Chapter Sixteen: Make Me Happy

Molly giggled softly, shaking her head at her co-workers. "No, the little fling with CSI Stokes was just that, a little fling. You know my Greg, he's the adventurous type. Nick really wasn't his type though. He likes me, obviously, because he's marrying me." Giggling again, Molly lifted her wedding planning book from the table beside her, showing her friends some of themes she had been trying to decide on.

"Don't the experts say that you shouldn't get married for a baby?" Mandy queried, pouring herself a coffee.

"That's not all they say." Jacqui remarked, glaring at the strange young woman.

Ignoring the older woman's comment, Molly assured her, "Yes, marriage is for two people who love each other, which Greg and I do." Placing her hand on her stomach, Molly whispered, "Our baby is just a bonus. I'm not living in a dream world, I have realistic expectations of what to expect, but I know that the two of us are going to be very happy together."

"I'm not sure if this question is allowed, but out of curiosity," Katrina, the newbie from the trace lab asked, "How's Nick taking this? I heard the guy was madly in love with Greg, love like that doesn't just go away over night."

Mandy nodded in agreement, opening the microwave to retrieve her lunch. "I heard that they were together quite a while. They went through a lot together. They were together when Greg was beaten up, that's why Nick punched that guy at his crime scene. I shoulda figured it out then, but they kept it hidden from everyone."

"He's over him!" Molly snapped at them, wishing everyone would stop talking about Nick and Greg. "The man broke my Greg's heart. Greg doesn't love him anymore, he never did. He loves me and our baby. You should see how excited he is for our baby to arrive." Grabbing her things, Molly stormed out of the break room, getting back to work to take her mind off what everyone was saying.

"Yeah right." Katrina rolled her eyes, pouring herself a coffee. "Maybe he's marrying her out of guilt or something, because there's no way that he loves that, especially after being with someone like Nick. She's sooo not his type."

"You willing to bet on that?" Mandy smiled in her direction.

"Oh no, I don't gamble or bet." Katrina shook her head, making her way towards the door. "But there will be no wedding, just you wait and see. Hey, Mr Stokes." She casually waved to him in the hall, walking by him back to her lab.

"Hi." Nick smiled after the new face, before he turned towards the break room. "Hey, Mandy, you get anythin' from those prints I gave you?"

"All eighty four of them?" She remarked. "I've only had them for an hour, Nick. Give me some more time, the computers running the partials now, I'll beep you as soon as I get something."

"Thanks." He smiled at her, looking curiously at the other women in the room, who looked as though they had something on their minds. "Ladies, whatsup, you just get your hands on another juicy piece of gossip?"

"No."

"Nope."

"Uh uh."

They all quickly shook their heads, making him even more suspicious.

"Okay, anybody seen Hodges?" He asked them. Mandy pointed him through to Ecklie's office, where Hodges was sat having a serious discussion with Ecklie. "Thanks." He nodded to her, turning for the door, feeling an eerie chill tingling down his spine, from the way the ladies continued to stare at him.

"Hey, Nicky. First day back on the job?" Catherine greeted him with a warm smile, walking with him through the lab halls. "I thought you'd have wanted to take some more time off, before you got back into the swing of things."

Nick shook his head. "The girls are back home with me. My son's gonna be released from hospital soon, now's as gooda time as any. Besides, with Sara out on maternity leave, the lab needs all the help it can get."

"True." She nodded in agreement. "How'd the hearing go the other day?"

"A quick in and out. They appointed me the temporary guardian of Willa, then sent me away. Personally, I thought it woulda been longer than that, but apparently they already have references and things..." Seeing Catherine nodding, Nick gave her a curious look. "How did you...?"

"They asked us a few questions on what you were like, how you were with your own children and stuff like that. I think Grissom did one too. And you're welcome Nicky; you woulda got her on your own anyway." She assured him, stopping by the elevator. "I gotta get to my crime scene. Don't take on too much, your first day back."

"I won't." He promised her, waiting for the elevator doors to close, before he got back to work on his first case.

"Oh, Nick... I have your invitation here." Molly caught him in the hall, handing him one of her floral decorated invitations from her file. "To mine and Greg's wedding, yours is the first. I don't know if you've heard, but Greg and I are engaged." She gave him a smile, placing the invitation in his hand. "Just to let you know that there's no hard feelings between us. We'd really like you to come."

"Sorry, I can't make it." He handed it back to her, informing her, "The only weddin' of Greg's that I'll ever be attendin', is the one where I'm stood at the altar, with him at my side."

Molly looked at the smirk on the man's face, giving him a frown, "You just can't let it go, can you?"

"No, you can't." He snapped at her, taking a step closer to her. "Greg's mine. He doesn't need another bully like you in his life. If you had any feelin's for him at all, you'd know that. I care about him more than you'd ever care about anythin' in your pathetic little life. And I feel sorry for you, Molly. I really do, because you'll never get to be with someone so special like Greg. You may be carryin' his baby, but I carry his heart and soul. You ruined your chances with him, the day you cooked up this stupid little plan of yours."

"You don't understand." She sniffled, taking a step away from him. "Greg's always been there for me."

"And this is how you repay him? Threatenin' him with rape charges. You make me sick."

"You're the one who broke his heart for your supposed best friend, who hates you now!" She shouted back at him. "You don't love him, you never did, or you woulda never done that to him."

"You have no idea how much I love him." He towered over her, looking her in the eye. "Your forced marriage to Greg is off, so stay away from him." He warned her, tearing up the invitation that she had given him. "Once word gets out about what you did to him, no one round here is going to want you around either."

Bursting into tears, Molly pushed past him, hurrying for the ladies room down the hall.

"Do you make all the girls cry?" Hodges stepped into the hall, giving the man a curious look. "Eh... I have your results on that trace, if that's what you're looking for." He quickly answered, seeing the angry look in the Texan's eyes.

"Yeah." Nick stepped into the trace lab, waiting to hear his results. He was glad to be back at the lab, working the cases of other victims, but it still didn't feel quite the same as before.

Gently brushing her fingertips across the back of her daughter's little hand, Sara smiled as her tiny little body suddenly came to life. She kicked her little legs in the air, flailing her arms about either side of her, while her little chest arched up and down with each breath. "She doesn't look as purple as she did a few days ago." She spoke softly, glancing up at Grissom beside her. "Tell me what the doctors said. Can we take her home yet?"

Grissom shook his head, resting his hand on the surface of the incubator. "She's still too tiny. She had another blood transfusion yesterday, and she still won't be able to feed without the feeding tube." He re-explained what the doctor had already told him. "We can still be with her everyday though."

"Just they try and stop us." Sara smiled towards him, gently placing her hand over her daughter's little head. "The nurse told me that she's almost three pounds now. She's gained about a pound and a half since she was born." She pointed out to him, watching him hesitantly touching his fingertip to the back of his daughter's little hand. "It's okay to touch her, Gil. They said her skins not as fragile now."

"It'll still be a while before we can hold her though." He spoke softly, looking at the strands of brown hair covering her head. "I don't wonna break her."

"You won't." Sara reached out for his hand, gently placing it over their daughter's head. "Look, she's opening her eyes." She smiled as Vivian's dark little eyes slowly fluttered open, taking her first look at her parents above her. "She's got her Daddy's eyes."

"She's got your face though." He smiled at her, feeling the warmth of his daughter's little head against the palm of his hand. "While she's in here, we can set up her room. She's gonna need a separate room from her brothers, when she's a little older of course. The babies have to stay with their Mommy for the first six months."

"You get that from the baby books?" She grinned in his direction, checking the time on her watch again. She had never left the twins alone before, but while William was getting over his first cold, she didn't want to bring them to the hospital, where they could infect their much weaker sister. Grissom's mother had agreed to help look after them for the day, but Sara didn't feel as though her twins were safe with her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hear them if they cried.

"We've only been here an hour." Her significant other pointed out to her, spotting her checking her watch again. "You wonna leave already?"

"No, no... I'm just, worried about the boys." She spoke softly, turning her attention back to their daughter. "Gil, we don't have a spare room."

"My study." He pointed out to her. "I won't be needing it anymore. Our children are more important than my collections and things. I can move them into the front room . . . or storage. And my mother can handle two babies for a couple of hours." He assured her, knowing that she was still worried about that. "If you're that worried about her babysitting skills though, we can always hire a real babysitter."

"I told you that I wanted to raise these kids on my own. I never really knew my mother."

"And you can, but you're gonna need a break every so often. You're only human, Sara."

Pulling her car up in the driveway of her house, Samantha slowly turned the ignition off, before she turned her head to look at her son sat beside her. He was wearing a baggy sweatshirt over his pyjamas, with his hair still pillow creased from lying in a hospital bed for the past few days. "I'm just gonna go in and grab our bags. We're stayin' at a friend of mines tonight, before our flight to Vegas tomorrow. Do you wonna wait in the car or..."

"Yeah." He interrupted her.

"Okay then, I'll just go in and grab them. I'll leave the front door open so you can see me."

"Okay."

Samantha removed her keys from the ignition, looking round at her son again. "I'll be gone five minutes... ten tops."

"Okay." Bradley answered her again.

"Are you sure you're..."

"Mom, I'm thirteen! I can stay in the car by myself for five minutes." He pointed out to her.

"Okay." She smiled at him.

Bradley pulled his knees to his chest, watching his mother climbing out of the car. She slowly made her way towards the door, using her key to let herself in. The rest of their things were packed into boxes in the hall, ready to be moved into storage, until they found a new place to live.

After three years of living there, Samantha thought she would be sad to move out, but she couldn't wait to get away.

She loaded their bags into the back of the car, before she climbed back into the driver's seat, giving her son a slight smile. "Your father will still be awake if you wanted to call him. He should have just started his first shift back at the lab by now."

"I know, he's been textin' me." Bradley revealed the phone from the pocket of his sweatshirt. "He wanted to be here when I was released."

"That's a nice phone." She admired it. "Who bought it for you?"

"Dad. Aunt Kayla bought it to the hospital for him, so we can always keep in touch." He smiled round at her, stuffing his new phone back into his pocket. "Can we get somethin' to eat, Mom? I'm starvin'."

"You just ate at the hospital." Samantha reminded her son, reversing out of her driveway. "You eat just like your father."

"That stuffs gross; I want a burger or somethin'." He complained, crossing his legs on the chair. "Can we stop somewhere?"

Samantha looked around for somewhere to eat on the drive over, checking all of the parking lots first, seeing if there was anyone they knew inside. She drove right by the first two places, not wanting her son to have to see some of the boys from school.

Coming up to the last place on the street, Samantha slowed her car down, curb crawling around the parking lot to see if she could see anyone inside.

"Mom, I'm hungry!" Her son whined.

"Well, how about you wait in the car, while I go and get us some food?" She suggested, parking at the far end of the parking lot. "You're in your pyjamas anyway, so you might as well stay in the car." Before her son could protest, Samantha grabbed her bag, quickly climbing out of the car. "Cheese burger and Dr Pepper, right?"

"And fries."

"Okay. Honey, lock the door, only unlock it for me." She warned him, pushing the door shut. She waited by the window until he pushed the lock down, before she hurried away from the car to get them some food.

As soon as she was gone, Bradley pulled his phone from his pocket again, starting to type a message for his father.

Dad, Mom is freaking me out. She can't even leave me alone for 2 mins.

"The neighbours just started a fist fight on their front lawn." Nick pointed out to Captain Brass, following him towards his office. "Mr Parks, the guy who lives at number twenty one; he was the one who told us that Mr Brooks was seen outside of that house."

"That doesn't prove he burnt the place down though. Grissom told me that you don't have any evidence of Mr Brooks in the house, so we have to let him go." Bras explained to him, grabbing his cell from his belt, as it started to ring. "Brass... oh hey, Catherine... whatsup?"

Nick rolled his eyes at the man, turning towards the elevators behind him, as his own cell started to vibrate. As he read the message, a smile immediately spread across his lips. He quickly hit reply, assuring his son that she would soon get over her over protectiveness of him, once he was safe at home with her again.

Looking up as the elevator doors slid open, Nick immediately smiled, seeing Greg stood inside. "Hey there, Sunshine."

"Sunshine? That's a new one." Greg smiled back, holding up the file from under his arm. "I was just coming to find you. Hodges got your results and Mandy found some prints. No match to any of the others, but they were on the gas can that started the fire. You got a suspect?"

"I did." Nick nodded, looking through the results for himself. "You wonna go to dinner?"

"Dinner?" Greg gave him a surprised look, stepping back in the elevator, so the doors could close with them inside. "You and me?" Nick responded with a nod. "Why? We're not dating."

"You don't have to be datin' to have dinner. It's your birthday; we have to do somethin' special. Besides, I'm hungry and you shouldn't be alone on your birthday."

"But you wonna have dinner with me?"

"It was just a question, G. Don't feel obligated or anythin'. You only turn thirty two once. Thanks for this." He indicated towards his results, stepping out of the elevator on the next floor. "Bye."

"Bye." Greg waved after him, slowly stepping out of the elevator.

"Greggo!" Warrick shouted down the hall towards him. As Greg turned to look at him, Warrick ushered him through to one of the empty labs, where he was processing a car. He didn't look angry this time, so Greg proceeded towards the lab, giving him a curious look. "Grissom said you're not on a case right now, you mind helping me? I've done the trunk and the back seat."

"Sure, I don't mind. I'm maxed out on overtime, so I can't leave the lab." Greg pulled some latex gloves on, followed by one of the spare lab coats. "What's your case?"

"Missing persons. This car is the victim's; it was left out in the desert. The vic's blood is in the trunk, I just need to find anything else that will lead me to a suspect or where the vic is now." Warrick explained, handing Greg a flash light. "The birthday boy wonna take the passenger seat?"

"Okay." Greg grabbed the camera Warrick had already set up, ready to start processing the passenger side of the victim's car. "So, how come you're talking to me now?" He queried, looking over his shoulder at Warrick.

"Because... I've been watching Molly. And Nick talked to me." Kneeling down beside Greg, Warrick looked inside the car, before he gave the younger man an apologetic smile. "I guess I better stop shouting my mouth off and start listening to the people around me. I don't exactly see a future with you and Molly, but you and Nicky..."

"You sure you don't want him for yourself?" He cheekily grinned.

"For the last time, Greg, I am not in love with Nick. I like the guy, but that's as far as it goes."

"Okay." He innocently smiled. "Here I was hoping to plan your coming out party."

"Process the car." Warrick scowled at him, making his way round to the other side. "If Nick ever hears about any of this, I'll know who told him." He warned him.

"I'm not gonna tell him. I want him for myself." Greg assured him, snapping a few more pictures. "But you can dance with him at our wedding."

"You really think your relationship will get that far."

The younger man crossed his gloved fingers. "Here's hoping."

"He just peed all over his brother." Sara reported, securing a new diaper in place, around her little boy. "I'm gonna have to give him another bath now. You can thank your brother for that William."

"And so the sibling rivalry begins." Grissom smirked, lifting his clean son from the change table. "You know, I always wanted a younger brother or a sister. Until I started school, then I was grateful for my space. I never had to share anything."

"As fascinating as that is, I have a little boy here covered in his brother's pee." Sara pointed out to him, carrying her naked son through to the kitchen, where she had left the water in the sink from their first bath. "Did your mother vacuum?" She noticed that the mess Hank had made with his biscuits this morning, had been cleaned up while they were gone.

"I think so." Grissom set Benjamin into the baby basket across the room, while he helped Sara to clean William. "Does that bother you?"

"No . . . but she didn't have to. We're perfectly capable on our own."

"I know you are." Grissom smiled at her. "Once I've taken Hank for a walk, I'm gonna head into the lab for a bit. Catherine, Warrick and Nick are all out on cases, they're gonna need someone to pick up the slack."

"Okay. You can take Greg's birthday present in for him." Sara pointed it out, wrapping her fussing little boy in a warm towel. "Their belly button stubs still freak me out. I think it's gonna freak me out more when they finally fall off. You're gonna have to deal with it when it does, I can't handle body parts falling off."

"Technically, it's not a body part. It's just what's left of the cord. It usually drops off a week after the babies born, so it should be any day now."

"Thanks for creeping me out more." Sara cringed, carrying William through to the bedroom, so she could get him into a fresh diaper. "Where's Benjamin?" She suddenly panicked, looking around for her missing baby.

"I put him in the basket. He's fine." He assured her. "I'm gonna take Hank for that walk now."

"Okay." Sara called after him, carrying William into the front room. She sighed in relief as she found her missing son in the basket, wildly kicking his legs about, as he sucked his fingers into his mouth. "I guess I keep thinking that I've lost one, because we've only got two of them here. I hate having one of my babies away from me."

"It won't be forever. And the couple we were talking to the other day, their son was in intensive care for seventeen days, before they could finally take him home." Grissom reported, searching for Hank's leach.

"And you're telling me this because?" She looked over at him.

"He was smaller than Vivian when he was born. He had repeat infects and respiratory problems, along with two surgeries. I can't remember what they were for. But Vivian hasn't had a single surgery. She's only had a few blood transfusions. She's already been in there six days, and she's getting healthier already. She could be in there a shorter time than their son."

"Oh." Sara realised that he was trying to cheer her up. "Thanks, but I think I'll feel a whole lot better, when she's here with the rest of her family."

"Agreed. C'mon, Hank." He whistled over the dog, quickly pecking a kiss to Sara's cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Have a nice walk. Your son might have a special present for you when you get back." She called after him.

"After Greg, I think I'm prepared for anything."

"Too scared to talk to me yourself, so you send your boyfriend after me?" Molly appeared beside Greg in the AV lab, angrily folding her arms across her chest. "I can't believe you, Greg. It's like you want to go to jail or something."

"You know, blackmailing is a crime too." He pointed out to her, turning away from the computer in front of him. "You don't have any proof, and you've implicated yourself from everything you've been saying and doing. I'm not obligated to marry you, but I do have a responsibility to that baby. If there is even a baby."

"There is." She assured him. "You think I'd lie to you about that?"

"I don't know if I can trust anything you say anymore." He slid off his chair, retrieving his printed file from the printer. "If there is a baby, I'll get a lawyer to sort out the custody agreement."

"What? You can't take my baby away from me!" She protested.

"I wasn't going to." He assured her, closing the file in his hands. "While the baby is still a baby, I'd be happy to see them once a weekend or something, since they need their mother more than their father. But after that, we can share custody. I'll still need proof that there's even a baby, or if it's even mine though." He warned her. "I have to get back to my case." He stepped around her, getting stopped at the door by Nick. "Hey, whatsup?"

"You still available? I just got a lead, I could use some help back at the crime scene."

"Yeah, just let me get this to Warrick, and I'll meet you at your truck." Greg smiled at him, hurrying off through the lab hall to find Warrick, leaving Nick at the doorway, giving Molly a stern look.

"I wasn't bothering him." Molly held up her hands, leaving the lab. She glared at Nick over her shoulder, wishing she could talk to Greg, without his body guard present.

"Got it!" After hours of searching through the debris of the burnt house, Nick finally found the pack of matches that started the fire. Wiping his forehead with the back of his wrist, Nick climbed to his feet, making his way through to the front room, where Greg was still picking through the debris. "Hey, I got it, G."

"Did you see this burn mark before?" Greg pointed it out on the floor. "You said the fire started in the kitchen?"

"Uh huh," Kneeling down beside Greg, Nick took a look at the unusual burn mark, before he snapped a picture of it. "The sofa was here before. I never saw it. I already identified the accelerant from the kitchen, maybe they poured it in here too."

"Under the sofa?"

"No, the fire crew moved it. They move all the highly flammable furniture, so the fire doesn't spread. The sofa was originally against the wall." He pointed across the room. "Their ten year old daughter survived, she told me where everythin' was in the house before the fire, so I could do the re-construction of the crime scene for the simulation. She's at the hospital with a few second degree burns and smoke inhalation, but she's gonna be okay."

"Who died?" Greg queried, only knowing half the case.

"Mother, father, big sister. Their ten year old, Jacqui was in her room at the end of the hall. The smoke got to her parents and sister first. The fire crew didn't get to them in time, but they managed to save Jacqui." Nick took a few more photographs, before he handed the evidence over to Greg to bag.

"Doubt you'll get any prints off this." Greg bagged the matches, looking around at the burnt to a crisp furniture. "You got any more suspects in mind?"

"Nope." He shook his head. "The thing is, I can't find a single reason why anyone would want to kill anyone in this family. The mother was a doctor at desert palms; she worked in the children's unit. Her husband was a paramedic. Their fourteen year old daughter, Julia was a straight A student. As far as I know, she didn't have any enemies at school. And Jacqui, she was on the little league team, and she was ten. How many enemies can a ten year old have?"

"I had three." Greg spoke softly, smiling in Nick's direction as the man gave him a confused look. "My competition at the science fair."

"Figured." The older man chuckled, finding a burnt photo of the family. "You know, Bradley's out of the hospital today. Samantha booked their flight for tomorrow."

"That's cool; you'll finally have him home with you. All your kids under one roof."

"Uh huh," Nick set his camera around his neck. "So, have you thought anymore about dinner with me?"

Greg smiled in his direction. "You were serious about that?"

"Wouldn't ask if I wasn't." He climbed to his feet, collecting his kit from the kitchen floor. "What else are you gonna do for your birthday, go home and go to sleep? We used to spend the whole day together." He pointed out to him. "Right c'mon, let's get this stuff back to the lab to process."

"Hey, Nicky." Greg blocked his path to the door, gently brushing the black smear from the older man's chin, before he looked into his eyes. "Thanks, for whatever you said to Molly, and for the talk the other week. It really helped."

"Don't mention it. I should be thankin' you though. I've felt ten times better since I let everythin' out." He pulled the door open behind Greg, waiting for the younger man to step out first. "How about we have breakfast after work then, if you're not up for dinner?" He suggested, leading the way to his truck.

"Okay." Greg agreed. "But it's not a date." He warned him.

"Puh-lease, if I was gonna take you on a date, it wouldn't be to breakfast in some crappy police diner, and I wouldn't make you pay for half. Trust me; you'll know when it's a real date with me, Sunshine."

"You've gotta stop calling me that." He scowled at him, realising what he had just said. "And you're gonna make me pay half on my birthday?"

"You didn't wonna go to dinner." Nick gave him a grin. "If you'd let me treat you..."

"I've already had loads of birthdays. I don't need you to treat me. C'mon, we've gotta get back to the lab, before Ecklie notices I'm missing. He's gonna kill me for going out into the field again."

"Okay, and I'll cover for you. I'll say... I was in a crisis and really, really need you here." He smiled in his direction. "C'mon, I'm drivin'."

"Figured, since it's your car and all." He smirked. "You really don't have to cover for me though. You're in enough trouble with Ecklie as it is."

"I will, because you're my Sunshine." The Texan grinned round at him, singing, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. And you make me very happy." He whispered, smiling as he watched the blush creeping into his former lover's cheeks.

"You're such a goofball." Greg giggled softly, feeling tempted to kiss him.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway."

Thanks so much for reading! Please review.

~ Holly