CSI: Braden Sanders-Stokes: Money Issues
A/N: I can't believe you all read the end or the reviews first on the last chapter. Actually, I had a feeling some of you would. That's why I put the quotes around death, so you'd read it in order. Ah well, I'm glad you all enjoyed it anyway and got emotional about it even though you knew it would turn out ok in the end, that's what I was going for. Yay! And, thanks to CSI.Gabigail for reading the quotes correctly. Lol. Sure, most of this story will be all fluff and good familiness but there will be a few chapters with angst. You know me, I couldn't resist putting a few chapters in. But there will only be a few. Ok? On with the next chapter! Enjoy!
Summary: Braden starts seriously taking after Greg and not even Nick can persuade him to a different path. Braden is seven, in this, the ninth chapter.
Nick walked gingerly into the drug store as Greg held the door open for him.
"You know, you could have stayed in the car."
"I know."
Inside the store, Braden ran ahead of them, as if drawn by some invisible force, straight to the candy isle.
"Braid, this way."
"But Daddy!"
"No buts. Come on."
The seven year old protested but followed his fathers just the same. "Why are we here?"
"Cause your Da needs pain medication for his shoulder."
"G. Isle. Turn. Now."
"Turning. Turning." Greg cruised down the isle and grabbed the ointment Nick needed. He spun back and headed for the cashier.
When they arrived, Braden began scrutinizing the ring pops at the register to find the flavor he wanted. Nick reached for his wallet.
"Put that away!" Greg admonished. "You'll only injure your shoulder pulling that stupid thing out. I've got this."
Nick, his face turning a slight shade of pink put his wallet back into his pocket as Greg dug out his wad of bills and credit cards held together with a rubber band. Taking the band off, he peeled back a few bills and paid for the medicated ointment.
A light pulling on Nick's pant leg stopped him just before they were about to leave. Braden held up an orange cream flavored ring pop. "Can I get this?"
"How much have you saved up in your allowance?"
The boy pulled a bill from his pocket. Looking at it closely, he held his right hand up, all five fingers pointing toward the sky. "This many!"
Nick nodded. "And how much is the ring pop?"
He looked at the package carefully. "Seventy-nine cents!"
"Don't forget about the tax kiddo."
"I won't."
"So, you think you can afford that? You're not going to want that money for something else later on, are you? Something more important?"
He shook his head wildly.
"OK, then yes, you can get the ring pop, if you really want it."
"Yay!"
"Put it on the counter so the nice lady can ring it up for you," Greg told him.
He carefully set it down on the counter top and looked up at the smiling cashier as she rang up his ring pop. When she gave him the final price, including the tax, he looked at his money, his brow furrowing in concentration before he finally handed it to her. "Is that right?"
"Yes, it is. And you get some change back," she said.
"I do?"
"Yup." She gave him four dollars and change, watching as his eyes widened at the sight of the money she was handing him, obviously surprised he was getting so much back.
He looked up at his fathers. "I want a rubber band!"
"What? Why?" Nick was confused.
"Cause Daddy's got one! I need one!"
Nick looked over at Greg and would have burst into laughter if his shoulder wasn't still in pain.
"Sorry, Braid, but I don't have a rubber band. We'll get one when we get home, ok?"
"No! I need one now! It'll come all apart... I'll loose it!"
"You know, I might have an old change purse at home you can have."
"No! It's gotta be a rubber band!"
"But we don't have one."
"Da!"
"Here, I've got plenty." The woman behind the counter handed Braden a rubber band.
"What do you say?"
"Thank you!" Braden ducked his head shyly and wrapped his bills in the band and slid it into his pocket, along with his coins.
Guiding him out of the store by the shoulders, Nick mouthed a 'thank you' to the cashier. She smiled and waved to Braden.
"We need to get you a new wallet, babe," he murmured to Greg.
"But you know how picky I am about things like that. It has to be just right to replace my Manson one. And you're being stubborn, not letting me get another Manson wallet."
"I know. But apparently, I was right to be, the way he's trying to take after you in everything you do." Nick winced in pain.
Greg looked back at his husband as they headed out to the parking lot. "Alright, Nick, my vote is to pause this shopping excursion and head home."
"Um... why?"
"Your shoulder hurts. You should get comfortable and going shopping for his first day back at school won't help that."
"I'll be fine, just let me get that stuff on. As it is, we don't have time to put this off. We worked hard to get this time off together. I don't want to ruin that."
At the car Greg dragged him into the back seat, telling Braden to sit on the front passenger side.
"Greg! What are you doing?!" Nick hollered in surprise.
"If we're not giving up this shopping trip, then you're letting me fix your shoulder the right way."
Sitting behind him, Greg helped him ease his shirt off his left shoulder and wrenched the cap off the ointment, intent on getting Nick's shoulder to feel better sooner.
"It's never been this bad before, has it?" Greg asked, working the ointment into the skin before him.
Nick gasped.
"Sorry."
"It's ok. It's ok. And... well... no... it hasn't."
"You're lying."
Nick felt his face turn hot from the pain but it turned pinker still when Greg pinpointed his lie. He almost hated that Greg could tell when he was lying so easily. "Only once. But it was a long time ago."
"Do you suppose the shrapnel is moving? Maybe we should..."
"The doctor said this would happen, G. He said there would be chronic pain. There's nothing we can do about it... just... ow!"
"You've got a knot in your shoulder, which, I'm sure isn't helping you any. Let me work out the tension while I'm at it back here."
"Don't kill me!"
There was a lengthy pause before Nick realized what he'd said.
"G... I didn't mean..."
"No, it's ok. Forget it."
From the front passenger seat Braden watched his fathers with only slight interest as he sucked on his orange cream ring pop. For him, this was nothing new, and the look on his face clearly said so. Nick's heart broke at the idea that his son had to live through this. That what was supposed to be a happy shopping trip to buy him new school supplies and clothes had turned into this. He was determined to feel better and soldier on to make this trip happy again.
As the cream worked its way into his skin he felt relief finally coming over his shoulder. Greg worked out the tension that had built up over time, and even though it hurt like hell, he could tell it was helping too.
When his shirt was back on again Braden was already jumping out of the car, excited to finish their shopping. Nick grabbed Greg's wrist as his husband turned to follow Braden out of the car. He faced a surprised Greg with beautiful brown orbs staring wide at him. He smiled and tugged on his earlobe. "I love you."
Greg smiled then. "Love you too."
Their car door was wrenched open by small, eager hands and they quickly got out to follow their son into the mall across the street.
Just inside the front door Greg stopped abruptly at a store window, Nick nearly running into him.
"Braden! Hold up!"
"Aw, Da!"
"G?"
Greg was staring into the window of what appeared to be a leather goods store. If they weren't in a public place he was sure his husband would be drooling and he'd be laughing, the way his eyes were so huge.
"That's the one I want." He pointed to a tanned billfold with an intricate design of a leaf-less tree tooled into it.
"Go. Go ask him about it." Nick prodded him into the store. "I'll wait here with Braden," he added when it appeared the boy was getting antsy.
Greg entered the store and Nick guided Braden to a bench nearby.
"I thought we were going shopping for me? What's Daddy getting?"
"We'll see what he comes out with. He saw something in the window. When he's done here we'll get to the stores for you. I promise."
"Ok."
They only had one minute more to wait until Greg came back out of the leather goods store, his hands empty.
"Well?" Nick stood up.
"A local artist made that by hand. He wants a pretty penny for it, which I'm not about to spend on a wallet... even though it is absolutely perfect. So, shall we get some new clothes for your first day back at school, kiddo?"
"Yeah!" Braden jumped up and down. "And I need a notebook too!"
"Don't worry, your Da's got everything on a huge long list, so we won't forget anything."
Braden giggled before looking up at Nick. "How long's the list?" he asked.
"It's this long." Nick held his arms out wide, laughing with his son.
"That's long!"
"Well, stop growing and stop going to school... and stop playing... and maybe we can shorten it a bit. Ok?"
"No! I can't stop doing those things! I'd miss Jimmy and Patty! And I wanna be big like you and Daddy!"
Sitting in a booth at Friendly's waiting for their dinner to be served several agonizing hours later, Braden asked Nick what was in the small bag at his feet. He'd carefully separated the bag in question from the others piled on the seat beside him so it wouldn't get lost.
"Well... I don't know if you remember this, but tomorrow is a very special day."
Greg nodded and looked down at the boy sitting next to him. "Yup, he's right."
"I know what day it is! It's the day I came home."
Nick smiled, his heart seeming to swell beyond its capacity at the happiness he felt.
"Yeah... the day you came home... I can't believe it's been four years already..." His mind drifted back to that hard day, convincing Braden their home was his forever home.
"Nick?" He came out of his thoughts to see Greg watching him. "Where are you going with this?"
"Oh, right, well, umm... I got you both something in honor of tomorrow, because you both mean so much to me." He felt like he was giving an acceptance speech at an award ceremony, but he kept his composure. What he needed to say was important. "I think back on everything we've been through and done, and I wouldn't trade it for the world."
Greg stared at him, eyes wide, and he was sure Greg was both surprised that he'd gotten him something and feeling a little emotional just then.
"You mean you got me a present?" Of course Braden was excited over the gift, he was still a little boy after all.
"I sure did." Nick picked up the bag labeled 'Target' which had been sitting at his feet.
"Nick?" Greg sounded confused. "We've never..."
"I know. Just open it." Nick took out two boxes from the bag, neither of which had come from Target. He handed one to each of them.
Braden tore into his first as both of his fathers watched. His small eyes grew big when he unearthed the velcro wallet complete with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles logo on the front and a group picture of the four teenage dudes on the back.
"Wow! This is sooo cool!" With a little nudging from Greg he looked up at Nick. "Thanks Da."
"You're welcome kiddo."
Braden was already pulling at the velcro and digging into his pocket to put his money inside.
"Nick... just what have you gone and done here?" Greg asked, looking from Braden's wallet to the small box in his hands.
"Just open it, G."
"But Nick..."
"Greg..."
His husband carefully opened the box and when it was opened his eyes popped out of his head and his mouth hung wide open. Nick only smiled his wide smile at the look on Greg's face. He'd been sure Greg knew what was in the box before he'd opened it, and if he had, the shock was proof enough that he'd done the right thing.
"Nick..." Greg breathed. "Oh my God..."
"You like it?"
"Of course... but... it's too expensive! That's why I didn't buy it myself." Greg pulled out the tanned leather wallet with the tree tooled into it.
"Oooh, that's pretty Daddy," Braden said, leaning over to see what Greg had gotten.
"Yeah, well, you're worth it," Nick said, taking Greg's free hand in his and squeezing it tight. "You both are."
A/N: The idea for this actually came from my personal experience as a cashier. One of my customers wanted a rubber band for her money, but the man she was with didn't have one and said he'd get her one when they got back to the group home where she lived. But she was adamant, she had to have that rubber band asap. I happened to have a few at the register so I gave her one. When they left, the man mouthed a thank you to me for headed off what could have easily turned into a loud tantrum right there in the café. I couldn't stop thinking about the incident and decided to write it down as a story, replacing the older woman with a young Braden and his fathers. Anyway, I hope you liked it, and please, please review. You know how much I love those reviews!