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Chapter Three # Shopping and Break-ins#

Nick groaned as Kristy screamed for the seventh time. Following what had become the norm he picked her up, rocked her gently and fed her. He glanced at the clock. It was two in the afternoon - about five hours before he was due for work. He decided to head to the store to pick up some stuff for Kristy, and raced through the shower. He pulled on a clean top and picked up the baby so he could install the car seat in his car. She promptly threw up all over his top.

"Aw, man!" He popped her back in the car seat and threw his top straight in the wash, throwing on a clean top and draping a tea towel over his shoulder. "You're okay." He murmured as the baby girl stared at him.

He was headed for the door when suddenly the phone rang.

Nick picked up the phone, rocking the gurgling baby. "Hello?"

"Nick, its Catherine."

Nick couldn't help but smile. "Oh, hey Cath!"

"Hey. Sorry I couldn't take your call this morning, I don't work nights anymore, Nicky."

"Sorry." Nick apologised sheepishly.

"So what do you need?"

"Advice." Nick said carefully.

"What have you done now?"

"I didn't do anything!" Nick protested. "I was wondering how you cope with...beingasingleparent?"

"Nicky you'll have to slow down. What did you say?"

"How...how do you cope with work when you're a single parent?"

Catherine scoffed. "That's more than a quick answer, Nick. Why?"

Nick took a deep breath. "Do you remember the case with the McBrides and the little girl Cassie?"

"Yeah."

"Well she turned up at the crime lab a few days ago. Eight and a half weeks pregnant. Her foster dad abused her. I said she could stay with ne a while and she died in childbirth two days ago. She named me guardian." Nick's voice was choked but he managed to get it all out.

"Oh, God Nicky... I'm so sorry."

Nick nodded. "S'okay."

"So are you gonna raise her as an uncle or a dad?" Nick smiled slightly - Catherine knew him well enough to not even bother asking if he would look after her.

"Dad." He said firmly. "That's what Cassie wanted, it's what she deserves and I already have enough nieces and nephews to populate china...well, twenty two." Catherine chuckled and Nick continued. "Nah, I'm raising her like a dad."

"What's she called?"

"Kristina McBride Stokes. Cassie asked me to give her my name if I ever had to look after her and well if I'm raising her like a dad... Besides, I heard babies are a bit of a chic magnet..." He joked.

"Nicholas William Stokes!"

"I'm joking, Cath!"

"I know. Contrary to lab belief it is possible to work for the FBI and keep a sense of humour. Kristina's a beautiful name Nick...am I allowed to call her Kristy?"

"Of course! I do!" Nick admitted. He cleared his throat. "Um, Cath?"

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering... Would you like to be her godmother?"

"What?" Catherine whispered.

"G-o-d-m-"

"Nick!"

"Are you rolling your eyes?"

"Are you kidding? Godmother?"

"I'm serious, Cath. Deadly serious."

"I would love to, Nick!" Catherine gasped. "I get to spoil her, right?"

"Of course." Nick grinned.

"Then definitely Nick! Oh my god, I can't believe it!"

Nick grinned. "Hey, Cath? You'll never guess who else are suddenly parents?"

"Who?"

"Greg and Sara and Grissom." Nick shrugged matter of factly.

"What!" Catherine shrieked.

Nick couldn't help but both smile and cry slightly as he explained the bittersweet events of the previous night to Catherine.

"Oh my...poor Eli...kids?"

"Are you shaking your head?"

"Maybe I did work with you too long." Catherine gasped, sounding breathless. "Wow. I'm gone five minutes and suddenly half the lab are parents?"

"Seems that way. I should tell my mom it's your fault I have so far failed to settle down."

"Sure, Nicky. Look, I've got a pretty flexible vacation schedule, do you think you'll need a hand until you get things sorted?"

Nick's mouth popped open. "Wha...what do you mean?"

"I'm offering free babysitting and parenting guidance for the three of you if you want it. I'm guessing Gil's still in Brazil?"

"Are you kidding, Cath?"

"Not at all Nicky. Don't tell the others, but I'll be there tomorrow morning."

A wide grin spread across Nick's face. "Thank you so much, Catherine."

"You're welcome, Nicky. I've gotta go, sort out this time off, I'll call you later with details."

"Thanks, Cath. I love you." It was strange how the simple words felt easier to say over distance.

"Love you too Nicky." Nick could hear the smile in Catherine's voice. "Oh and Nick? Congratulations."

Fifteen minutes later after an impressively quick installation of the car seat, Nick and Kristy pulled in at the nearest store, which coincidentally was next to a childcare shop. He headed into the childcare shop first, thinking he would duck in and out, but he immediately was lost in the endless aisles of stuff. "Oh, man!" He moaned softly.

A young woman with a toddler on her hip laughed softly. He turned and stared at her.

"First timer, are you?" She had a strong English accent and a sunny smile and Nick couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah...she came as a bit of a surprise. I haven't really got anything and I have no idea where to start." Nick admitted.

"Its intimidating at first but it gets easier. Where's her mummy?"

"She died giving birth. Two days ago."

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" The woman's face fell.

Nick nodded. "It's alright."

"If you don't mind me asking, how was it a surprise?" The woman bit her lip.

Nick sighed. He thought about lying, then shrugged. "Biologically she's not mine. I'm a CSI, her mom's family was murdered seven years ago, and I rescued her mom. She was ten at the time. Went into foster care, her dad abused her. She remembered my name and ran to me. I looked after her for a few days and she bled out giving birth. Lived long enough to name her daughter and name me guardian."

The woman looked heartbroken. "Jesus...you poor things." She bit her lip again. "Look, I don't have much to do today, why don't I give you a hand? I can tell you what you really need. If you ask the staff, you'll end up buying the whole shop!"

Nick smiled and nodded in relief. "If it's not a problem that would be great, ma'am."

She laughed. "It's Sasha, this is Ollie. And no, I don't mind, it's no problem."

"I'm Nick, this is Kristy."

Sasha smiled. "You're gonna need at least one trolley."

Nick glanced at the shopping carts. "Yeah, I am, aren't I?"

She laughed. "Here, this one has a baby seat; you can free your hands."

"Thanks." Nick grinned crookedly. As they made their way down the aisles Sasha explained each items purpose and dismissed several things that the store assistants would have deemed a necessity.

"So Sasha-" she grinned and Nick paused. "What?"

"I can never get over that."

"What?" Nick frowned.

"Saaasha." She drawled out the 'a' with a smile. "The way people pronounce it here. Where I come from its Sasha." She said the 'a' as a short sound, like in 'apple'.

"I can say Sasha." Nick protested, shortening the vowel. It felt strange.

She laughed. "Of course you can. What were you gonna say?"

"Where's Ollie's father?"

"I have no idea. Ran away as soon as I told him he was pregnant." Sasha shrugged, glancing at her son chewing on a dinosaur.

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged again. "Don't be, he was a bum face."

"Interesting choice of words."

"Ollie's learning to talk." Sasha explained. She glanced at her watch. "Okay. We have everything you need.

Sara awoke and detangled herself from Eli. The little boy stirred slightly but didn't wake and she used the opportunity to take a shower. Eli was still asleep when she came out of the bathroom so she decided to try and email Grissom.

She turned the computer on and logged in, but a scream drew her back to the bedroom. This time Eli was awake and screaming bloody murder.

Sara blanched at the sight of a tarantula crawling up the bedcovers.

"Grissom!" She cursed. "It's okay, Eli, he can't hurt you!"

Eli held a pillow in front of his body, sobbing. "I want to go hoooome! I want my mommy!"

Sara's heart broke and she steeled her nerves, gently picking up the spider. "See, he doesn't hurt. He's very gentle. He's Grissom's pet, we lost him a while ago."

Eli's eyes poked out from around the pillow.

"See?" Sara showed him the spider.

The boy hid again and Sara sighed. She raced into the back room, otherwise known as Grissom's nursery and dropped the spider into an empty tank, and slammed the lid on, running back to find the bed seemingly empty, bar a quivering lump under the covers which Hank was snuffling about.

"Shoo, Hank!" Sara sat down hesitantly on the bed. "Eli." She said softly. "Will you come out and talk to me please? The spiders and dogs are all gone." No response. She sighed. "I know that you miss your mommy."

Two sceptical eyes glared at her as they were revealed.

"I do know. My mommy's dead too."

Eli's whole head poked out with an inquisitive expression on his face.

"She died a while ago. She...she had cancer. My daddy's dead too."

Eli clambered out and stared at her.

She sighed. "My daddy died when I was about a year older than you. He wasn't very nice. My...my mom killed him because he was hurting us. Then they took my mom away too, because she'd done a bad thing." She wasn't sure whether or not she should be telling this to Eli, but she thought she may as well continue. "I went to a foster home after that. Do you know what that is?"

Eli shook his little head. "It's like a home where kids with no family go to live, but it's not permanent. Some of the people are mean...You move around, never stay in one place long..."

Eli sighed softly and hung his head, hugging himself and Sara instantly figured what he was thinking.

Her voice hardened. "This isn't a foster home, Eli. And you have a family."

He looked up at her in sadness and spoke in a hoarse voice. "I a orphan. I have no family. Nobody cares about orphans. Everyone knows that."

The pieces of Sara's heart throbbed painfully. "Eli, you're daddy was an orphan. And lots of people loved him. He didn't have a family so he made his own; with the people he loved the most. Uncle Nick was like his twin; Uncle Greg was like his baby brother. I was his sister. Auntie Catherine was like his...um...well, kinda like his...sorta...mom." Slash secret possible girlfriend, she though. "And Grissom was like his daddy. We were his family, and we're yours too, Eli. I know that you're hurting real bad. I know how you feel, I really, really do. But you've got us, Eli and we're gonna be okay. We love you. I promise."

Eli sniffled and surprised Sara by climbing into her lap with his thumb in his mouth. "I miss my mommy." He murmured, before looking up at Sara. "But I love you too."

Sara looked down at him with a smile. "Does that mean you're okay with living with me from now on? And Grissom when he gets home?"

Eli nodded.

"Okay, we have some stuff to do then. I have no food or anything fun in the house so we have to go shopping. Then we have to go back to my work so I can talk to my boss for a little bit. Does that sound okay?"

Eli sniffed. "Mm hmm."

Sara smiled and Hank crept into the bedroom. Eli stiffened but Sara rubbed his back softly. "Its okay. Hank's okay, he's a big softie."

Eli hesitantly put his hand in front of Hank's nose before withdrawing it at the last second.

"Its okay." Sara urged. "Hank won't bite. Shall we get dressed and go shopping?"

Eli shook his head. "Jamas." He said half firmly, half pleadingly.

Sara frowned. "You have to get dressed."

Eli's lip quivered. "Just once in my jamas?"

She sighed. "Okay. Let's have some breakfast and go." It took another hour before they finally got out of the house, but finally Sara and Eli entered the nearest superstore. "Right, you're gonna have to help a bit, Eli. I have no idea what to get."

Eli nodded, holding Sara's hand. She smiled slightly and made her way down the long aisles picking up item after item, completely filling her shopping cart. She bought a couple of cheap but nice sets of clothes from the clothing section as well as a football and a couple of kids' books and films. As she reached the checkout the young girl behind the counter smiled at her.

"Did you find everything you were looking for, ma'am?"

Sara nodded with a smile. "Yes, thank you."

The girl, Brenda according to her name badge, began to scan Sara's groceries. "Having a party or something?"

Sara chuckled. "I wish. This little fella has just come to live with me and my husband and it was kinda unpredicted. I work at the crime lab and I've been pulling long shifts, so I don't have much food around the house."

The girl tucked her blonde hair behind her ears, narrowing her eyes. "I'm sorry, is your name Zara, no - Sara!"

"Yes." Sara said suspiciously.

"Oh my god!" The teen gushed. "You probably don't remember me at all. I'm Brenda Collins, my family was murdered when I was about his age-"

Sara flashed back to her first year on the job, the tiny girl who had connected with her immediately. "Brenda! Of course I can remember. How are you?"

The blonde smiled and nodded. "I've been really lucky. I had a great foster home and they actually adopted me. They're amazing, I feel so special now. I visited my sister in jail, she explained why she did what she did and I got it. In a way however horrible it was I'm kind of grateful. I'm in a much better place now than I was then."

"Good. I'm really glad." Sara grinned sincerely.

"So are you fostering now or something?" Brenda asked while finishing Sara's groceries.

"Not exactly. Eli's dad was one of my best friends."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Brenda's face fell.

"I'm orphan now." Eli whispered. "Daddy died when I was a baby. Mommy died yesterday." He started to cry again and Sara picked him up.

"I'm so sorry." Brenda bit her lip.

"Its okay." Sara whispered to both of them.

"Uh, Eli?" Brenda said hesitantly.

He turned towards her, wiping his eyes.

"My mommy and daddy died when I was little too. Sucks, doesn't it?"

Eli nodded.

"You know what helped me so much?"

He shook his head.

"Two things that helped me the most, okay?"

"Okay." He whispered.

"Number one - pillows are good to cuddle. Number two - Sara. She helped me a lot and she's really nice."

"I know." Eli whispered. Brenda leaned over to whisper in Eli's ear. "She'll look after you. Trust me. She looked after me."

Eli looked at Brenda for a minute, before locking his arms around Sara's neck and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thanks." Sara smiled, hugging Brenda before paying and leaving.

She thought about the girl she had known, how different her time in the foster system was to Cassie McBride's. Brenda had been looked after. Cassie had been abused.

Sara sighed and passed Eli a light bag to carry the groceries up to her apartment and knew she had to make two or three trips. She took Eli into the living room area and gave him the books and the TV remote.

"Stay here, okay? I have to get the rest of the groceries, I'll be right back. Stay here and don't open the door, that's very important, okay?"

Eli nodded and Sara shut and locked the apartment door, mindful of child abductions and the like. God knew she'd seen enough. She got the last of the groceries out of the car and carried them up. As she reached her floor she could hear screaming. She sighed. Maybe Hank had – suddenly Hank barked.

She started running towards her apartment where the noise seemed to be coming from. Eli's now distinctive scream met her ears, along with Hank's vicious bark. Sara fumbled with the key at the bark that clearly wasn't friendly. She froze as another man's voice cried "shit!"

"SAAAAAAARRRRAAAAAAAAA!" Eli screamed and Sara twisted the lock, pushing open the door only to see a man in a balaclava holding a baseball bat over Eli. Hank was protectively crouched in front of him, hackles up and growling.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" Sara cried, and the man panicked.

"Ed, she's home!" She blanched as another man came out of her bedroom, a bag full of what looked like Eli's clothes in his hand.

Sara stepped back towards the dresser. "Eli, come here now."

"Stay there!" The man spat.

Eli whimpered and froze. The second man, Ed, pulled out a gun and pointed it at Hank.

"Call your dog away or I shoot him!"

Sara hesitantly called Hank over. "Hank, Eli come here please."

"Don't move!" Ed ordered. "Joe, grab the kid."

As the man lurched towards Eli two things happened at once. Hank the dog lunged at 'Joe' and Sara Sidle grabbed her gun out of the top drawer. Hank was batted away with the baseball bat and Eli cried out in unison with the dog.

The man picked Eli up, and Ed shot at Sara, who ducked, grabbing the police radio from the drawer.

"Control, control this is CSI Sidle I need immediate backup at my apartment!" She rattled of her address and stood up, shooting at Ed and clipping his arm.

Eli screamed as loud as he could as Joe tried to subdue him. He kicked and punched at the man, shouting out. "SARA!"

"Shut up!" Joe cried and Eli's fist connected to his chin. Joe brought his fist down onto the little boys face and both Sara and Eli screamed.

Hank flew through the air back towards Joe, sinking his teeth into the man's arm and dragging it down. As the two men screamed Hank let go and lunged at Eli, biting his pyjama top and dragging him out of the man's arms, before gently but quickly dragging Eli over to Sara who sheltered him with her body.

"Drop your weapons now!" She ordered, and both men hesitantly dropped their weapons. Vartaan suddenly burst through the door with Officer Mitchell and another officer that Sara didn't recognise.

"Freeze! On your knees now!" The two men dropped to their knees. Hank growled softly at Vartaan as he walked up to Sara as the other officers dealt with the would-be kidnappers.

"Sara, are you okay? I was in the area on a case, I heard the call..."

"I'm okay." She turned to Eli and put her hands on his shoulders. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Good dog!" Eli sobbed, falling into Sara's arms. "Hank's good dog!"

"Yep." Sara smiled as Vartaan crouched down.

"I heard you'd taken in Warrick's little one. You okay, kid?" Eli peeked over Sara's shoulder and nodded slightly.

"El, this is Lou. Lou Vartaan, he's a friend of mine. He's good friends with Auntie Catherine."

Eli's eyes lit up at the mention of his favourite Aunt.

"Really?"

Lou nodded. "Yep."

"Oh."

"Looks like my apartment's a crime scene." Sara sighed.

"Get DB to give it to Finn and Morgan, they'll be done by the time of your family meeting later."

"They're off the clock."

"Actually they're looking for one more case. Bet with Hodges."

"Oh, okay." Sara shrugged.

"I'll make the call." Lou winked.

"So where do I go? My two first pit stops both have their own baby troubles!" Sara frowned.

Vartaan shrugged. "Sorry, Sara."

"Right." Sara grabbed Eli's Ferrari backpack. "I'm just taking a day bag for Eli. And Hank."

"Okay." Vartaan nodded, checking it as per procedure.

Sara pondered where she could go and finally remembered someone with a day off. Someone she would go to in a heartbeat. She knocked on the door and the man answered with a surprised smile.

"Eli, Sara! Uh, Hank?"

"Eli, remember Uncle Jim?"

Greg awoke to the sound of sweet screaming and sighed. He found the culprit, his son who he referred to for the moment as 'Trouble', and began to feed him. He ran a hand through his hair and rocked quietly. "Are you ever gonna let me sleep?" He groaned.

His doorbell rang, making his son cry again. He shuffled over and peeped through the peephole, opening the door with a shocked look.

"Papa Olaf?"

The old man chuckled. "Greg! Your mom called me last night. Said she had news."

Greg half laughed, hugging his grandfather tightly. "It's so good to see you."

"You too, Greg. And who's this?"

"He doesn't have a name at the moment but I call him 'Trouble'. He's my son." Greg said proudly.

"Then you may as well just keep him called 'Trouble'." Papa Olaf laughed. "Let me guess, you've called your girl 'Tricks' for now?"

"Busted!" Greg laughed.

"Do I ever get to hold them? I may be seventy nine but I'm not falling apart yet."

"Sure, come in, come in. Just, let me get dressed, okay?"

Papa Olaf laughed, taking Trouble from Greg. "Sure thing." Ten minutes later Greg emerged from his bedroom with Tricks. "Oh, Greg she's gorgeous."

"Thanks." Greg grinned. "So how long since you've spoken to Katie, anyway?"

"Oh...about a month." Greg shrugged.

"I remember when you two were our Trouble and Tricks. How old were you when you blew up play school?"

"I was three, she was four. And technically we didn't blow it up. We just filled some balloons with paint and threw them around. It only looked like an explosion. And still that assistant called us the cousins from hell."

Papa Olaf shook his head."Ah, Greg. I remember your mother's face."

Greg laughed. "At least dad found it funny."

"Oh he loved it." Papa Olaf nodded. "Greg?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that he didn't want to leave."

Greg's eyes flew down. He hated this topic. "Of course."

"But you don't, Greg. You blame him for leaving you."

"He was in the army he didn't have a choice." Greg said monotonously.

"Gregory Hojem Sanders, look at me."

Reluctantly Greg met his grandfather's eyes.

"He tried to get out. After that... beating." Both men winced slightly. The Demetrius James incident was a well known, and hated, story in the Sanders family. Greg's mother wasn't the only protective one. "After the beating he put in a request to be discharged. His commanding officer told him he could be honourably discharged after one more deployment."

"And now he's missing in action. Presumed dead." Greg said softly. "Why didn't he tell me he was quitting?"

"Because he wanted to surprise you. And we all expected him to come back.

" Greg wiped at the tear he hadn't noticed falling. "I miss him. Trouble has his eyes."

"As do you." Papa Olaf put an arm around Greg's shoulders.

"I'm really confused. I don't know how to be a dad."

"You think I did?" He laughed. "At least you didn't get kicked out of the country for impregnating this girl."

Greg snorted. "True."

"I was seventeen when your nana got pregnant with your mom. She didn't turn out that bad. You'll be fine."

Greg nodded, sighing. "Their mom...it just...it makes me so angry. They're tiny for their age, they were left in the backseat of a car...she was such a bitch...I can't believe I ever...urgh!"

Papa Olaf nodded. "But now they got you, kid. They don't need her when they got you."

Greg grinned at his grandfather. "How's nana?"

"Good, she's good. She wanted to come down today but she's doing that charity skydive that she scheduled last year."

Greg grinned widely at the idea of his seventy seven year old grandmother leaping out of an airplane for charity.

"She'll be down tomorrow."

"Good." Greg grinned happily.

"And if you need some babysitters until you get back on your feet..."

Greg's grin stretched even further. "Hey, Papa Olaf?"

"Yeah?"

"How'd you like to come with me to work?"

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