MERRY CHRISTMAS! Thank you sooo much for my reviews. I really want you to keep reviewing, cos I love reviews.

A special message to southernhemmy – I am very glad that I was able to make you smile, and I also have to say god bless to everyone involved in the Sandy Hook shooting.

I hope this is a good enough chapter for Christmas day. I tried to make it the equivalent of a TV Christmas special, did it work?

Warning: Bad language appears in this chapter.

Christmas reviews?

Read. Enjoy. Review. Merry Christmas

Chapter Twenty One # Step by Step #

"Daddy! Help me, Daddy! Daaaddy, help me, Daddy, Daddy, DADDY!"

Nick leapt out of his bed of terror and ran down the hall to Kristy's room.

"Kristy? Kristina?" He called. He burst through the door. Kristy's eyes were squeezed shut and she was thrashing about in her bed.

"Kristy..." He murmured, crossing the room in seconds and stroking her hair, trying to draw her out of her nightmare."Krissie, I'm here... Wake up, sweetie, you're dreaming."

Kristy opened her fear filled eyes, sobbing. "Daddy no dream! Daddy no dream!"

"What happened?"

"Man in da wardobe said to scream!" She sobbed. Nick froze, staring at the wardrobe. He lifted her out of the bed and started to back out of the room.

Something smashed onto Nick's head and he fell to the floor. Kristy shrieked and then there was a gunshot.

"No!" Nick screamed as the tiny body of the toddler fell above his head.

"No! Noooo!"

"Daddy?"

"Nooo!"

"Daddy?"

"Kristina!"

"Daddy, I here..."

"No..."

"Daddy, wake up, you scawing me! Aunie Sara, Aunie Sara!"

Nick closed his eyes on the image of his dead daughter and opened them to the same little girl, hovering above his head, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"Daddy?"

"Kristy?" Nick croaked, his voice hoarse. He sat up as if a bolt of electricity had been shot through his body. "Kristy!"

He grabbed his daughter and hugged her tightly, revelling in the glorious fact that she was alive, that she was okay.

"Daddy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, baby, nothing, I had a bad dream."

"What dream?" Kristy asked worriedly.

"Just a nightmare."

"You say talkin mays it bedder..."

His eyes still closed, Nick swallowed, knowing there was no diverting his daughter.

"A bad man broke into our house."

"No bad mans, Daddy." Kristy soothed, stroking her father's hair. "No bad mans here, dust Aunie Sara in da shower an' Eli an' Hank in da living room. No bad mans. Is otay."

Nick sighed deeply, continuing to stroke Kristy's hair softly. "I know now, Kristy, I know."

"Dood. We go see Aunie Mogan on today?"

"Yeah, we will."

"Now?"

"In a little while."

"Now."

Nick laughed. "No."

It was Kristy's turn to sigh. "Daddy..."

Nick smiled back, willing to give into his daughter's whims, especially one he shared, after such a dream. "Okay, okay, as soon as I get dressed."

Two hours later Kristy was jumping up and down holding Nick's hand through the hospital corridor. When they walked into the room Wendy, Catherine, Hodges, Greg and the twins were already there.

"Aunie Mogan!" Kristy called, ripping away from the father to run to the bed. "Oh, Auine Mogan, I so happy you no dead!"

"Thank you Kristy. I'm glad to see you. You wanna come up?" Morgan asked as Sara and Eli entered.

"Yuh-huh." The smallest of all their children climbed into the bed and sat next to Loeila who was sitting next to Morgan.

"Thank you all for coming." Morgan smiled sincerely. "I feel really popular."

"I'm just glad you're not dead." Eli returned with a smile.

"Me too." Morgan smiled back.

DB and Finn walked into the room.

"Hi, everyone." DB acknowledged them all with a nod. "I have good news. Jose Martinez and Mario Lorenzo are in custody, and with the evidence we got from the chocolate factory at least is enough to put them both away from a long time."

A small cheer rose up among the room.

"Who awe dey?" Loeila asked Morgan.

"The bad guys." Morgan replied.

"I no like dem." Reuben declared. "I fink we should lock dem in da cellar wib the rats and dey can be eaten to deaf!"

Everyone stared at Greg who shrugged.

"So, Pedro and Diego are still at large?" Nick asked, his voice low.

"At the moment, yeah. Did you sleep alright, Nick, you look terrible?" DB said, frowning.

"Daddy had a bad dream." Kristy interjected before Nick could lie his prepared answer.

"Oi, flappy-ears, stop ear wigging." Nick teased, and Kristy giggled a little, before sobering up.

"He dreamed dat da bad men came back to our house."

"I fink the bad men should all go away." Loeila mused. "Den we could all be safe an' happ-achoo!" She sneezed suddenly.

"Oops. You okay Lola?" Greg asked in concern.

"I fine. Don' tell da nurses I sniffly, or dey make me leave Aundie Mowgan, what I no gonna do." Loeila said in a loud whisper.

Morgan smiled slightly, feeling brilliantly, incredibly loved.

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

"Diego, calm down." Pedro said mildly as his younger brother kicked a chair across the hall.

"Jose and Mario are in custody, Pedro, in custody-"

"And they'll be out in due time."

"How? That fucking bitch stayed alive, Sanders saved her, everything is going wrong!"

"Diego. Calm. Down. It was this temper that got you into the mess in Texas."

"I-"

"The stupidly harsh judge was not your fault but you started it with your temper so just calm yourself."

The younger man took two big deep breaths. "Okay. I'm calm. Now what?"

Pedro took a long drag of the cigarette between his fingers. "Now we are careful. Now we watch the way things pan out, I have waited years for this."

"So I get your beef with Sanders, and obviously with Stokes. I get why it leads back to the team. But when you targeted Sidle and that kid-"

"That was Jose."

"But you ordered it. I may be the youngest, Pedro, I know that you think I'm a useless druggie. But I'm not."

Pedro, gave a wry smile. "I know you're not, Diego. It was Jose's idea, but yes, I told him to do it and yes, it was my fight. I knew Sara's father, back in San Francisco, when she was a young girl. Therefore, I knew her too. She was a very pretty girl, fifteen, sixteen years old. One night, I uh... I got the wrong idea."

"Did you..."

"Rape her? No. I tried to get with her, but she wasn't having any of it."

"So..."

Pedro pursed his lips. "She told my wife. Lucinda."

Diego's eyes widened. "That's why she left? That's why she took the kids?"

"Yes."

"And that's why you went after Sidle?"

Pedro shrugged. "It seemed appropriate. She stole my family..."

"So you threaten to take hers." Diego nodded.

"Yes."

"Makes sense." Diego nodded. "So what do we do?"

"We wait. I don't have a plan just yet. We wait."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"Russell, I want to come back to work."

"Morgan, two weeks ago you were kidnapped, assaulted and almost killed. You're not ready-"

"I've passed psyche evaluations, physical exams... I'm ready."

Russell sighed in exasperation. "Morgan..."

"Please, I'm going stir crazy at home!"

"Well you shouldn't be alone-"

"No, I'm never alone and its driving me insane, I feel like I'm a burden to everyone and-"

"Morgan, no. You're not ready."

Morgan sighed and flopped into the chair opposite DB's desk, ending her pacing abruptly. "Maybe I could look after the kids in the break room? It would give me something to do, and I wouldn't be alone so no one needs to babysit me. Please?"

Russell considered the idea for a moment. "Okay...but no working on cases."

Morgan beamed. She danced into the break room where the others were arriving, kids and all.

"Hey guys. I'm playing babysitter today."

"Yay!" Loeila squealed in delight, hugging her 'Auntie' tightly. As the others were handed assignments, Morgan began drawing with the four children.

"Morgan? When will we have to start staying at home again? Coz I prefer coming here, but Sara says that we only come here now because its not safe anymore at home." Eli asked out of the blue, about twenty minutes later.

Morgan paused. "I don't know..."

"I fought dat dey caught da bad guys dat hurt you an' Reuben and dat stuff..." Kristy frowned.

"Yeah, but there are some more bad guys that we haven't caught yet." Morgan explained.

"Why are dere so many?" Reuben sighed, leaning on Morgan's arm.

"The world is full of bad people. These ones just...want to hurt us. But we're gonna be okay."

"Dust no let anyone die." Kristy said sadly.

"No." Morgan shook her head. Then she glanced at the clock.

"You guys should get some sleep, it's late."

"But I'm not ti-"

"Suuure you're not." Morgan rolled her eyes. "I completely believe you."

She pulled out the duvets they used to make the seats into beds and tucked in the three youngest children.

"Morgan please can I not go to sleep? The others are three and I'm eight." Eli protested.

Morgan pursed her lips. "Okay, sure. You can have another hour."

Half an hour later the three youngest children were sound asleep.

"Morgan? Will you tell me something? The truth?"

"Sure."

"Are we gonna die?"

"I don't think so. I hope not. But I don't know. Anything could happen."

There was a soft knock on the door and Morgan looked up. An African American couple who looked about sixty something were standing in the hall. "Are you Morgan Brody?"

"I am." She stood up slowly.

"May we...may we speak to you for a minute, please?" The man asked. The woman was trying to keep herself from staring at Eli, but Morgan noticed how her eyes kept flicking to the curious child.

"Sure." She left the room. "What do you need?"

"We were told that you were the only CSI currently in the building."

"I am." Morgan asked, her confusion and curiosity growing with the moment.

"We...we just want to know... Did you know Warrick Brown?"

Morgan frowned. "No, I didn't...several of my colleagues knew him, but I'm afraid that I joined the lab maybe four years after he died."

"Oh...is that his son?"

Morgan shifted slightly, her protective instincts taking over. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

They glanced at each other. "Elizabeth and George Brown. We're ex CIA, we were forced to...disappear years ago. We're Warrick's parents."

CSIVCSIVCSIV

"...so then I called Russell and he and Sara came straight back to the lab, they left Wendy and Finn at the scene." Morgan explained to Greg as he logged in the evidence from his burglary.

"Really? Is it legit?" Greg asked with a frown.

"Looks like it right now." Morgan nodded.

"Did you tell Eli?"

"No, no. I went back in and told him that they needed to talk to Sara and Russell. He's asleep now."

"Good idea." Greg nodded before hesitating. "Morgan? I got a two hour break, there're people at the lab...do you wanna get something to eat?"

Morgan considered for a moment. "Can I stop at my place first for a minute?"

"Sure." Greg grinned sheepishly, glad she was even agreeing. They let Russell know that they were about to leave for a while and in a few minutes they were at Morgan's.

"I'll be five minutes." She promised.

Greg waited in the car, each second feeling like a minute within itself.

What am I doing? He thought dismally.

This could potentially ruin his friendship with Morgan, something that he valued so much.

He thought of Alyssa for a moment. She was the mother of his children. But Morgan had stood in as a mother for them without forcing it, it was natural. She loved them, it came so easy. And he loved her. He'd practically died when they'd been told she was dead.

Five minutes later she emerged in a short, deep blue halter neck dress that ended halfway up her thighs. Her hair was braided at the back of her head and she was wearing a little makeup. It wasn't too formal, but not too cheap looking either.

"Wow...you look great." Greg said shyly, suddenly self-conscious about his shirt and pants combo.

"Thanks."

"I just need to pick something up from my apartment. Come on up." Greg said, not wanting to leave Morgan alone. The place had felt strangely empty since his dad had taken his mom back to San Gabriel. He shrugged on a smarter jacket and grabbed his car keys.

"Let's go." He grinned. They drove to a small 24 hour Italian Restaurant and allowed the waitress to show them to their seats.

"What can I get you to drink?" The young women smiled at them.

"Um, I'll have a coca cola, please. I'm still on the clock." Greg grinned.

"Me too." Morgan nodded.

"I'll get those right away for you." The waitress nodded and left.

"She was cute."

"Yeah. But not beautiful. Not like you."

Morgan laughed as Greg's cheeks went slightly pink. "You're so cute when you're nervous."

"Um…thanks?" They both laughed as the waitress put down their drinks. They both ordered and Morgan held up her glass. "So. Do you come here often?"

"Every now and again." Greg nodded with a smile, playing along.

Morgan paused. "When was the last time that you actually went out, Greg?"

Greg frowned. "Not in a while… I don't think that I've been out since the twins arrived. And before that… I can't remember."

"That doesn't sound like you." Morgan tilted her head to the side.

"Well what about you? When did you last go out?"

"Me?" Morgan grinned a little. They talked for a forty minutes that felt like hours.

"We probably should get back to work soon…" Greg said regretfully.

"I know…" Morgan sighed, as Greg signalled at the waitress.

They walked slowly towards the car, arms linked.

"Wait." Greg said, pulling her gently towards him and kissing her softly. Only mildly surprised, Morgan softly returned the kiss.

As they broke away she glanced over Greg's shoulder.

"Greg?" she murmured. "The Sherriff is right over there."

"Oh well…" Greg smiled softly, leaning in to kiss Morgan again.

In a massive burst of fire and flames, the Sherriff's car exploded. Greg and Morgan were thrown to the floor, and Greg instinctively shielded Morgan's body with his own.

Instantly crying, screaming and alarms filled the air.

"Greg?" Morgan gasped. When he didn't respond or move from on top of her she started to panic. "Greg, Greg, Greg!"

He coughed, pushing himself up. "I'm… I'm okay, Morgan, are you-"

"I'm not hurt. I'm okay." She mumbled.

Greg peered over his shoulder. "Oh god, the Sherriff!"

They started to stand up.

A woman pointed at the car and screamed loudly. "THERE'S ANOTHER BOMB!"

Greg flung himself down on top of Morgan again.

"Oh god…" Morgan moaned as silence fell. "Greg? Greg?"

"Yeah!" Greg groaned.

"Oh god!"

"What?" Greg moaned.

"Greg, we're lying in gasoline!" she gasped.

Greg felt fear stab at his heart and he instantly pushed himself up, grabbing Morgan under the arms and sweeping her off her feet literally.

The raced as fast as he could away from the fiery flames that pursued them.

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