Chapter 21 – Home

The sunlight was peeking through the fabric of the hotel curtains, reluctantly forcing me to wake up. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands as I tried to force my eyes to stay open. It seemed like just minutes ago, I was falling asleep with Anna right beside me and now, the sun was demanding that we wake up. "Anna?" When she didn't respond, I reached over in bed for her and she wasn't there. I sat up and looked around the hotel room trying to find her. "Anna?" I threw the covers off of me and got up to check the bathroom. "Anna?" I felt my heart drop into my stomach again at the realization that what happened yesterday was all just a really cruel dream. "Anna?" I looked around the room checking to see if her stuff was here. Her bag that she brought in was still on the floor. "No, Anna. I just got you back." I sat back down on the bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and put on a tank top and got ready to go find her once again when I heard the mechanical lock on the hotel room door open and Anna walked in. "Anna!" I pulled her into a hug, causing her to drop what it was she was holding but I didn't care.

Anna groaned when I pulled her in tightly. She started waving her hands around behind my back, "Air. Air. Nicky, I need air."

"Sorry." I loosened my grip on her and kissed her before hugging her tightly a second time. "I thought you were gone. Again." I let her go and she looked up at me. "I was worried that yesterday was nothing more than a really cruel joke."

"I went to the Coke machines." Anna bent down and picked up a bottle of Mountain Dew that she had brought in and dropped when I hugged her. "I was thirsty. I went to the vending machine down the hall and got us both one." She handed me the other bottle she was holding. "Guess I need to let mine de-fizz for a while. Sorry, Nicky. I didn't mean to get you all worked up, but you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up to let you know I was gonna go get us a couple of drinks. I'm sorry. I should have left a...ooohhh...le Damn. Touché." Anna stopped and winced when she realized what she was about to say. "I see where you're coming from. Point taken. I'm sorry. Next time, I'll wake you up or just force you to go with me. I'm sorry." Anna put the other bottle on the dresser in the room and jumped up at me, putting her arms around my neck. I caught her as she put her legs around my waist, causing me to take a step back to keep from losing my balance. Anna kissed me again and softly whispered to me, "I'm sorry." She leaned back long enough to kiss me before continuing. "I told you I'm not going anywhere unless you're with me and I mean that. I know I've got a lot of making up to do before you believe me. I promise I will never leave you again. I want you always constantly no matter what. I know that being without you is something that I could never do again." Anna kissed me again as I took a step back before sitting on the bed, causing her to laugh at me when I dramatically fell back. "And a good morning to you, too."

I sat up, bringing Anna up with me so she could sit beside me on the bed. "I believe you. Still not used to it. That's all." Anna had pulled her hair back using a clip but when I caught her after she jumped at me, my hand hit the clip causing it to dislodge. Most of her hair fell down out of the clip but it was still in her hair holding some of it back behind her head. I tucked a loose strand behind her ear. "I don't like waking up alone especially after the past day we've had after waiting so long. I don't want it to end. I don't want to ever wake up again and not know where you are."

Anna climbed into my lap and smiled, "It won't and I'm not going anywhere without you. Feel free to put a GPS collar on me if you want." She loosened her grip on my neck as she leaned back so she could see me. "You're taking me home where I belong. I am here to love you, to hold you in my arms and to be with you. I am here because there is no other place I want to be." She stopped so she could kiss me. "I plan on marrying you. Course, this all rides on whether your family likes me or not and seeing the stomping my Hogs did to your Horns last year..."

I fell back on the bed a second time, pulling Anna with me. "I love you so they'll love you, even if Texas did deserve that stomping." Anna moved off of me and was lying on her back. I propped myself up on my elbow and put my right hand on her cheek. "I promise. They'll love you. Then we'll be on our way back home and I'll get you a huge, embarrassing ring and get on one knee and ask you all proper to marry me." I let myself fall back on the bed next to Anna, still keeping my right hand across her middle.

"You already did ask me and it was proper in my book and I believe I said yes."

"I know but I'm old fashioned I guess. You need a ring. I want you to have one." I looked around Anna so I could see the alarm clock on the table. "We better get up." I kissed Anna as I propped myself up again. "If we're not in Texas soon, Jilly is liable to drive up this way and find us and drag us all the way back and I still need to go to Wal-Mart. Shall we?" I got off the bed and stood up and held my hand out. Anna took it and after I put on another shirt over the one I was wearing, I led her outside so we could go before we came back to shower before we left.

About an hour later, we were back in the room after I got what I needed from Wal-Mart. I left what I bought on the bed as I followed Anna to the bathroom so we could take a shower before we left the hotel.

Anna and I took our time in the shower. Almost another hour later, we finally got out and she left the bathroom to get her hair brush. I stayed in the tub as I dried myself off before I stepped out into the area where the sink and counter were. I looked up and Anna had written 'I love you, Nicky' in the steam on the mirror and had drawn a smiley face under it. When I got to the living area of the room, Anna already had on her bra and panties and was sitting on the floor as she was looking through her bag for clothes. I got my underwear on and tore the tag off of the shorts I had just bought. I put my shorts on and snuck up behind her and kissed her on the back of her shoulder. "I love you, too."

"You better." Anna got up and kissed me again before she threw her tank top on the bed and put her shorts on as she went back to the bathroom to dry her hair.

After she was done, I was helping Anna get the rest of our stuff packed when my phone rang. "Probably my sister." Anna tossed my phone to me and sure enough, it was Jillian. I opened the phone to answer it and she didn't even give me a chance to say hello before she asked where we were. Anna laughed as she threw her bag on the bed and went to the bathroom to get her contact lens case and her shampoo so she could finish packing. "We're about to leave here in about ten minutes then we've got about four hours to drive."

My sister groaned, "Nicky, we were hoping you'd be on your way by now. We're ready to meet Miss Anna."

"Gee." I tossed the rest of Anna's stuff in her bag and zipped it. "Love you, too, Jilly. Haven't seen you since Christmas and all you're worried about is meeting Anna. Maybe I'll just send Anna to Texas and catch a bus home."

"Ooh, that'd work. Just leave your phone with her so I can give her directions on how to get here. When are you sending Anna? Will she have to take you to the bus station first or can you walk?"

Anna opened the door to the room and held it open as I looked around once more, making sure we didn't forget anything. "We are leaving now." I put my hand on Anna's back as we walked outside into the bright sun. "We've got to check out then we're southbound for Dallas and no, I'm still not married."

"So you're not catching a bus? You're coming with Anna?"

I rolled my eyes, "Goodbye, Jillian. Tell mom and dad we'll be there in time for a late lunch. Love you, sissy."

"Love you too, little brother."

I put the phone in my pocket as I dug out Cathy's keys to unlock the truck. Anna put her stuff in the back and I handed her the bag I had with the stuff I bought earlier in it so she could put it in on top the rest. I went around her as I opened the passenger's door for her. "So, the bus station is where exactly and why are you taking a bus and sending me to Texas?"

I kissed Anna before she sat down. I shut the door and got in on the driver's side. "My sister. She made a comment about making sure you were coming even if I wasn't. She told me to take a bus to Vegas and send you to Texas." I pulled around the lobby of the hotel and checked out. I watched Anna through the window as she answered my phone. Judging by the smile on her face, it was probably Bryan. The hotel clerk handed me my receipt and I thanked her and went back to the car.

"Yeah, we're headed to Texas now. Nick thinks it's proper that they meet his fiancé and all." Anna was quiet as the caller spoke. "Bryan, what do you think I said?" She listened as Bryan spoke again. "Yeah, I am too and yes, you'll be my honorary maid of honor right next to Cathy who will be my real maid of honor unless you want me to put you in a dress." Anna started laughing. "Bryan wants to know if he has to wear a dress and if he does, he wants us to know it better be floor length. He's not shaving."

I had to laugh at that thought. "Tell him we'll get to that point when we get back to Vegas."

Anna and Bryan spoke for about half an hour longer. It was nice to have the old Anna back. As I listened to her end of the conversation, she held the phone with her right hand as her left hand was holding on to my right hand. She handed me the phone so I could tell Bryan we'd be back in a few days with Cathy's truck. Anna took the phone back and told Bryan that they could use her Xterra if they needed it. After promising we wouldn't get married in Texas, she ended the phone call and said she'd call when we got ready to leave Texas. "Does your family know about the last six weeks? Do they know what happened? I mean, did you tell them I left?"

I picked up the bottle of Mountain Dew and took a drink before I answered Anna. "They know I got hurt and you got shot obviously but they don't know the real reason you left. I said you took some time off from work to visit your family and left it at that. Technically it wasn't a lie."

"Just making sure our stories match before we get down there. So your family wants to meet me, huh?"

"Yeah. They have ever since I first told them about you ever since I mentioned you back in February after you treated me." I looked over at Anna. She had her head down. "What?" She still didn't look up. "Anna? What?"

"Are you mad at me?" She finally raised her head up. "You have every right to be."

"Wow. That one caught me off guard." I didn't respond right away. I needed a moment to think about how to answer her. "Hon, I wanted to be mad at you when I drove out here. I tried to be and I planned on being mad at you, but when your sister told me where you were and when I saw you for the first time, I, well, I couldn't be. Lord knows I had every right to be mad but just watching you for the time I did before I snapped that twig, I couldn't be mad at you no matter how hard I tried."

"I see. I'm sorry. I know I've said it a hundred times and I am sorry. The most maddening decisions are the ones that seemed right at the time and at the time I left, it seemed right. I realized after I got to my sister's that I made a mistake but I was afraid."

I held onto Anna's hand a bit tighter when she finished. "Of Renee?"

Anna shook her head, "No, well, a little bit but that's not what I was afraid of."

"Then what were you afraid of?"

Anna put her head back down. "I was afraid of coming back to Vegas. I was afraid of what would happen when I saw you again. I make mistakes and they've been big ones, but I never make them twice and I was scared about what would happen because I screwed up."

I was floored, "You were afraid of me? Why? Did you think I'd hurt you or something?"

"Oh, God no. No, no. Nicky, no. Nothing like that. No, I could never think that about you. You can't even kill a spider." Anna folded one of her legs up underneath her and turned in the seat where she could look at me. She laid her head on the headrest and put her sunglasses on top of her head so she could see me better. "I was afraid of seeing you again because I didn't think I could handle what I thought you'd say to me because I left."

"And you thought I'd say what?"

"Eff off?"

I had to smile at Anna's interjected humor in the situation we were in. "I wouldn't have said that. Anna, I wanted to be mad at you but you know that. The first couple weeks after you left, I was a mess. I stayed off work the first week then the second week I went back to work. Renee found me again and it almost came to blows but Warrick found me in time and took me home. I was drunk off my ass and he saved me from screwing up royally and I was in a really dark spot in my life by that time. I was heading downhill and heading downhill fast and it took him stepping in to cut me off at the pass but now that you're back, I'm just...happy. I've never felt as much happiness before. I'm exactly where I want to be now that you're here with me."

"Right where I belong. You're the one thing about my life that is right and I can't believe how close I came to screwing that up." Anna didn't say anything after she trailed off. I noticed that was when she reached up to cover her face in order to catch the tears. "You don't know how sorry I am for everything. There's only so many times I can bang my head against a wall before I realize it hurts. At times like that, it'd be great to know what I thought I was doing."

"Anna, you don't have to apologize. That's all in the past. All of it. I told you earlier I'm not mad at you. You did what you thought was best"

Anna sniffled in between tears, "I did but the pain I caused you. I..."

I cut her off, "You made it all better when I saw you for the first time and erased it completely when you said you'd marry me."

Anna sniffled, "Seriously?"

I couldn't take my eyes off the road and instead, tightened my grip on Anna's hand and kissed the top of it. "Yes. Seriously. One hundred percent seriously. I love you. That's all that matters in my book."

The next two hours of the trip flew by as Anna and I caught each other up on what we missed. I was in the process of filling her in on what happened to Renee the last time I saw her when Anna interrupted, "And you just let her go? You had the charges dropped?"

"You think I was wrong in having the charges against Renee dropped?"

Anna shook her head, "No, I think you did the right thing actually. If I was you, I'd have let her go especially after what happened in the hospital room. How bad was she hurt?"

"Pretty bad. She got the stuffing beat out of her. I just felt sorry for her I guess, but mostly it was because I knew that if you were here, you'd want me to do the right thing. Even if I was an ass and had Renee thrown in jail for assault, it wouldn't have changed anything. Nigel is still dead. You still got shot and I still have you to thank for saving my life." I saw out of the corner of my eye that when I said Nigel's name, Anna tensed up. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said…"

"No, no. You have nothing to be sorry about. I just, well, you remember the nightmares and the night terrors? It's just when you said his name, that was the first time that anyone has said it that I didn't feel a sense of panic or fear. All the other times after I heard his name or thought about him or that look he gave me right before I, uh..." Anna trailed off. "Right before I shot him, I couldn't handle the fear that followed those thoughts or hearing his name, but now, nothing. I didn't feel anything. But on the Renee thing, you're right. I would have wanted you to let her go. It wouldn't have helped anything and it'd just be one more reason that I'd be afraid to be out. She did leave Vegas, didn't she?"

"As far as I know she did. One of the other detectives stopped by her hospital room the next day after I processed her to drop off the final paperwork showing the charges against her were dropped. He told me that when he stopped by, she was packing up and heading to the airport as soon as her taxi got to the hospital. He gave her a ride to the airport since the rental car she got was still in evidence from when she got shot. He didn't watch her get on the plane, but I'm sure she's gone."

Anna sighed, "Good. One less thing I have to worry about when we get back to our home." Anna smiled. "Our home. I like the sound of that.

After another hour of talking and laughing, we were about five minutes away from the road to take us to my parents' house when my phone rang once again. I let Anna answer it since I was exiting off the freeway and trying to maneuver over into the lane I needed to get off of the service road. "Your sister wants to know where we are."

I thought I'd play a joke on her, "Tell her we're still in Oklahoma."

I listened and laughed when Anna told Jillian we were still in Oklahoma. I motioned for Anna to give me the phone when I heard Jillian start shrieking on the phone. "Jillian, stop." I held the phone to my ear as I turned onto the street that my parents lived on. "Jilly?"

"Nicholas Stokes! You promised that you'd be here today. You promised you'd bring Anna. Now what are you doing in Oklahoma?"

"Jilly…"

"Nicholas, I'm serious. Why are y…"

I interrupted her, "Jilly." After reaching my parents' house, I pulled in the driveway and parked under an oak tree to the side of their yard. "Would you listen to me?"

"What?"

"Look out the window." I shook my head and laughed as I undid my seatbelt. I saw Anna suppress a laugh as she undid hers and opened the door to Cathy's 4Runner to get out.

"I see…Nicky!" Jillian dropped the phone as her hands let go of the mini blinds. A few moments later, she came rushing out of the house and down the porch steps. "Anna!"

My sister ran right by me and went straight to Anna. "Finally! I get to meet you." She pulled Anna into a bear hug. "Finally. How are you?"

"Be a lot better if I could breathe."

"Huh?" Jillian realized she had a death grip on Anna. "Sorry."

Anna shook her head, "I see where Nick gets that from."

I held my arms out, expecting a hug from my sister but she barely paid me any attention. "Oh, Nick. Hi." Jillian turned her attention back to Anna. "It's about time. So who had the idea that it was somehow funny to tell me that you were still in Oklahoma?"

Anna smiled, "Nick's."

Jillian's only response was to frog me hard in the shoulder, "Ass!"

"Language, Jillian. There are youngsters present." My mother followed the same path that my sister took, but was more reserved. "Nicholas, my son." My mother reached out for me and pulled me into a hug. "I've missed you so much. How are you?"

I returned the hug, "Well, fine now that one member of my family has paid attention to me. Jillian ran right by me, completely ignoring me and about killed Anna in a death grip."

My mother released her hold on me after she kissed me on the cheek, "Welcome home, Nicholas." She turned her attention to Anna. Jillian had a hold of one of Anna's hands. "And this is your special someone?"

"Yes." I playfully shoved Jillian away from Anna. Jillian retaliated by trying to frog me again, but I ducked and held her fist in my hand. "Anna, this is my mother, Patricia. Mom, this is Anna Gigandet, my fiancé."

Jillian and my mother both gasped. Jillian pulled her fist out of my hand and frogged me again, "Fiancé? Nick!"

"I told you I didn't get married." I hit my sister in the shoulder just as she hit me. "You never listen."

"Nicholas! Don't hit your sister." My mother pulled Anna and me into a hug with Jillian standing behind us. "Congratulations to you both." My mother let me go, but held on to Anna, "Welcome to the family, Anna."

A/N: Not as long as my other chapters but I've been bouncing between jury duty and work for the past little bit and haven't had that much time to devote to the serious side of my writing that this story requires. Reviews? Please?

My other two CSI stories "Investigation – Twilight" and "Investigation – Titanic" are two lighter toned stories if you're in the mood for a good laugh. Head on over and take a gander and REVIEW them please?

More from the Stokes farm in the next chapter. I'm still on jury duty so I'm hoping I don't get called all week next week so I can work on this story some more. I know my readers want more Nick and Anna.