CSI: Braden Sanders-Stokes: Speeding Comet

Summary: Braden gets the "sister" he's always wanted. Braden is three years old, in this, the fourth chapter.

Nick finished cleaning up the kitchen, wishing Greg didn't have to go to work for at least another week. When the dishes were clean and put away he went upstairs to see what his son was up to. He was wondering what they could do together, thinking about some of the movies they'd bought for him, but had yet to watch.

When he walked into Braden's room he stopped short, a little surprised by what he saw. The boy was sitting on his bed, pouring over a book, though he couldn't tell from his angle which one it was.

"Braid?"

He looked up at Nick with large luminous eyes. "I wanna doggie like me," he said.

Nick nodded, now understanding which book he was looking at. He crossed the room to sit on the bed beside him, his hands clasped in his lap, unsure how to talk about this.

"Well, kiddo we didn't really plan on getting a dog so soon."

"Why not?"

"Well, because we only just got you. And we wanted you to get used to things around here first. Bringing home a new dog who doesn't understand things the same as you and I is a big deal. You need to be comfortable here so that the dog can become comfortable here as well. Does that make any sense?"

Braden thought about it for a moment, sticking his fore finger in his mouth and looking around the room then back at the picture of the dog in front of him. "No."

Nick sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. Taking care of a dog is a lot of work and you'd have to help out."

"I help."

"I know you would, honey, but it's not that simple. You'd have to feed her twice a day, give her water, help us take her out for walks, and we'd have to find someone to look in on her when we're away at work."

"We make it work!" Braden's eyes were pleading with Nick to get him the dog he wanted.

"I tell you what, why don't you and I go watch a movie and when I talk to Greg later we'll see what he says, ok? I just can't making any promises."

"I don't want a doggie to be alone like me with nobody who likes them."

"I wouldn't want a doggie to go through that either," Nick said, stoically attempting to mask the fact that his eyes were beginning to mist over. Since when had Braden decided to take on his own qualities in the short period they'd known each other? "We'll see what we can do. Now, how about we go watch some Winnie the Pooh?"

Several hours later Nick was at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee when his cell phone vibrated against his hip, reminding him to be quiet when he answered.

"Hey babe, how's work?" he greeted.

"Hey, not too bad actually. I'm on my break right now. You?"

Nick pictured his husband relaxing on the couch in the break room and smiled, wishing he could be there, just to be near him.

"Just got Braid down for a nap."

"Good." There was a slight pause and then, "You know I miss you."

"I miss you too."

"So how's things at home with him? Is he doing ok without me there?"

"Well, actually, there's something we need to discuss."

"What?" Greg's voice suddenly had an edge to it, as if he was expecting the worst and Nick pictured him sitting up in a rush.

"It's nothing that bad, G. It's just that I caught him pouring over that Greyhound book. And he really wants one. I tried to convince him it would be better to wait a little while, but he didn't really understand what I was telling him. I'm just not sure if this is a good idea. I know we talked about getting a dog together a lot before we got him, but..."

"It can't hurt, Nicky. What exactly did he say?"

"'I don't want a doggie to be alone like me with nobody who likes them'," Nick repeated, his eyes welling up again. "If he hadn't been with me, I think I would have bawled my eyes out at that."

"You and me both. Did he really say that?"

"Yeah, and he was so sincere about it too."

Greg laughed a little, "Great, so I'm living with two super heros," he joked. "That kid's gonna turn into you when he grows up."

"No, no. Now I know what just happened, but when I first saw him, I saw you there. He's going to turn into you. I'm living with two children," Nick laughed with him.

"Well, honestly, where would the fun be if we were all grown up?"

It was a combination of their laughing together and the seriousness of Braden's words that finally brought the tears tumbling down Nick's face.

"Oh God, G, now you're makin' me cry."

"Aww, I'm sorry hun."

Nick wiped his tears away. "No, it's ok. I'll be fine. So, I need your opinion. He's probably going to wake up and demand an answer. I just want to be ready for that."

"I don't see what other choices there are here. We all want the dog, and you know we'll take great care of her or him. And we've already talked to The Greyhound Sanctuary so they know us and agree we'd make great owners."

"That's true. I almost forgot about that."

"All they have to do is the house visit, meet Braden, we pick out a dog, and finish the paperwork. Provided they haven't gotten rid of what we already gave them."

"I think we made a good choice, G, waiting until we got Braden to get the dog. I mean, I would have loved having a dog months ago when we went looking, but I think with the way he is, it would be best if he could help pick one out."

"I couldn't agree more, Nicky. Oh, Griss says to say hi."

"Tell everyone I said hi."

"Sure thing," Greg said into the phone before he shouted to the room "Nicky says hi to everyone!"

"Hi Nick!" The rest of the team plus a few lab techs called back, almost sounding like an over eager AA meeting.

Nick grinned at that.

"I should get going otherwise this case won't get solved and I'll never get home to my two favorite super heros. Just promise me you won't let him do any serious super heroing until I get home to give him the super hero speech. Please?"

A slight lump formed in Nick's throat as he remembered the time Greg gave him the super hero speech because he'd singlehandedly taken down a little girl's murderer when he tried to flee from the crime scene. When he saw Greg a few hours later he'd been read the riot act about staying safe. Greg didn't want to lose him and he knew the haunted look he'd seen in Greg's eyes would never leave him.

Nick couldn't help his hero nature, but these days he found himself constantly thinking of Greg and what would happen because of his actions. Now, he took extra precautions, always made double sure a crime scene had been cleared by the cops before he entered, just for Greg, because he didn't want Greg to lose him either. When they got married he vowed to always be there for him, and he planned on sticking to that vow to the best of his abilities.

"Nicky?" Greg's voice cut into his thoughts and though Nick was sure no one in the break room could hear the slight change, he knew Greg so well it was hard for him not to notice the worry that had crept into it.

He cleared his throat. "Don't worry honey, I won't. We'll both be here when you get back."

"Good," the sound of relief flooded Greg's voice like water into a parched mouth. "Tell the kid I love him and I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Will do. I Love you."

"Love you too."

When Nick hung up his phone he heard a small shuffling sound in the doorway and turned to see Braden standing there in his pajamas.

"Was that him? Is he coming back?" the little boy asked.

"Yeah, he'll be home as soon as he can, but he wanted you to know he loves you very much, just like I do."

Braden nodded.

"Come on, let's get you back to bed. You're supposed to be asleep right now."

Braden hid his face in Nick's shoulder as they approached the counter at The Greyhound Sanctuary just two days later.

"Hi guys, it's good to see you! I was beginning to wonder if we'd ever see you again," the woman behind the counter said. "But I'm so glad you called yesterday."

"Hey, Anne," Nick smiled. "We decided to wait when our family grew to include another member. This is Braden. We wanted him to help choose a dog."

"You do still have the paperwork we already filled out, right?" Greg asked.

"Sure do," she replied, watching Braden. "But I'm sure your preferences for personalities and such have changed, with him around."

"Yeah. Hey, Braid, can you say hi? This is Anne, and she's going to help you get the dog you want."

Braden looked up at Greg. "A doggie like me?"

"Yeah, a doggie like you."

Slowly, the boy turned around and looked shyly at Anne, his patchwork elephant held tight in his small hands.

She smiled at him. "Hi there. Are you excited about getting a dog?"

He nodded. "A doggie like me!"

And everyone laughed at his sudden outburst of excitement.

"Well, it shouldn't take too long to fill out the paperwork. We still haven't done a house visit, but that doesn't take too much time. Why don't I take you back to the kennels and you can get to know the dogs for a little bit and then we can start filling out forms?"

"Sounds good."

Nick set the boy down and the three of them followed Anne down a hallway to the kennels where the dogs were kept.

"As I probably mentioned the last time you were here, I would recommend coming back at least one more time before you make your final decision, go home tonight and think about the dogs you've seen here today, and get to know them a little more again in a few days."

Both Nick and Greg nodded.

"I don't get doggie now?" Braden turned and looked up at his fathers, a forlorn expression on his face.

"Sorry, Braid, but this is a process, just like it was when we got you. We came back to visit you several times before we got to bring you home. Remember?"

"Oh. Yeah?"

Greg knelt down to his level and pointed toward the wire cage closest to them and the fawn colored Greyhound staring back at them. Braden followed his pointing finger and jumped up and down, nearly knocking Greg off his feet. Nick helped him back up as Braden ran forward toward the dogs.

"Don't run!" Nick called after him. "And don't stick your fingers through the bars, please. We talked about this on the way over, remember? If you get too excited..."

"K." Braden slowed to a stop in front of a brindle colored animal who's sheet read "Dancing Dani" as her racing name. "Hi," he spoke to the dog who stared back licking her lips. But Braden didn't seem deterred by this. He went to the next dog. "Hi. I'm Braden."

This dog came up the bars and sniffed at him, before whining and pawing through the bars. The little boy went to each and every cage, saying 'hi' and introducing himself while the adults looked on. Each dog greeted him differently, some got excited, jumping around their kennel, while others went about their own lives like he wasn't there.

When he reached the last dog, he had a crestfallen look to his face because he couldn't seem to find just the right dog. Here, the black female was already waiting for him, her expectant nose stuck through the bars and she was just as big as he was, their eyes easily at the same level. She didn't lick her nose, she didn't paw at him, or try to lick him through the bars, nor did she jump around in excitement. She simply watched him, almost like she'd locked eyes with him, and held his gaze. 'Take me home, I'm the one you've been looking for,' she seemed to be saying.

"What's its name?" Braden asked, unable to read the sheet attached to the bars of her kennel.

"That's a girl," Nick explained. "And her racing name is Speeding Comet."

Braden watched the dog for a moment and thought about it. "Comet," he finally said. "I like Comet."

A/N: The Greyhound Sanctuary was completely made up, but I love the name. The actual Greyhound adoption group in Las Vegas, Nevada is part of GPA (Greyhound Pets of America) which has shelters all over the United States. - Info found in Adopting the Racing Greyhound listed below.

Greyhounds lead a very different life than most dogs when they start life on the track, thus it takes a little getting used to a new environment like a house for them. At a track, they don't have slippery floors, stairs, or windows, so they need to be shown how to handle each of these as well as many other things like living as a pet, versus an athlete. In this story, I will mention a few issues, but not all of them. As you can see, this story skips time, especially in the future chapters, but things are still going on between chapters, such as teaching Comet to walk up and down stairs and going to work and coming home, having lunch and dinner and so on.

For more information on Greyhounds you may check out these great resources:

Adopting the Racing Greyhound by Cynthia A. Branigan - This is the book most adoption agencies give out to all prospective owners and where I gained most of the information for this chapter and all upcoming chapters dealing with Comet's adjustment period in her new home.

www(dot)thegreyhoundproject(dot)com is a great website for everything Greyhound, whether you want to learn more about them or find clothing for your special friend. They also produce a wonderful wall calendar every year and a great magazine called Celebrating Greyhounds which has some of the best information, and stories you could possibly want about the breed.

The Reign of the Greyhound by Cynthia A. Branigan - You might not know it, but Greyhounds were pets of the Pharaohs of Egypt and were often times buried with them when they died. These creatures have seen magnificent pasts owned by nobles who, at one time, killed common folk who had any of these dogs in their possessions. Want to know more about the breed's history? This book will tell you everything. (Funny thing, Walk Like an Egyptian just came on the radio as I'm typing this. Weird, huh?)