CSI: Braden Sanders-Stokes: Teenage Heartthrob

A/N: It's June! Happy Pride Month to those in the United States!

Summary: A new boy at school has captured all the girl's attentions... and Braden's. Braden is fourteen, in this, the fourteenth chapter.

Nick was working late... again. A double. But at least Greg had the knowledge that he'd have the night off, even if he, himself, had to go in. They'd meet in passing. But he'd gotten used to it over the years the few times it had happened.

Giggling caught his ears and he peered around the corner to the friends hanging out on the back deck through the screen on the kitchen door. Braden leaned forward on the picnic table toward Patty and Jimmy.

"So, what do you think of that new guy?" his son asked.

"You mean Kris Riley?"

"Yeah, Kris."

"Well, he's ok. All the girls seem to like him."

"I wonder what it's like to move to a whole different state. You know? Have to get a new house, and a new school. I wouldn't want to. Leave all my friends behind and all? No way."

"Think maybe he's lonely?" Braden asked.

"I doubt it. He's making friends left and right already. He's way more outgoing than I could be in a new school."

"Tell me about it."

Patty nodded and looked away from the two boys.

"Um... guys..." Jimmy seemed hesitant to speak all of a sudden and his face flushed rather quickly.

"What?"

"Um... how do you ask a girl out?"

Patty's head whipped around at the question, her strawberry blonde curls bouncing like mini slinkies.

"Why are you asking us. You think either of us has done that before?"

"No. Sorry. I just... I don't know. Never mind."

"Who?"

"What?"

"Who did you want to ask out?"

"Um..."

"Come on, Jimmy. You can tell us. We promise not to tell anyone. Right Patty?"

"Of course."

"Violet." the boy blurted.

"Violet? Violet Cramden?"

"Yeah." Jimmy's cheeks flushed a bright red.

Greg remembered seeing the crazy haired girl at a few of the school functions, and from what he remembered she might not be the type to say 'yes' to a boyfriend. Her nose had always been buried in some good book or other. But then again, years ago he hadn't even thought Nick was gay, never mind that he'd date Greg, and look at the two of them now, so in the end, she could still surprise them all.

"She's nice," Patty said. "She's in my English class. Likes to read."

"Yeah, I never see her without a book."

"How long's she been here?"

"'Bout a year. Why?"

"I still don't see her hanging out with anyone else. Not that she seems shy, or anything. She doesn't."

"Heh," Braden gave a short laugh. "She speaks her mind when she needs to. She doesn't seem like the type, but I saw her scream at some girls once just because they were being mean for no good reason. No one bothered her after that. Who would? She died her hair purple."

"I heard the Goth girls were jealous of her perfect Goth hair, even though she's not Goth."

"Violet. She died it violet, like her name."

"Oh."

"She wears glasses when she reads."

"So?"

"So... I think she... well... she looks good in them."

Braden and Patty only looked at each other and then back at Jimmy, unsure what to say.

"What about Jace?" Patty suddenly asked. "I thought you wanted to ask her out."

"Not my type."

"Why not?"

"She's too girly."

"And reading with glasses isn't?"

"No, I mean, Jace is too much into makeup and her looks. Besides, she wants to ask Edward Cullen out. I don't even know who that is. He must be new. I heard her mention it the other day."

Patty burst out laughing, covering her mouth, her head tilted up toward the sun. "That's a character, Jimmy. He was in the Twilight movie. I doubt she read the books, though I'm sure Violet did."

"Oh."

Braden giggled a little, though Greg doubted even he knew who this Edward Cullen was.

"So why did you want to know about Kris?" Jimmy asked Braden to change the subject.

"Oh, nothing really. Just wondered what you thought of him is all."

"Yeah, but why?"

"I don't know. Never mind."

Greg smiled to himself, before shaking his head and turning back to the notes strewed over the kitchen table. Taking a pencil, he began to number the index cards in the upper right hand corner before putting them in numerical order.

He had to admit, Lily's idea for a mystery novel set in 1960's Las Vegas was really appealing. After getting his first non-fiction book published he had high hopes for his first novel, and wondered if he could pull it off with all of his CSI skills. He now found himself researching the history of his job and what police had available to them so many years ago. Just knowing his PI main character wouldn't have the use of DNA profiling had his head spinning, but at least it would still be fun to write.

"Mr. S., I've gotta get home. But thanks for letting us come over," Jimmy said as all three kids bounded through the door.

"You're certainly welcome."

"Yeah, my Aunt Dee is coming over for dinner, so I gotta go too."

"Alright, well, I'll see you next time then."

Braden showed his friends to the door before returning to the kitchen table.

"How's the book coming along?" he asked.

"It's coming. I think I've got my notes in order."

"Ooohh, can I read them later?"

"Sure thing, kiddo. But we should get dinner first. What do you want?"

"Macaroni and cheese? Please?"

"Sure. I think we've got enough time to make some."

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "You make the good kind. I don't like the boxed stuff that Jimmy's dad makes."

"Well, I'm glad you like my kind. It was my mother's recipe, after all."

"She never used that boxed stuff, did she?"

"Never."

Greg picked up the phone, as he brought out the square baking pan, and punched in Nick's work phone.

"Hey, G."

"Hey."

He brought out the block of cheese from the refrigerator and the grater and handed them both to Braden.

"I was just wondering if I should be expecting you for dinner."

"Give me about an hour?"

"Sure thing. We're just getting started on some mac and cheese."

"I'll be home as soon as I can."

"Good. Love you."

"Love you too."

Greg hung up and reached into the pantry for the rest of the ingredients they would need as Braden grated the cheese into a large bowl.

"Hey Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I invite a new friend over tomorrow after school?"

"A new friend? What's this friend's name?" Greg pretended he hadn't overheard the earlier conversation.

"Kris Riley. He's new. Seems nice."

"How old is he?"

"Fifteen, I think."

"Well, if his parents say it's ok, then it's ok with me. I'm sure one of us will be home when you get out of school."

"Cool."

"But remember, homework still gets done first."

"I will."

Greg did a double take when the front door opened the next afternoon to reveal Braden and his new friend. Heath Ledger. He looked like a teenage version of the hot actor. Wow. Greg caught himself on the kitchen counter before he made a fool of himself and fainted.

"Dad, this is Kris. Kris, this is my Dad."

"Hi. Nice to meet you." Kris put out his hand and Greg shook it, shocked to see a young teenager with manners.

"It's nice to meet you too. I hear you just moved to the area. How are you liking it so far?"

"It's not too bad. I miss my old friends though."

"Daaad! Come on, Kris, let me show you around!"

The two boys disappeared just as the front door opened again and Nick came in.

"Welcome home," Greg said, greeting him in the hallway for a quick kiss where Kris wouldn't see them.

"Mmmm. Thanks."

"Rough shift?"

"Not too bad, no. Thank God. It always feels odd working dayshift. You know. So, was that Kris I just saw?"

"Yeah."

"All I could think of was..."

"Heath Ledger."

"Yeah."

"I bet all the girls are falling all over him."

"I don't doubt it." Nick gave him another chaste kiss. "What's for dinner?"

"I don't know. It's your turn to cook."

"We still have that steak, right?"

"Sure do."

"Ok, you wanna tell Braden dinner's ready? Where are they anyway? I haven't seen either of them in a while."

"I don't know. I'll go look."

Greg headed out onto the back deck where he'd last seen Braden disappear with his new friend. Scanning the yard he found it empty. Then he heard a shuffle above him, and looked up into the tree house. He froze at what he saw, his eyes growing large, his cheeks flushing.

Braden was lost in a lip lock with the slightly older boy.

His heart began to pound. No. This wasn't happening. Braden was still too young to fall in love!

He rushed back inside the house before he'd even remembered why he'd gone out there to begin with.

"What's wrong, G? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Nick was just pulling the baked potatoes out of the oven.

"He's kissing Heath."

"What?"

"Braden. And Kris. They're kissing in the tree house."

"They are?"

"Yeah... Please catch me... I think I'm gonna faint."

Nick rolled his eyes before taking a look for himself.

"Give me a play-by-play. I can't look."

"G. You're terrible. They're just kissing. It's cute, actually. Braden looks a little unsure about the whole thing, but over all, I think he's enjoying it."

"And what about Heath Ledger?"

"Would you stop calling him that. His name's Kris. And he seems to really be enjoying it. Looks like he's done this before. He's got the hair carding down. Hand on Braden's cheek. I can't believe I'm saying this out loud."

"Oh God."

"Oh God, what?"

"What if... what if... he's done it before."

"G," Nick warned. "I doubt it."

"Hey, you don't know. I won't ever mention how old I was..."

"Not that young. You told me once."

"Right. Right. Sorry."

Nick moved back to his husband and took his hands away from his face. "Hey, you're trembling. What's wrong? What do you think's gonna happen? Don't tell me you're still worried about him being gay."

"No. I can deal with that. It's just... he grew up so fast. I never understood what my Mom was going through when I found my first boyfriend and brought him home. Now I know. And I'm terrified!"

Nick brought him into a hug. "Don't worry about it so much."

"I just... I miss not seeing his baby days. I wish we'd gotten that chance. Then we would have had more time with him. You know?"

"I know, but you take the time you're given and you live life to it's fullest. You deal with what comes at you, so every possible moment is a happy one. Be happy for him. He may have just found his first boyfriend. I never found mine until I was in my twenties. And that ended badly. Then I found you, and I haven't looked back. But he's got to start somewhere. And this is his somewhere."

"How are you so cool and calm about this? I thought for sure you'd be the one freaking out, not me."

"I'm doing my best, sweetheart."

Nick let him go before taking his hand and bringing him back to the doorway where they could both see the boys staring at each other, breathing heavily. Greg let himself relax as he watched Kris lean over Braden, who was lying on the floor, and give him a chaste kiss. He saw their lips moving as they talked before both began to get up, fix their rumpled clothes, and climb down the ladder.

"Quick, G! Go work on your book or something!"

Greg dived for the kitchen table where he'd left his notes beside his laptop, which had fallen asleep. Nick picked up the nearest copy of Forensics Journal and joined Greg at the table, flipping through the pages Greg was sure he'd already read the week before.

Braden breezed through the back door moments later with Kris right behind him.

"Um, Kris's headed home for dinner."

"Oh, well, it was nice to meet you."

"You too."

And before either of them knew it, Kris was gone. Neither mentioned that Braden had failed to introduce the boy to his second father when he returned to the kitchen and stared at the steak on the cutting board and the potatoes beside it. He looked from his fathers, busy at their work, to the food, and gently poked a potato.

"Why's the food cold?" he asked.

Once again Greg found himself home alone when Braden got off the school bus with his friends. He was surprised to see a larger group than usual with Kris and a new girl he'd never officially met before. But as the new girl's hair had been spiked with purple tips... no... violet tips... she had to be Violet Cramden.

"Homework first!" Braden called to the others when they ran into the house.

He was surprised again, when Patty didn't follow the boys but stopped in front of him with the new girl.

"Mr. S., this is Violet Cramden. I hope you don't mind that I invited her over."

The girl had a black back pack slung over her shoulder with a Nine Inch Nails patch safety pinned to it, and a copy of Jane Eyre clutched to her chest in one hand and her silver framed reading glasses in the other. She truly didn't go far without a book.

"Not at all. Why don't you two join the others and I'll bring out the plate of cookies."

"Thanks Mr. S."

Both girls smiled sweetly at him, before running off.

When he brought out the cookies Nick had baked the night before Jimmy was staring googly-eyed at Violet. She looked at her math book as if the answers to every problem were being sucked up from the page and absorbed into her brain through osmosis. Jimmy was right, she did look good in her reading glasses. Braden was having a staring contest with Kris, and their bare feet were touching under the table. Patty sat next to Kris and almost looked a little lonely as she studied for her social studies test. She looked up at Braden and his eyes met hers for a brief moment before he was staring at Kris again. Greg shook his head, set the plate down, and went back inside to work on his book.

Awhile later Greg's concentration was broken when he heard laughter coming from the back yard. He looked out to see Jimmy chasing Violet while Patty sat on the steps watching them. Braden was similarly chasing Kris up the steps and into the tree house. He hoped they wouldn't get lost in a lip lock again with their friends present.

He was about to return to his novel when Violet spun around on Jimmy and gave him a look fierce enough to rival one of Catherine's. Her hands were on her hips and she didn't seem to be speaking to him. He stopped just short of running into her, a shocked look on his face.

Violet left him in a huff and moved to sit down beside Patty.

"Boys," she said with a sigh as she picked up her book and glasses.

Patty nodded her head in agreement.

Braden and Kris appeared then, and climbed back down to earth to see what had happened. His son looked over at Patty for awhile before his eyes found Kris again. Jimmy just looked confused and lost. Kris put an arm around Braden for a brief moment before he let him go and Greg was sure no one else had noticed the movement.

Only a week later, after spending nearly every possible waking moment with Kris, Braden was coming home alone for the first time. He went up to his room without so much as a word of greeting and got to work on his homework.

"Hey, what's going on? Don't I get a hello or anything?" Greg entered his room with his afternoon snack.

"Hi."

"So? Are you going to tell me about your day?"

"I got dumped. There. Now you know. Can I be alone now?"

"You got dumped? By who?"

"I know you know. Kris. He dumped me this afternoon. It's only been a week. Not like it was official or anything cause we didn't exactly tell anyone. I just don't get it."

"Well, what did he say?"

"He said I keep looking at Patty a certain way. What the hell does that mean? He refused to tell me, said I'd figure it out eventually."

"Hey, language."

"Sorry."

"What do you think that means?"

"I don't know. And right now, I just don't care."

"Getting dumped is never easy. You liked him a lot, didn't you?"

"He was fun. I thought he really liked me. He said he still wants to be friends though. Whatever that means. How can you dump someone and still want to be friends. That doesn't make any sense." Braden threw his pencil down and closed his math book with a loud snap. "Ugh. He said he likes my weird styles. Do you think he was lying? He's the only one who's ever actually said that."

Greg looked over his son's clothing choice of the day: blue All Stars, black jeans, a band t-shirt for a local teen band called The Sneezers, and a black blazer with orange vertical stripes. Just like himself back in the day. Yup, Braden certainly was his son more than Nick's.

"Not even Jimmy liked my clothing choices as much today."

"Not everyone will. But what about Patty? I know you just got dumped, but I thought you liked her too."

"I don't know. Everyone I know keeps talking about girls all the time. But you and Da don't. He's gay and I wondered what it was like cause nobody talks about being with another boy."

"And?"

"Dad... I really don't want to be talking about this with you. It's a little embarrassing. Ok?"

Greg smiled, and stood up, leaving the cookies on the bed. "Sure thing. But if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me."

When he got back downstairs to the livingroom he found Nick there watching him.

"What's going on?"

"He got dumped."

"He did? By who?"

"Kris. So, go easy on him."

"Hey... don't tell me you're about to start crying on me."

"I'm not," Greg said wiping a tear away. "I just feel bad for him. First breakups are never easy. They suck."

Nick rolled his eyes and pulled Greg onto the couch with him.

"What am I going to do with you, babe? One minute you're so scared because he's growing up too fast and the next you're upset over the breakup."

"What can I say? I'm weird like that. I can't help it." Through the tears building in his eyes, Greg cracked a crooked smile. "I'm just glad I don't have to go through that ever again."

Nick gave him a kiss on the tip of his nose. "Mmmm, me too."

A/N: Thanks much for reading this awesome chapter! I really had fun writing it, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it! I hope you were shocked into peeking out the door with the men to watch the boys kissing, and I hope you were laughing later on when they tried to fake innocence. Braden's growing up, but it's not all sad breakups. There are some warm, fun parts too.

Also, I'd like to give a warm welcome to any new readers to this story and my work as I know there's at least one out there! I hope you keep enjoying my work, and I'll do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as I can.

One more note: For those who love, love, love family stories, as they always seem to be in high demand, I have several you may not have known about. The titles are as follows: "Walking on Broken Glass", "Don't Cry Daddy", "Don't Cry Daddy-O" the sequel, and if you like AUs "Strength of Soul" is a crazy, very angst ridden, family-in-creation story.

Likewise, there are several other family stories I didn't write that I would highly recommend: "Father's First" by Keikster Banjo (Check her profile page for the sequel, I forgot the title! - It would be fun to see them with that many kids on the show!), "When All Is Said And Done" by ArtemisEmerald (Eli is just adorable!), and of course the one everyone's read "Where You Are" and it's sequel "The Day Before You" by Ms. Maggs. The last one doesn't become a family story until the end, but I still HIGHLY recommend this one because it takes you on a wild ride from the very beginnings of their relationship to their marriage and subsequent kids. Remember Cassie from the episode "Gum Drops"? She's in this story, and she's part of what makes it a family story even before Nick and Greg have their own. And those are the big ones I can remember off hand.

Sorry for such a long author's note! I'm outta here! Thanks for the reviews if you're kind enough to donate a few!