I do not own CSI.

Rated T - for language.

Here ya go! I wrote a nice long chapter for you...even though I didn't get any reviews. So hurtful I tell ya!

But, Nick and Jules needed to keep moving. I hope you like it.

This chapter focuses around Jules and Nick conversation and Nick and Warrick conversation.

I hope you don't think it is boring. Please let me know if you do so I can better my writing, okay?

ENJOY!

AND PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!

She hadn't planned on taking a shower at that crazy hour, but she sure was glad she did. They hadn't done that in quite some time…well, at least not in their own bathroom.

It was nice. Not to mention really, really, good.

With her towel wrapped tightly around her, Jules walked to his dresser and grabbed one of his t-shirts. Nick followed close behind her and growled at her how much he loved her in his clothes.

"Mmmm, ya know how sexy I think you are in my clothes, Baby," he winked, "Come crawl up in my arms and lie in bed with me for a little bit," he told her when he saw she was about to get underwear on and head downstairs.

"You don't want me to make you something to eat before you go to bed?" she asked.

"Naw, I would rather you come in bed with me and go back to sleep…in my arms," he said as he pulled a pair of navy blue sweatpants over his toweled dried body and walked over to the bed.

And Jules did as he asked.

She slipped on her panties, crawled into bed, and snuggled into his arms perfectly. Facing each other with their heads on each pillow they quietly talked. Nick told her all about his John Doe case and Jules listened to every detail he shared. She was proud of him. She was proud of the passion he had for his job and the compassion he genuinely felt for people. She enjoyed listening to him. She liked hearing about things that were important to him. Jules reached over and stroked the side of his hair with her fingers as he spoke.

Nick loved the way her finger tips grazed over his ear. He loved the way she listened to him when he told her all the boring details about how he came to find the identity of one of his unidentified bodies. She never looked bored and she asked him questions if there were things she didn't understand; she seemed genuinely interested and that warmed his heart.

"Am I boring you with this, Darlin'?" he asked unsure.

"Not in the least, Cowboy," she whispered and let her hand rest on his arm., "I love listening to you.

"Oh, good," he smiled, "Oh, by the way, you're brother is mad at me," he chuckled and placed his hand on the side of her hip.

"WHAT? WHY?" she propped herself up on her elbow and stared down at him.

"Because I was bustin' his chops about him being…" Nick was about to tell her about his belief that Warrick hooked up with Trista but before he could tell her they had a visitor.

"Mommy?" the little voice came from the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Pretty Girl, what are you doing up? It's too early for you to be up," she smiled and looked at the clock again.

"I sleep with you and Daddy?" she asked quietly still looking very tired.

"Come on, Honey, get on up here," Nick answered and moved away from Jules so he they could fit their daughter in the middle.

Nick never did get a chance to tell her about Warrick and Trista. Instead the three of them nestled into the big bed and fell asleep together.

He was standing at the island counter in his kitchen drinking a cup of coffee as he watched Jules start to get her things together and head out to take Emma to her swim class. Looking across the counter Nick set his cup down and grinned as he watched his daughter walk in circles on her tip toes and sing "Isssy Bissy Spidaw" over and over again. He couldn't help but grin at her; she looked so cute in her little, pink, flowered, bathing suit. He didn't say anything to her, he just watched as she held her Disney Princess towel tightly under her arm and circled around and around. Finally, when he couldn't stand how cute she was, he walked around to her, reached over and scooped her up into his arms, and growled into her neck.

"You stop it, Daddy!" Emma screamed while laughing, "I is singing my song!" she squealed., "Yaw not listenin' to my song?"

"I'm sorry, Sweet Pea, I was listening, but you make Daddy lose control and have to eat you up!" he continued to growl and snuggle into her neck.

Emma grabbed each side of her father's face with both of her tiny hands and placed her forehead onto his.

"You is funny, Daddy," she grinned only centimeters from his face.

"And you are cute, Emma," Nick told her as he grinned widely.

Jules smiled as she watched her husband and daughter swoon all over each other.

She missed this.

She missed seeing how much they adored one another.

She loved it.

"Okay, okay, I hate to break up this great big love-fest but this little mermaid needs to get to swim class," Jules said.

"Come on, Sweet Pea, wanna be real tall all the way to the car?" Nick asked her as he tossed her up on his shoulders and walked her to Jules' SUV.

He had to duck under the front door frame to get out and Emma loved it.

"Do it again!" she asked excitedly.

Nick turned around, ducked under the door frame, spun around and ducked out again.

"One mo time, Daddy, one mo, kay?" she giggled with delight.

"You gotta get to swim class, Sweets!" he told her.

"One mo, one mo, dats it, kay?" she begged.

"Okay, one more, and that's it," he said as he turned around and ducked in and out one more time.

Once Nick had his daughter buckled into the backseat, he leaned in and growled into her neck one more time and they both laughed.

"Bye, Bye, Daddy, see you laytaw, right?" Emma told her father.

"Right, Princess, I'll see ya later," he tapped her nose just before he closed the door.

Nick walked around to the driver's side, walked up to his wife, who was opening the door to get into her truck. Nick came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back flush with his body.

Leaning into her neck he whispered into her ear, "You know how happy this makes me?"

"What? Us leaving to go to swim class?" she mocked sarcastically she said tilting her head back toward him.

"Nooo, having my family back. Going back to exactly where we left off…well, except now even bigger and better," he raised nodded and winked as he lowered his hands to rest on her belly.

"Are you saying I am getting bigger and fatter?" she joked.

"Oh just shut it, wise ass," he kissed the side of her head hard and he could smell her scent and it drove him mad. "Mmm, I could inhale you, ya know," he whispered in a raspy voice into her ear.

"GOOOOOD BYE, NNNICK!" she laughed, pushed herself off of him and hopped into her SUV to leave.

Nick chuckled and closed the door behind her. Before she pulled out she rolled down the window.

"Hey, Nick?" she asked.

"Yea, Babe?" he looked back at her.

"Do you think you could pick a couple of things up at the grocery store?" she made an unsure face. She hated to bother him with that chore.

"Yeah, I can just take that list on the fridge, right?" he shrugged.

"No, you don't have to do the whole list…just grab some things for dinner…I'll do rest of the shopping tomorrow," she explained.

"Nah, it's not a problem, Darlin', if I am there why should you go? I'll take the list," he nodded and leaned in to steal another kiss.

"Mmmm," she said as she broke from his kiss, "I so, so, soooo love you!" she smiled, rolled up the window and pulled away. She smiled at him wider and gave him a little wave as she left.

Nick watched his wife and daughter pull out of the driveway and down the street. Once they were out of view he walked back to the house and decided it was a good time to meet up with Warrick. The two of them had some things to discuss and it was weighing heavily on Nick's mind for days. He called Warrick from his cell phone and they both agreed to meet immediately.

Grabbing his wallet off the desk and shoving it into his back pocket, Nick got his keys off the hook, snatched the grocery list off the fridge and headed out immediately to meet his brother in law.

Nick pulled out the bar stool slowly as he looked around the bar to make sure Warrick wasn't already there before he sat down. Once he saw that he was not there yet, Nick sat down and ordered himself a Samuel Adams beer. He took a swig of it right from the bottle before placing it down and rubbing both his hands over his face with worry.

Only minutes had passed when he heard Warrick come up behind him and order his beer before he even sat down on the stool beside him.

"Hey, what's up, man," Warrick said as he threw some cash on the bar and sat down.

"Nothin', I just got here," Nick answered looking over his shoulder as Warrick sat next to him.

Nick took a gulp of his beer and then cut right to the chase. He wasn't interested in making small talk. He didn't feel like teasing him about Trista or prying to get more information about it. He had bigger things on his mind and he went straight to them.

"Look, man, we can't fuck around, what are we gonna do about Jules not knowing anything about Jolene and Cole?" Nick said looking over at his brother in law.

"Yeah, I know. I knew that's why you wanted to meet up. We do need to decide how we are gonna tell her," Warrick took a swig of his beer before continuing, "Ohhhhh she is gonna be fired up when she learns about this," Warrick said and made a swooshing noise.

"Ya know what, I honestly am not worried about facing her wrath and the fall out, what bothers me the most is that I really just can't bear hurting her AGAIN."

Warrick nodded his head slowly understanding what Nick meant. It was a sad situation.

"You're right, Nick, I know, I know, I dread it," he said as he looked over at Nick," I mean she is finally genuinely happy again," he said before taking another swig of his beer.

"You don't gotta tell me that, brother," he blew out the air from his lungs as he let his head fall back.

"When do you want to tell her?" Warrick asked Nick with a pained look on his face, "…and HOW do we tell her?"

"I was thinking, Rick…Maybe…maybe we don't even have to tell her," Nick began to rethink their honesty angle.

Nick wasn't afraid to tell Jules because he didn't want to face any possible wrath…he was concerned about upsetting her. Normally he would have let her work it out, let her process it in her own way, let her even be furious with him and Warrick but this time it was different. Jules had already been through enough stress and that alone was not good for the baby, he did not want to add anything more.

"Nah, I thought about that too, Nick, but…I don't know, I don't think it's a good idea, man, what if she finds out on her own without us owning up to the lies?" Warrick grimaced, "Oh man, she would kill us both with her bare hands!"

"Well, what good would it do for her to know that Jimmy Cole was able to get to her from behind bars anyway?" Nick asked. "Especially since I couldn't even protect her!" Nick said as he shook his head slowly and shamefully.

"No, no, don't you start thinking like that again…you could not possibly see this one coming either. You're a good man, Nick, but you ain't no mind reader. You can't see everything coming, ya know what I mean?" he defended his best friend.

Nick simply nodded knowing he couldn't possibly know the diabolical plan those three bastards all hatched.

Warrick guzzled the rest of his beer and looked back over at Nick.

"Well, if we leave out the fact that Cole had his hand in this, I think we at least should tell her Jolene Parker is alive," Warrick told him.

"No, I disagree. Let's leave it alone, she has been through enough," Nick shook his head in disagreement.

Nick guzzled the rest of his beer in one shot as he thought hard about what Warrick was saying. He wasn't sure he knew the answer. After all what good would it do to tell her the truth? It's not like Jolene Parker was ever a mother to her anyway. Nick just didn't know the answer he just knew he needed to protect his wife and the new baby she was carrying.

Nick sucked in a huge breath of air into his lungs and held it there before blowing it out. He had hoped Warrick would have agreed with him. He didn't want to tell Warrick about her being pregnant without Jules there. It wasn't right; she would want to share this with him but…he had to make Warrick understand that he could not open his mouth to her. Nick let the air out of his lungs.

"Rick, um, I don't want to tell her," he said firmly giving it one last shot to make Warrick agree.

"I'm sorry, man, but I gotta tell my sister. We already did her wrong by not telling her, Nick! Why are you suddenly chicken shit about this? I mean, yeah, she will be upset but damn, bro, she will get over it eventually," he exclaimed.

"Warrick…um, well, maybe…" Nick paused and stuttered but he had to explain himself. He said a silent 'I'm sorry, honey' to Jules in his head and continued on. "Maybe we can tell her in a few months…"

"WHAT? That makes absolutely NO sense!" he chuckled at how ridiculous that was. "What? Ya wanna get her completely happy and settled, then rip the carpet out from under her AGAIN? Nah, I don't think so!"

"Rick, I was thinking 6 or 7 months from now would be a better time; give or take," Nick hung his head a bit looking down at the coaster he spun around nervously with his finger tips.

Warrick looked at Nick like he was a moron.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, man?" Warrick said annoyed.

"Damn it, Rick…Just listen to me…I can't upset her now. She has been through too much already and I don't want the stress to hurt the baby," he said continuing to spin the coaster.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? I mean really, Nick, you sound like a fuckin' pussy right now! How will the stress hurt Emma?" he shook his head and mumbled 'jackass' under his breath.

"Not Emma…" he said slowly looked over at his brother in law.

"You just said the baby? Whose baby? What are you talking about?" Warrick was not grasping it. The furthest thing from his mind would be that Jules was pregnant.

"My baby…OUR baby!" he stuttered, "The baby we're gonna have, man,"

Warrick stared at him. There was dead silence.

"My sister is? My Baby Girl is pregnant? Whattttt?" he asked shocked, "…when? How long have you…I can't believe it," he began to smile and it grew wider and wider. "Aw Nick, man, congratulations! Wow…what a shock, huh? I mean after everything that just went down. Wow!"

"Shock is an understatement. I just found out the other night, man. I didn't want to be the one to tell you…I wanted Jules to tell you but…" Nick gave Warrick a look as if to say 'what was I supposed to do?'.

"Yeah, don't worry…I won't tell her I know," he said.

"Ohhhh no, no, no way…I ain't lying to her again, noooo, I will tell her that I told you…I just won't tell her WHY!" he nodded and gave Warrick a side smile.

"Ok, so now I understand…I get why you are afraid to tell her but...we might have to...or maybe we don't...I just don't know!" Warrick said bouncing his thoughts back and forth. "I still don't know what to do…what to say…what do we do? What if she finds out? What if Jolene comes looking for her now" Warrick said worriedly.

Nick sighed. He hadn't thought of that.

"Fuck…I don't know…I just don't!" he said exasperated.

Warrick didn't answer.

Nick didn't continue on anymore. He just ordered two more beers.

The two men sat in deep thought for a while silently drinking their beer, not saying a word.

Neither of them could come to a conclusion.