mom already."
"No." He smiled at him, resting against his elbow on the bed. "You'll always be my baby though, no matter how old you are, bud." Bradley gave him a slight smile in return, turning his hand to hold his father's in his own. "How's your throat today?" He asked, knowing it was sore yesterday, from the stomach pump he had to endure. "The doctor said you can try a few solids today."
"I'm not hungry." Bradley shook his head, wishing he didn't have to be restrained to the bed, but he didn't want to get his father into trouble again for untying him. "Hey, Dad . . . did Deacon tell you... where I was?" He curiously asked him.
"Yeah." He nodded, hoping he never had to walk into something like that again. As soon as he laid his eyes on his son in that barn, he thought for sure he had lost him. "He's been askin' about you. I told him you weren't up for visitors yet."
"I don't wonna see him."
"He didn't want to tell me where you were. You shouldn't blame him, darlin'."
He didn't blame Deacon for leading his father to him. He just felt uncomfortable around him, knowing that he liked him. "I just don't wonna see him." Bradley explained, not sure if he could tell his father the truth. Even though he knew that his father might be the only person who would understand, he still couldn't tell him. "Where's Tayla?" He suddenly asked.
"With her Aunt in Vegas. My friend, Greg was lookin' after her for a while, but he's got a fulltime job. I called her last night to tell her you were alright."
"You didn't tell her..."
"No." Nick shook his head, gently placing his other hand on his son's head. "You don't have to tell anyone, if you don't want to. It's not really any of their business to know, darlin'."
"Don't tell Aunt Kayla." He warned him. "She can't keep her mouth shut."
"She never could as a kid either." Nick smirked. "I promise you that I won't tell anyone anythin', without your say so. None of this is your fault, sweetheart. None of it."
Lifting the fussing baby from her crib, Angela gently smoothed her hand across her little back, pressing kisses to her little forehead. "What's the matter, sweetheart? You miss your Mommy? Maybe you miss your Daddy. The one who was in the hospital with you, not the other guy." She took a seat on the edge of her bed, adjusting Willa in her arms to look at her tearful little face. "Yeah, is that it? I suppose you can't really tell me. You probably don't even know who your Daddy is, let alone who I am."
"Aunt Angey." Tayla wandered into the room in her pyjamas, with Goober tucked under her arm. "When's Daddy coming home?"
"Very soon." Angela assured her, hoping he would, as she couldn't keep lying to her. "Your poor brother's still in the hospital with his... tummy ache. Remember when you were in the hospital and only wanted your Daddy at your side? Well, Bradley wants his Daddy with him too."
Tayla gave her a nod, climbing onto the bed beside her. "I wonna see him though. I made this for Bradley." She revealed the handmade 'Get Well Soon' card for her big brother.
"That's very good, sweetheart. I'm sure Bradley will love it. Maybe you can give it to him when your Daddy brings him home."
"Can we ring him again?" She asked, giving her auntie a pleading look.
"He's at the hospital, honey. His phone won't be on. He said he'll call around lunch time today though." She assured her, climbing to her feet with Willa in her arms. "C'mon then, let's go and get you two some breakfast."
"When's Uncle Greg coming back?" Tayla continued with her questions, following her Aunt down the stairs. "Was I bad, is that why he didn't want to take care of me anymore?"
"No, sweetheart. You weren't bad; your Uncle Greg just wanted to see his own family." She led the child through to the kitchen, where her own five children were sat stuffing their faces with the fried breakfast, her husband had made for them. Angela lifted Willa into the high chair at the table, getting her strapped in, before she helped Tayla onto her seat. "Good Morning, sweetheart." She pecked a kiss to her husband's cheek.
"Morning." Tony handed her the extra coffee from the counter, before he set Tayla up with a plate of fried eggs, sausages and bacon, just like her cousins. "I don't have work today, so I can help you out with the kids."
"That's great." Angela smiled in the direction of her husband, wishing their nanny would get back from her holiday soon, as seven children in one house was just too much for her at the moment. "Nick's gonna call around lunch, so we can't go out. I'll try and talk to him about when he's comin' back. Hopefully before next week, we can't do the school run, take care of a baby and hold down both our jobs."
"My mother can help out." Tony reminded her, handing her the bowl of pureed vegetables for the baby.
"She's in her sixties. We can't dump her with all seven kids." Angela looked at the time on her watch, before she took a seat beside the baby. "Okay, try not to get too much of this in my hair please." She held the spoon up to the baby. "I can't believe how big she's getting. I think when Nick gets back; we should give him some of Theresa's old things."
The four year old immediately looked up at the sound of her name, giving her mother a pouting look.
"Your old clothes and things, sweetie. Nick doesn't exactly have anything for her, if he even wants to take her that is. He wasn't too keen on the idea of taking a baby full time."
"Will Daddy want me?" Tayla asked her, worrying that Nick wouldn't want her either.
"Of course he will, sweetheart. You're his biological daughter. Nick isn't Willa's Daddy though, so he doesn't have to take her, but it would be nice if he would. You want your baby sister to grow up with you, right?"
"Honey," Tony looked towards her, seeing the upset look on his niece's face. "I don't think you should discuss custody in front of the kids. They don't understand it like we do."
"Sorry." Angela fed the baby another mouthful, before she looked round at Tayla again. "Let's just wait for your Daddy to come home, and see what he says."
As the nurse carefully wheeled her into the room, Sara gasped at the sight of her tiny baby, covered with various tubes and wires. Her diaper covered half of her little body, leaving her skinny little match stick legs sticking out the end. Unlike the boys, Sara could see every bone in baby Vivi's body, poking through her fragile skin.
As Sara got a little closer, she could see her baby's red little feet covered with bandages. Her left leg had another wire sticking out of it, while her little arms could barely move. "Oh my... are you sure she's okay?"
"I know it looks scary, but she's perfectly fine." The nurse assured the first time mother.
"What's all this?" Sara took another look at her baby girl, wishing she could trade places with her or even hold her just so she knew she was okay.
"They're just there to monitor your baby, and make sure she's doing alright." The nurse stepped up beside her, pointing towards the wire in her daughter's leg. "That's an IV. She has a ventilator to help her breath, along with the feeding tube. She's too little to accept your milk, so she's going to feed from that tube for a while. The other things are just there to monitor her heart, temperature, breathing, blood pressure... things like that. The incubator is basically acting as a second womb to her. Your body provided her and her brothers with warmth and food; this is basically just doing the same thing for her now."
"But she's going to be alright?"
"Yes." The nurse assured her, smiling as the father entered the room. "I'll leave you two alone with her for a few minutes."
Reaching out for her significant others hand, Sara waited for him to join her by the incubator, before she looked at their little girl again. "I can't believe that we never knew about her, no one did. She could have died inside of me, and I'd never of known."
"Hey, it's alright." Grissom put his arms around Sara, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. "We know she's here now, our little Vivi." He looked at his baby girl, feeling a little helpless himself, as there was nothing he could do to help her.
As she heard a third impatient knock at her front door, Samantha finally wiped the tears from her cheeks, before she climbed to her feet off the stairs to answer it. "Oh... Nick," She sighed in relief, ushering him into the house. She kept her head turned from him, as she brushed her fringe out across her forehead, keeping her puffy eyes concealed from the CSI. "I was just... packin' things, you know." She pointed out the boxes in the hall.
"You're leavin'?"
"Yeah, I eh... I can't stay here." She pushed over a photo from her wedding day, before she turned to look at Nick beside her. "So eh... do you want a coffee or somethin'? The kitchens not packed up, obviously."
"Where are you gonna go?" Nick glanced into the living room on his route to the kitchen, dropping his jaw at the sight of all the smashed pictures, over turned furniture and ripped cushions, as though someone had taken a knife to them. "Sam." He followed her into the kitchen, jumping back as she suddenly threw a coffee mug onto the tiled floor.
"Sorry, it was his." She apologised as if it was nothing, before she reached for two fresh mugs from the cupboard. "I'm gonna stay with a friend of mine for a while. She's got a spare room. I stayed with her for a while when Bradley was five, after you left for Vegas. Did you wonna take Bradley's things? I already packed his room. Nathan's moved back to his mother's, and Natalie is makin' all the funeral arrangements and things for... him."
"Sam, sit down." He gently pulled her over to the table, taking a seat beside her. "What's goin' on here? The front room looks as though a tornado's been through it." He looked at her hands, seeing the bandages over each of her palms. He figured she must have hurt herself when she went Rambo on the front room. "Sam, maybe you should talk to someone." He suggested to her. "I know this isn't easy..."
"How can you hold it together?" She looked up at him, pulling her hands away from him. "This sort of thing... it's not supposed to happen."
"I know, but we have to be strong for Bradley." He pointed out to her, as that was the only thing keeping him together at the moment. "He needs us more than ever. He thinks that you're avoidin' him, because you haven't been down the hospital. He needs our support."
"I can't look at him." Samantha slowly rocked backwards and forwards on her chair, staring at the old stain on her table. "I let him down. I brought that man into our lives, and did nothin' while he..." She stopped her rocking to look Nick in the eye, feeling her stomach churning from the thoughts in her head. "He's just a child. Barely thirteen, and he's... I've been married to the man for three years. How could I not know?"
"Sam, you've gotta stop blamin' yourself."
"How can I not! My baby's lyin' in that hospital because of me. None of this would have ever happened, if it wasn't for me. He tried to kill himself. Have you even thought about that? Do you feel anythin' at all? You deal with death all the time, so you must be used to it. But this is our little boy. We could have been makin' funeral arrangements right now. Plannin' what we were goin' to bury our little boy in, after only thirteen years. He tried to end his life at thirteen, because of me!" She shouted, holding her head in her hands as her tears started to flow.
Nick pulled her head against his chest, trying to comfort her as best as he could. "It's not because of you, and you're not gonna help Bradley if you keep blamin' yourself. And I do feel somethin'. I'm tryin' to be strong for him. I'm bein' there for him." He spoke softly to her, soothingly rubbing his palm across her back. "I wanted to kill Gary when I found out. When I found Bradley... I thought he was already dead. I thought I'd lost him. But he's still alive, and he needs me... he needs us. I know I shoulda been here to look after him, but I can't dwell on the past. He needs us now."
Samantha sniffled back her tears, looking up into the man's eyes, "What am I gonna do?"
"Be there for him. You're his mother. A hug would be enough for now."
"A hug! For this?" She shouted, climbing to her feet to grab herself a stiff drink. "I'd much rather wipe his memory."
"You're talkin' about fixin' him though." Nick grabbed the bottle from her hands, setting it aside, as it really wouldn't help right now. "He needs your love and support. He's askin' for you at the hospital. Don't make him think that you're ashamed of him for this."
"Of him? I'm ashamed of myself. What kind of mother lets this happen to her child?"
"You didn't let anythin' happen to him." He tried to comfort her again.
"How can you be so calm?" She pushed him away from her. "The Nick I know would be tearin' through walls about this."
"Because... I know what it's like." He took a seat at the table again, placing his hands together on his lap. "I don't want Bradley to feel as though he's alone in this. I wonna be there for him, in ways no one ever was for me."
"What's this gotta do with you?"
Nick shook his head, not wanting to tell her all the details. "It doesn't matter. Bradley's all that matters now. He needs us. He needs you." He looked towards her. "He wants his mother with him. But he can't see you like this." He pointed out her tears and shakiness. "When the time is right, I'm gonna get one of them child shrinks for Bradley. We can't ignore this and pretend it never happened to him, because it did and it's gonna affect his whole life. You should look into it too."
"How's that gonna make it alright?"
"It's gotta be better than what your doin' now. Bradley can't come back to this."
"Stop tellin' me that! I know he can't come back to this. I can't even stand to be in this house anymore." She threw the glass vase off the counter against the wall, shattering it into tiny crystals across the floor. "Everythin' in this house reminds me of him. I don't even know how long it was goin' on. I have no idea what he did to him, when or where in this house it was done. I wonna burn the whole place to the ground. I can't even go in there." She pointed to the study that still had the police tape across the door. "I wonna get out of here, get rid of all this stuff and just start fresh."
"You can do that, but Bradley's more important than possessions right now." Ignoring her protests, Nick pulled her into his arms again, holding her tightly against his chest. He cradled her head in his hand as she started to cry, comforting her the same way he did when she found out that she was pregnant thirteen years ago.
She thought that the pregnancy would ruin her whole life, that she'd have to give up her future and everything she ever dreamed off, but now that she had Bradley in her life, none of that seemed to matter, because she loved him more than she had ever loved anything in the world.
"Bye, sweetheart. Call me when you get back." Jean waved to her son, watching him loading up his car to leave. She had already hugged and kissed him multiple times, but she still wanted another hug, just so she was sure that her baby would know he was loved.
"Where's Greg?" Her mother suddenly appeared behind her.
"Just leaving." Jean pointed to the car, watching her husband giving their son another hug. "Do you think he's alright? He doesn't seem himself."
Nana Olaf responded with a shrug, waiting for Daniel to end the hug with Greg, before she stepped forwards to pull her grandson into her arms. "You know Greg, if you find love; it's no use hanging around." She spoke softly, gently placing her palm on his back. "Because every moment counts. You could be dead tomorrow, and you'd have never gotten the chance to be with him. Things used to be so simple when I was dating. Take every chance you've got. You could miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity. I thought your job would have taught you that by now." She pecked a kiss to her grandson's forehead, giving him a wide smile.
"Thanks." He smiled at her.
"Safe trip home, sweetheart." Nana Olaf winked at him, turning back to the house, hoping he would follow her advice.
"Bye." Greg waved to her, giving his parents another wave, before he pulled his car door shut to leave for Las Vegas.
After thinking over his Nana Olaf's words, Greg wanted to be with Nick, even more now, but he knew that right now wasn't exactly the best timing. He couldn't suddenly go over there and ask if their relationship could get back on track, not after everything that Nick and his children had already been though this year.
It wasn't fair on any of them.
Greg didn't mind waiting just a little longer for the man he loved though; he had already waited a lifetime to find him.
When he arrived back in Vegas, he grabbed a quick shower at his apartment, before driving off to the lab for his next shift. He stepped into the humid lab once the elevator doors opened, immediately being flagged down by Judy. "Did you hear?" She asked, sounding very excited at the lasted bit of gossip she had got her hands on.
"Hear what?" He was hoping that there weren't rumours about Nick spreading around the lab already.
"Mr Grissom and Miss Sidle, Greg. They had their twins yesterday. Two little boys. They're calling them, William and Benjamin."
"Oh, in that case, yeah I did." He nodded, suddenly remembering that he never actually saw them. As soon as he saw Sara being wheeled away to surgery, he hurried out of the hospital as if the place was on fire, being calmed down by Warrick through his panic attack. He completely forgot about the babies, realising that Sara was now a mother.
"Word is your next." She smiled at the younger man, making him look at her confused.
"Huh?"
"Molly, silly." Judy chuckled, tapping the back of his hand. "She's been telling everyone about your good news. She's carrying your love child. When were you planning on telling the rest of us?"
Greg continued to give her a confused look, then hurried through the lab in search of Molly. He soon found her, filing away some old cases in the filing room, giving them the perfect opportunity to talk about this silly rumour.
Molly turned as she heard the door close, greeting the younger man with a sunny smile.
"Love child?" He immediately asked her.
"Oh, you heard about that." Her smile faded. "Greg, I swear... I was gonna tell you first. It just kinda slipped out, while I was around Judy, Martha... and that lot, you know the gossip queens."
"How?" He was hoping he was dreaming, that he would soon wake up in his bed and be laughing about this ridiculous rumour that he cooked up in his imagination.
"Well, we were just talking..."
"No, Molly!" He snapped at her for misunderstanding him. "How are you pregnant with my baby?" He extended his question.
"Don't you remember that night you came round."
Looking at the sparkle in Molly's eyes, he was reminded of his emotional moment a few weeks ago. After his second beating, broken heart and the things going on in his head, Greg decided to drown his sorrows in a lot of alcohol. He didn't want to call Nick to pick him up, knowing that he was busy with his daughter, and Sara was still pregnant then, so he called Molly. He blacked everything out past her doorway, but he woke up in his boxers and t-shirt, snuggled under the covers in her spare bedroom the next morning.
"You told me nothing happened." Greg reminded her.
"Well, because I was hoping that you'd never find out. But now that we have a baby on the way," She looked into his gorgeous eyes, smiling as she said, "I couldn't keep this from you. I told you that nothing happened, because I didn't want you to feel awkward or for things to be awkward between us. I thought you'd be back with Nick by now, but you're still free, and I'm carrying your baby. And we're in this together, so you can't go leaving me in the lurch. I will not become one of those single mothers, who is suddenly abandoned by everyone around her, just because her baby was made a little different from others."
"But I was too tired to even stand, how could I...?"
Greg suddenly remembered his little problem down below that he had the day after. He thought it would go away on its own, but when it got more than a little embarrassing, he decided to visit a doctor. The doctor immediately asked him when he had taken the Viagra, making Greg look at him confused, as he had never exactly used it before.
"You drugged me!" He accused her, remembering the coffee she insisted that he drink, as soon as she dragged him into her apartment. "You drugged me, then raped me?"
"No, how dare you!" She shouted back at him. "You men are always trying to get out of these things."
"It's no secret that you're desperate for a child, Molly. You've been telling me for months that you wanted a baby. You even told me a couple of months ago that you didn't care who the baby daddy was, you just wanted a bun in the oven." He reminded her, anxiously running his fingers through his hair. "So you chose me? When you found out that I play for the other team, you probably saw your dreams of motherhood slipping away from you. You knew you couldn't get me to actually sleep with you, so you drugged me?"
"It was just... a little something to help you sleep, and a little something else to keep... that part of you awake." She pointed towards his waist. "You even said that if you weren't with Nick, you'd be happy to be with me."
"I was being nice!" He shouted at her, starting to pace the room. "Are you sure it's mine? You've had a few dates with other guys since then, right?"
"Not so much, but from what the doctor told me, I calculated it back and it's definitely around the time that you and me..."
"Oh my god." Greg slid the wall, holding his head in his hands, with his knees pulled close to his chest. "Nick's gonna kill me."
"Why do you care so much? The man dumped you."
"The man is waiting for me to trust him again, if he finds out about this... he'll think I'm a cheating liar." Greg pointed out to her. "Do you really want a baby that was made by rape?"
"I didn't rape you." She continued to protest. "I just... gave you a little something to help. You never said no, and you didn't exactly fight either. So technically, it's not rape."
"I was passed out!" He shouted at her. "I couldn't say no, I was asleep. It's still rape!"
"Oh Greg, why do you have to go and ruin everything? You're supposed to be happy when I tell you I'm pregnant, not accuse me of rape, that's kind of a girly thing to do." She giggled, only making Greg angrier. Rolling her eyes, Molly knelt down in front of him, looking the younger man in the eye. "Greg, I never did this to hurt you. I love you. You've always been there for me. You always listen to me, and you're the sweetest guy I've ever met, which is why I know that you'll do as I say. You're not gonna report me, are you, Greg? You can't even remember that night. Who are a bunch of CSI's gonna believe more, the drunk man who can't remember anything or the helpless little lab tech, who was raped by a trusted friend?"
Greg looked at her wide eyed.
"You tell, then I tell." She threatened him. "I think they'd believe me more, don't you?"
"Why are you doing this to me? I thought you were my friend."
"I am." Her evil grin made another presence, as she slipped her hand into his own. "Pretty soon, I'm gonna be your wife. When should we announce our engagement?"
You didn't think that was going to be the end of the story did you? :D
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review if you did and let me know what you think so far.
~ Holly