Nope, I do not own CSI, dammit.

Rated T for language.

Must be your lucky day, faithful readers!

Because I have just banged you out another chapter...thanks to teh couple reviews I got.

Told ya I go faster with encouragement.

Ok, so last chapter we saw that Brooke Latham pulled up in front of the Stokes' residence.

Now we see why she is there and what she wants.

What will happen with their confrontation?

Will Jules come home and see this mess?

Will Nick be able to get rid of her?

Oh my, more drama!

Now if I could just get more of you to review, Damn it! ;oP

As she came closer, Nick could see she was out of sorts. She had changed so much from the Brooke he knew so many years ago. She was no longer the cute, little, fun, girl who was part of his circle of friends. He may not have loved Brooke or wanted her the same way she wanted him, but he did always like and care about her as a friend. But this version of Brooke Latham was not the same one he once knew.

"Nicky, why can't you just talk to me? Why did you let her chase me away? Why did you let her put her hands on me?" she begged.

"Brooke, I do not want you here. I do not want my wife to see you here. This is our home, Brooke!" he grew angry.

"She isn't here, Nicky! I know she isn't! I watched her pull away!" she screamed with her voice shaking. "That bitch isn't here!"

"Brooke! Enough! Just stop already!" Nick was furious at her behavior.

"STOP? You want me to 'JUST stop'?" she screamed, "You ruined my life! YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

"Whoa, hold on now, Brooke. I didn't do a damn thing to you…YOU created this fairy tale in your mind that just ain't true!" he told her adamantly.

Nick stared at her intently, trying so hard to get his point across to her.

"You are afraid of her aren't you? You don't want her to know, because you are afraid of her…and afraid she will see you still care about me!" she went on.

"What? BROOKE! Do you hear yourself? I love my wife…I do not feel that way about you," he explained far too many times.

"You wrap your arms around her…why didn't you ever hold ME like that, Nicky? You whispered in her ear…what did you tell her that made her laugh, Nicky?" she asked in a sad and childlike manner.

"Brooke? Have you been watching us?" he stuttered.

"Just tell me, Nicky," she implored.

"I do not know what more I can say, Brooke! I cannot keep trying to defend myself…it isn't doing any good! You need to leave and you need to stop this or I will have you seriously have you locked up; do you understand?" he was growing impatient with her delusions.

Nick thought about telling her what it was that he whispered to Jules…he thought about telling her that he told Jules how happy he was to have his family back…her back…his daughter…and that he felt even happier knowing they made another baby together.

But, Nick stopped.

He didn't tell her what he said…he worried that Brooke was too fragile and that would send her over the edge hearing him say that to her.

He wasn't sure what she would do.

He never intended to hurt Brooke before, but after everything she did to him, he really did want to give her a hurtful dig. And, if she didn't already look so distraught and unstable, he definitely would have.

Although Nick didn't give her the hurtful digs he would have liked to, he did continue to hold his ground and be insistent.

Unfortunately, as he continued to talk to Brooke, he couldn't see that his little girl was toddling out of the front door behind him.

Brooke saw her immediately.

Nick noticed the look on Brooke's face…a mix of pain and sadness. He watched her squat down and hold her arm out. Nick turned to see why and his mouth fell open as he watched Emma smile wide and walk toward her.

"Hi!" she said excited that there was a visitor at their home, "I is Emma!"

"Hello, Emma! Can you come say 'hello' to me? Your Daddy told me all about you!" she said sweetly to her.

Nick yelled over to his daughter.

"EMMA! No! Stay here with Daddy!" he yelled but not in time.

Emma had already ran and was quickly in Brooke's reach. And, as his little girl turned back to obey her father, it was too late…Brooke grabbed her hand and scooped her up onto her hip.

"BROOKE! Put her down!" he growled and his brown eyes pierced her with fury.

"Well it is very nice to meet you, Emma," Brooke gushed at the little girl.

Nick's heart stopped.

The grocery bags began to slip from his fingers.

"What yaw name is?" Emma asked innocently.

"I'm Brooke, I'm your Daddy's friend!" she explained looking directly into Emma's face as she held her on her hip.

"Brooke, I mean it. Put her down," he said trying hard to stay calm in order to not frighten his daughter.

"I like yaw neckwiss," Emma said touching Brooke's necklace gently.

"Thank you, Sweet Pea," she said using Nick's term of endearment for his daughter.

Nick noticed immediately. He was not pleased.

Brooke became focused on Nick again. Emma played with her necklace unaware of what was happening around her.

Wildly looking over at Nick, Brooke demanded answers, "I want to know, Nicky…How could YOU! How could you watch our best friends all get married? How could you let me think we would be together like they are and then leave me?"

"But I never did that, Brooke! I told you the truth from the start! I told you we were friends and if you couldn't handle it…if you couldn't handle just having a good time together and being close friends…then I would understand. I told you I didn't want to be tied down…. And you said you were okay with that!" he insisted, "I told you, Brooke…I didn't want what Ship and Amber had…you and I were NOT another Josh and Anna…and I never looked at you the way Rob looked at Sherry. I knew from them, from the way they felt about each other… that you and me…it wasn't what I felt. Not then…not now. Now stop this insanity and give me my daughter!" he insisted.

"Nicky, you did love me…you just didn't realize what we had. But, you left me for Vegas! And then, and then you left me for HER! YOU destroyed me again!" she explained with pure delusion.

"I was living my life here, Brooke. I hadn't seen you in years! I have a wife and daughter and you tried to destroy them…me…my life. You see that little girl? You see her! You wanted to ruin her life too? Why, Brooke? You wanted her to grow up spending every other weekend with her father? How could you? We were friends!" Nick asked her furiously.

"FRIENDS? But, but I was good enough to fuck?" she said looking defeated, "No, YOU did this."

Nick looked over at Emma who was fiddling with Brooke's necklace. He hoped she didn't notice the dirty word coming from Brooke's mouth.

Unfortunately, Emma did hear it and her head jerked up.

"Ohhh!" she gasped, "You said a bad wawd! You said dat and dat a bad wawd... my mommy said dat a vevy, vevy bad wawd!" Emma's eyes were wide and she nodded at Brooke. "You should nevaw say dat again!"

"Emma, come here, Baby, come by Daddy," Nick said nervously.

"NO! NO! She will stay right here, NICKY," Brooke said looking wild and maniacal. "You stay with me, Emma, and look at my pretty necklace, Honey. Would you like to keep it?"

Emma smiled wide and nodded forgetting all about the bad word.

Brooke looked over at Nick again.

"She…she should have been ours, Nick," she said sadly looking back at Emma.

"No, Brooke… She shouldn't and she isn't. Now let her come to me," he insisted with his fear rising.

"She is beautiful, Nicky. She…she looks just like you. My God. She looks just like you. She looks just like a pretty version of you…she…she could have been ours…" she rambled and repeated herself.

Emma looked up and smiled, "My Daddy say I is bootiful too, he say dat, he does," she nodded proudly.

"Brooke, please, just leave her out of this. This is you and me talking here. No one else. Stay focused, Brooke, " Nick was beginning to worry that Brooke had gone over the edge and might very well do something to his baby.

He had dealt people like this before and he was not liking where this conversation was headed. He was becoming very uneasy.

"Nicky, she looks nothing like your wife, ya know," she said with her eyes widened and unnerved.

"She does, Brooke. She does," he said dropping the grocery bags completely and walking closer.

Brooke backed up and frowned.

Nick stopped.

"No, nope, no she doesn't. She is your twin, Nicky…a feminine version of you! Her little Nicky nose…Nicky eyes…." she looked at Emma as she spoke.

"Brooke?" Nick said slowly. "What are you trying to say? " he wondered where she was going with this.

Nick wondered why she kept stating that Emma looked so much like him. He began to conclude that she was making a point but he was not quite sure what that point was yet…but he definitely knew it was in there.

And then, he began to see where her thinking was leading.

"She looks like you, Nicky…not her. NOT HER! She could be OURS, Nicky. She doesn't look like that stupid idiot you married…she looks like you and she can be ours. We could raise her together and no one would ever know she wasn't mine because she looks like you and then we…" Brooke explained her reasoning but was cut off by Nick.

"Brooke, you are talking crazy now. I know you, Brooke…this is not you, Darlin'" he tried soothing her, "Let me listen to you…I want to hear you. I need to understand your thoughts. I am so sorry that I hurt you, I really, really am," he paused., "Let me take my baby in for her nap, Brooke. I promise I will come right back out to talk to you. Just let me have my little girl," he implored.

"Ha! NO!I don't think so, Nicky." she looked down and smiled at Emma.

Emma looked up and smiled at her. "Dat my Daddy…how you know my Daddy?" she asked sweetly and pointed to her father innocently.

"I know your daddy, Honey, I know him very, very, well." she said softly.

"You know my Mommy? You know haw?" she tilted her head and squinted her eyes as she asked with her little accent.

"Yep, and your mommy told me she wanted you to come with me, okay?" she told Emma.

Emma frowned unsure if she liked that idea. She stared at her and slowly shook her head "no".

"NO! Hey, WHOA, Whoa, NO, no, she is NOT going with you, Brooke. Ohhh noooo, no, no…" he said loudly beginning to walk towards Brooke angrily.

He had had enough.

He wanted his daughter and he wanted her now.

He would take Brooke to the ground if he had to.

Emma began to get nervous from the idea of going with Brooke and her father's tone startled her. She tried to scoot herself down off Brooke's hip but Brooke gripped her tighter to keep her from going to her father.

Nick reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He hit the speed dial for Brass.

"Put your phone down, Nicky!" she demanded angrily.

"No, I am calling Ship…we need to sort this out and he can help, right? Just like old times?" he said soothingly.

"Sort it out? " she said with disgust.

Nick nearly gasped when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jules' SUV pull down the block.

He knew this could be bad.

Very bad and…

…he needed to get to his daughter fast.