I do not own CSI.

Rated T - language

Thanks to my 2 or 3 reviewers...couldn't do it without ya! Sigh.

Sending my laptop in tomorrow for repair so...

I thought I would give you some fun at the Stokes' BBQ.

Have a good time!

She laughed and joked with everyone and made sure that everyone was enjoying themselves at the BBQ. And, when everyone seemed to be happy, fed, and having a good time, she decided to sit down and relax. Walking over to the patio chairs, she pulled one out, turned it around to face the backyard, and sat down. She might not be showing a belly all that much but she was getting tired more and more. She hated feeling tired and the dizzy spells that loved to creep up on her when she least expected it.

Sitting down in a chair she watched Nick talking and laughing hard with Greg Sanders and Officers Young and Del Marco.

She loved his laugh. She loved watching him laugh and the sound of his laugh.

She loved when he was having fun. She smiled to herself as she watched him.

She wondered for a minute what they were talking about but didn't feel like getting up to find out. She figured it was between him and his friends and really not her business.

Nick and Greg were laughing about the stupid shit Ecklie had said during a meeting and they mocked him mercilessly. Nick noticed Sal Del Marco's and Greg Sander's head turn when he saw Trista pass by them and head for the bar. He knew that look; he knew Greg was blatantly checking her out and Officer Del Marco was scanning her body with his eyes. Nick took a swig of his beer and sure enough, Greg Sanders began talking about her.

"Nick, man, I'm telling you, Trista is so friggen hot," Greg told him.

"Yeah," Nick nodded, "...she is a good lookin' girl," he agreed.

"Are you blind, Stokes? She ain't just good lookin'! She is smokin'!" Sal told him.

Kevin Young smirked and chimed in, "I may be married but, um, damn, Stokes, your wife has the hottest friends I have ever seen!" he shook his head adamantly.

"Not as hot as she is, Young" he teased and took a gulp of his beer again.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Nick... Spoken like a true sap," Greg chimed in and teased.

"Don't you start now, Sanders, I'm warning ya now," he laughed, "It's bad enough I take shit from her brother," he smirked knowing how he has finally gotten the upper hand.

He looked over at Trista as the two men spoke about her. He squinted his eyes and watched her watching Warrick. He realized then that she did care very much about that one night with him. It wasn't a one sided thing. She was just hiding her true feelings. Nick felt saddened about that. He wanted them both happy and much to his surprised he believed they might just make a good team.

"Nick, are you listening to me?" Greg pushed his arm, "I want you to hook me up with Trista."

"Whoa, whoa, if you need help getting hooked up, Sanders, then you just don't have a shot," Sal Del Marco informed him, "...and let me tell ya something, ya might as well give it up because I am making my move on her tonight!" he laughed.

"WHAT? Oh no, no, I don't think that is a good idea," he shook his head and as he did he noticed Jules sitting alone in the patio chair. "Not for either one of ya!" he said while still looking his wife's way.

She smiled at him.

He began to walk to her with concern but turned to say one last thing to Greg and Sal.

"Guys, it ain't a good idea, that's all I'm sayin'. Let me go see what's up with my wife," and he turned and walked away.

Officer Kevin Young laughed, "Nick's got the right idea, I'm outta here too!" and he turned to head back to the pool.

Jules watched him walk toward her with a bottle of beer in his hand.

"Hey Sunshine, what's the matter? You okay?" he squatted down in front of her and rubbed her belly as he spoke.

"Are my boys starting to make you tired?" he grinned.

"Your BOYS? You mean your daughters?" she laughed.

"Whatever," he laughed, "You okay?"

"Yeah, no I'm good. I am just taking a rest," she told him.

"Stop doing so much, Baby. I'm serious. You are running around making sure everything is out on the tables, drinks are full, towels are folded,…leave it alone. These are our friends; they'll get their own shit."

Jules nodded.

"You listen to your all knowing husband, got it? I demand it," he smirked.

She knew he was teasing her.

"Oooooh, demand it huh?" she raised her eyebrow.

She reached out her hand and stroked the side of his face.

"I love you, my big barbarian," she smiled.

Nick leaned in and kissed her tiny pot belly. Jules rubbed the back of his hair as he did.

"Go hang with your friends, Cowboy," she said, "I demand you to," she grinned at him when he looked back up at her.

Nick stood up, leaned in and kissed her softly, "Okay, let me know if you want me."

"Oh c'mon, Texas, I ALWAYS want you," she smiled.

"You know what I mean," he chuckled at her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. And I will let you know if i need anything," she told him as he nodded, turned away and walked over to Trista.

Jules checked out his ass as he walked away.

He knew it but he let it slide without teasing her as he usually does. He just laughed softly to himself and secretly loved it.

As she watched him Jules' thoughts began to wander.

She thought about how she went to the store to buy all the food and get things together for the BBQ. She thought about what happened...

Jules was taking to her daughter as she strolled down the grocery store aisle with Emma sitting in the cart seat in front of her.

"And Lindsay will come and play with you tonight upstairs…would you like that, Em?"

"I is goin' to the pawty too?" she squinted and tilted her head.

"You can, sure! You can for a little while and then you probably would rather go upstairs with Lindsay and watch movies and eat popcorn, right?" she said in a sweet voice.

"Yep!" Emma smiled wide. "I can get some now?" she asked.

"Yes, you can get the popcorn now," Jules said and reached over and grabbed the microwave popcorn box off the shelf.

When Jules turned she was startled by a woman who seemed to be watching her. She noticed her in the dairy aisle a few minutes ago but thought nothing of it, but this time she lingered a little longer and Jules felt this weird feeling come over her and she didn't know why.

Jules smiled at her softly and kept moving.

In the frozen foods aisle Jules held the cart handle tightly as she leaned into the freezer to grab a bag of frozen French fries. When she turned she saw the woman again staring at her and Emma. The woman looked familiar but Jules was sure she never met her before. Normally she wouldn't even care or notice but it was that weird feeling that freaked her out most of all.

Suddenly, the woman spoke to her.

"I'm sorry to stare," the woman smiled, "your daughter reminds me of my little girl when she was young…she is beautiful."

"Oh, oh, thanks, that is very nice of you," she smiled and continued to walk down the aisle feeling uneasy for no reason at all.

The woman followed getting her items and putting them in her own cart.

"How old is she?" the woman asked.

"I is gonna be free!" Emma proclaimed proudly holding up her three tiny fingers.

Jules gave a slight smile. "She will be three."

"Well you are a getting to be a very big girl!" she spoke directly to Emma.

Emma smiled wide, showing her deep dimples as she did.

"I see you have dimples like your mommy!" she said.

"My Daddy has dem too! Mommy says I look like my Daddy, right? You say dat, right?" she said to her mother with delight.

"Yes, yes you do, Honey," she answered continuing to move.

"Well, I can see you look like your Mama, too…I think it's the smile and those dimples," the woman said, "My little girl had dimples too! And I have dimples… so I guess she got them from me…just like you got them from your mommy," she explained.

Emma touched her dimples as she smiled.

"Us is havin' a bah-bick-koo tonight!" she said excitedly, "I, I is goin' too, right, Mommy?"

Jules nodded with apprehension.

"Well you have a good time, Emma," she said and moved down the aisle.

"Wait," Jules called over to her, "how did you know my daughter's name?" Jules asked with confusion.

"You have been talking to her," she laughed, "And I heard you call her Emma…which is a very pretty name, I might add," she smiled and left the aisle.

Jules took a deep breath. "Damn, Jules, you are getting jumpy, aren't ya," she thought to herself.

Jules grabbed a few more items and immediately checked out. She had a keen sense that she learned to follow since she lived in the rough side of the city. She always listened to it, even though this time she knew it had to be her pregnancy hormones which had proven to be out of , none the less, she checked out quickly and left.

Jules bit the inside of her cheek as she thought about that woman. She wondered why it startled her. It wasn't abnormal for someone to tell her how cute her daughter was or be nice to her in the grocery store. It was just weird. Something was weird but she didn't know why. It was something about that woman that was familiar, something about her that made Jules wonder where she had seen her before.

Taking a deep breath and leaning her head against the chair, Jules decided she was out of her mind with hormones and thought to herself,

"Oh God, it's gonna be a lonnnnng pregnancy if I am already starting to get paranoid and crazy."

Trista threw back another shot as Nick walked up to her.

"Hey, Ann Testa, pounding those drinks, huh?" he smiled.

She shrugged.

Why are you alone over here?" Nick asked her.

"Well, Stokes," she slurred, "I am alone over here because I wanna be."

"You wanna be alone?" Nick squinted and tilted his head, "Should I be insulted?" he grinned.

"No, no, I just meant I like being alone…I am destined to be alone… that's all I'm sayin'…wanna shot?" she said and poured two.

"God no, you know what they say…'beer before liquor'…" he nodded.

"Loser," she laughed back and did her shot.

"You better eat or your gonna get sick, I can promise you that," he told her. "Are you going back in the pool? Warrick is back in there," he mentioned.

She nodded and looked toward the pool as Warrick howled that he missed the shot.

"I don't care what Warrick does…" she slammed another shot.

"Well, you two were having a lot of fun…why are you not playing volleyball again?"

"God, I don't know, Stokes! I might go in later. I don't know. Maybe…maybe not.

Nick nodded.

She sighed.

Nick took a gulp of his beer and then leaned in closer to her ear and whispered, "I know about it."

Trista whipped her head toward him. "Excuse me?"

"I know…about you and Warrick…I know about it..,.and no, Jules does not know."

"But…" she said and swallowed hard.

Her throat tightened.

Nick chugged of his beer, reached around the bar, grabbed another from the cooler, and continued .

"I was on the steps when you told him you are 'over it' and that it was just one night. I heard you but ya know what, Darlin'? I don't believe you. And I also don't think you should walk away," he said and popped the top off his beer.

"What do you know…you just got lucky," she scoffed.

Nick jerked his head back confused. "I got lucky?"

She smiled at the way that sounded.

"You and Jules…it's like the lottery…rarely happens. One in a billion actually."

"Hmmm, I didn't know you knew the statistics, Trista. Interesting. Wrong, but interesting."

"Whatever, it's no big deal. We slept together. Period the end."

"I think he could be in love with you," he said softly, staring directly at her before swigging his beer from the bottle.

"Pfft, oh please," she twisted her mouth and shook her head, "Warrick loves no one but himself," she looked away from Nick's stare.

"I happen to know that isn't true. And even if it was…it changes when you find the right one. Warrick didn't want me with his sister for that reason…because I was not one to settle down but ya know what…she changed me," he lifted his beer bottle toward Jules who was in deep thought sitting in the chair.

Trista shrugs unimpressed. "Yeah well, congratulations, buddy, you are one of the very few to have that happen. Seriously."

"Trista, what if…what if…I don't know, I never thought I would even be suggesting such a thing but you and Warrick…I don't know. Maybe you two have always had a connection? You two are close. Yeah, you fight but it's all a show…deep down you have always helped each other out…you drop everything for each other…doesn't that tell you anything?"

Trista felt herself choke up. She remembered how he came to get her at the bar at 3:00 in the morning when she was trashed and had no taxi. She thought about how he came and pushed her car out of the mud when it got stuck by the docks. She thought about how he hooked up her computer when she couldn't get it to work. She smiled inwardly thinking about how he went with her to Texas for Jules and Nick's wedding and they sat together on the plane with Brett. And, while it was true they fought about everything from the window seat to who gets the armrest, they had laughed a lot all the way there. And then, she thought about how he came and took her stuff out of her and Danny's townhouse. And that thought alone almost made her sober up. The thought of Danny made her remember why there was no use in looking into anything resembling a relationship. No. It was done.

"Ya know what, Stokes? Don't quit your CSI job, all right? You're really good at it…Matchmaking? Not so much."

Trista didn't mean to sound so flippant. It came out wrong. It came out like she had too much to drink and…she did.

Nick looked over and saw Sal Del Marco coming up to them.

"Oh no," Nick sighed silently and chugged nearly his whole beer at once,

"Oh no this will not be good."