Although I hate to admit it, I know I visibly cringed when I heard Nick's parents ask at the same time, "Since they are WHAT?!"

I could feel Dr. Grissom's eyes boring into the side of my head, but it was Catherine's compassion filled gaze that I met when I heard him ask, "Your Honor? Mrs. Stokes? Why don't we go to my office to continue this in private? Nicco? Would you please join us?"

My head started nodding without my permission, but I didn't say anything out of fear that everyone would hear my looming tears in my voice. Like a coward, I wouldn't meet anyone else's eyes so I had no idea what look Nick's parents or supervisors were wearing. That also meant that I missed the look that Dr. Grissom gave Catherine to keep her from following all of us into his office. Which ultimately meant that when I turned around at hearing the door to Dr. Grissom's office close, the only people I saw were the Stokes. My eyes briefly met those of his mother's, but I just as quickly diverted my gaze towards the floor. I had never seen her look so angry before in my life. The look on her face was even more terrifying than the one she wore when she and I argued about my name change. And before this moment I was confident that fight had been her at her most livid, so now I had a new standard to use to measure her anger.

My eyes then sought out my dad. I expected to see some anger on his face, but miraculously there was none. Instead, he just looked utterly confused as he asked, "Nicco? Is what Dr. Grissom said true? Are you two living together?"

My eyes fixed themselves on my feet ass I whispered, "Yes, Daddy."

"And when did that happen?" He asked in the same soft, careful tone.

Before I could answer, his wife asked with an audible sneer, "Is that where you ran off to after you disappeared from home without a trace?"

"What…? Disappeared?" I asked as my head shot up so that I could gape at her incensed glare. "No, Mah-… Mis-… No, Ma'am. I drove out here to school without Nicky knowing where I was studying at all." I then turned to face Judge Stokes as I continued, "To answer your question, Sir. I moved in not long after he found out I was studying at UNLV. And that was mostly only because I had to move out of my dorm. And…"

I couldn't finish my explanation because my bottom lip started to tremble so violently that I physically couldn't speak. After I had learned the truth about everyone who had played a role in the horrific events that happened at Caesar's Palace, I had one night where I broke down into uncontrollable, choking sobs Nick had held me that night while I purged all of the hate, anger and fear that had tried to build a wall around my heart. Thankfully, Nick was there to help me through it because my tears were able to cleanse my heart and soul of all that negativity. That also gave Nick and I a clean slate to officially start our lives together. Not that I was going to tell his parents that part… yet.

I thought that that night I had shed my last tears about the painful memories of that night, but now I was thinking I was mistaken. Don't get me wrong, the rational part of my brain told me that "those criminals didn't deserve anything else from me, especially tears. But the less rational part of my brain hadn't caught up with that program.

"Nicco…? Kitten…?" Dad asked as he hugged me against his chest after I had turned my back on them to try to regain my composure. "Kitten, what happened? I thought that you loved the freedom of dorm life."

"I did," I answered through the tears I couldn't quell. "I really did love it, but… but…"

"But not anymore? What changed, Little One?"

I started to shake my head until Dr. Grissom spoke for the first time since we entered his office. "Nicolette, I know it's an uncomfortable subject, but you… BOTH of you should have told them about all this before now."

I felt Dad stiffen with me still in his arms when we heard Dr. Grissom speak. Good. So, I wasn't the only one in the room who had forgotten he was here while we played out our family drama. I can't even begin to describe how relieved I was feeling in that moment that I had already secured my spot at the lab for the summer.

I carefully extracted myself from my dad's arms so that I could once again face everyone in the room. My left hand quickly grasped my dad's right hand as I took a deep breath to calm myself down. What? I knew that I was going to feel beyond uncomfortable while I tried to tell them about it, so I clung to my Daddy for support. So, what if I turned into a little girl sometimes when he was around? Sue me. It had worked in the past and I was hoping it would help me get through this now.

Before I could open my mouth to speak, Dr. Grissom addressed the room saying, "I'll leave you three alone to discuss that incident." He must have caught the surprised, nearly terrified look on my face because he added, "Nicolette, this is a family matter, so you don't need an audience while you tell them the details. Plus, I have work I need to be focusing on right now."

"Of course, you do, Dr. Grissom. And thank you for the use of your office."

He gave me a brief smile as he simply nodded before he left the room. After staring at the closed office door for a couple of seconds, I led Dad by his hand to one of the chairs in front of Dr. Grissom's desk. He immediately gave me a questioning look prompting me to quietly explain, "You'll want to be seated for this Daddy."

Incredibly, his eyes grew even wider. As he sat down, Dad grabbed one of Mom's hands to silently request that she follow his lead. I spared a glance in her direction and for the first time that I had witnessed that day, I noticed that her features had softened. In fact, if I weren't mistaken, she actually looked concerned about me and what she was going to hear about what had happened.

Seeing that look on her face somehow made what I was going to have to do even harder. My nerves wanted to get the best of me, so I started to pace in front of them as I said, "So… Like I said before, I'm… I'm enrolled at UNLV for my graduate studies and I've been living in the dorms since I started there…" Dad opened his mouth, but I had anticipated his question, so I paused to look at him while I added, "Yes… But… I was TECHNICALLY visiting the Vegas Strip then. My roommate somehow convinced me to blow off some steam with her before our finals and… and… well it actually worked. My grades on those finals were higher than any I earned during my undergraduate classes, so… so… I agreed to go on a mini vacation with her again before… before Spring semester finals. And that's when…"

My tears resurfaced and forced me to stop. Part of it was that I really wasn't sure what I wanted to say or how I was going to explain it all to them. On top of that, Nick had promised to help me through it whenever I did tell them the truth of everything that happened to lead up to our intimate relationship starting. That made his absence and the reason for it hit me really hard at this moment.

"Here, Nicco," Mom nearly whispered as she passed me a couple of tissues. "Just go slow, Baby. We aren't rushing anywhere yet, so take your time."

I blew my nose and whispered, "Thanks, Mom." She gave me an encouraging smile that helped to loosen some of the tightness in my chest.

You CAN do this, I silently coached myself.

"Alright… so… While I've been at school, I've gotten really good at couponing and finding the best bargain stores for groceries. Heck, I've even found a butcher who offers discounts near the end of the day, so I've been able to have a few steak dinners."

"You…?" Mom asked in a surprised tone. When she realized how shoed she sounded, she stopped herself and then continued in a more cordial tone, "That's wonderful to hear, Nicco."

"Thanks. So… Here I was… Doing well in school, saving money to keep me from worrying if my truck needed any repairs and working closer to landing a summer internship at this lab… All in all, things were going pretty well. Or at least I thought they were…"

Dad started to stand up, calling out a concerned, "Kitten?"

"No, Daddy, please… If you hug me now, I'll start crying and I won't be able to finish. Plus, she doesn't deserve anything, much less more tears from me."

I must have added more heat to my tone than I had intended because Mom reached for Dad's arm and pulled him back to his seat. "Rodger, give the girl some space. Nicco, please continue."

"Thanks, Mom," I whispered before I tried to center myself again. "Alright… Thea… my now ex-roommate, mistook my being frugal for me not having money, period. She decided to take it upon herself to 'help' me 'fix' that situation." Yeah, I full on did the air quotes on either side of my head when I said 'help' and 'fix'. "Okay… This is where it gets… uncomfortable. But please, no matter what I say, please don't interrupt me or I might never get it out and… Dr. Grissom is right, we… I… you should know about this."

They both shared a look before turning back to me and nodding. I could see them both clinging a little bit tighter to each other's hands. What I wouldn't give to not have to tell them this. Especially not alone. Dammit Nicky, where are you?

"Okay… Here goes nothing. Thea was at UNLV as a professor's kid. That means tuition and her dorm are paid for, plus she gets great discounts on books. But she had to pay for everything else. I figured that she was like me; a hard-working scholarship student who had savings to cover food and other costs for her post-secondary studies. But… But she wasn't…"

I had started pacing, so I didn't see their reactions to what I had told them. An even bigger bonus to my pacing was that I felt like I was talking more to myself than to either of them. That meant I was actually able to give the narration and not overthink what words needed to be used.

"Turns out that her sister was actually footing her bills. That doesn't sound all that bad, but… well… Ariel…err… Artemis… uhh… Thea's sister is an escort. Their arrangement is… was… anyway, Artemis paid for everything in exchange for Thea recruiting new… umm… talent for her."

"No, Nicco…she… she didn't make you one of her girls, did she?" Mom asked in a soft, concerned voice.

"NO! Well… uhh… yeah, she tried, but no… hell no." I stopped there and laughed softly to myself. "Sorry, I'm not explaining this properly. Alright… Thea wanted to recruit me, but she never actually told me that. Instead, she planned the trip with me and then let me go there with her sister…" My feet paused again when I realized something. I then turned back to face them and quickly added, "They're identical twins. Sorry, it doesn't make sense unless you understand that part… Anyway… Here I was, cutting loose and relaxing with a total stranger, thinking she was my so-called best friend. We partied to excess in the VIP area and then Thea's doppelganger brought me back to our room with two guys. At first, I thought I was to blame for what happened, but my tox-screen came back with traces of… well… they slipped me something into my drinks to make me more… pliant… But I fought back… hard… so everything was much worse… or so I'm told."

"Worse?" "Worse how?" They asked in tandem.

I sat down in a chair that faced both of them. I wasn't brave enough to continue my narrative with them in my eye line, so I buried my face in my hands and said, "After her… her sister's pimp choked me until I passed out, he… he…" I paused to show them my tear-stained cheeks after I let my sentence trail off.

Mom jumped up from her seat with a quiet "Nicco" passing over her lips. After she wrapped her arms around my neck in a loving, but slightly uncomfortable hug, I replied, "It's okay, Mom. I lived through it and everything has healed. Please don't fret about issues that don't exist."

"Don't exist? Nicolette, he…" Dad started in a heated tone.

He couldn't finish his thought because I interrupted him saying, "He did exactly what you're thinking, but please don't make me go into those details, okay Daddy?"

All of his bravado seeped away as he nodded and whispered, "Okay."

"Plus, he's dead now, so he can't hurt anyone else. No! I didn't do it."

Mom's expression went from shocked to looking mildly disappointed, which really surprised me. "That's a whole other story that we can get into another time. But the long and the short of it is that after that night at Caesar's Palace, Nicky offered to let me stay with him. Once I got all of my school stuff figured out, he told me I could just remain at his place, if I wanted. Since I felt safer under his roof than I did at the dorms, I accepted his offer."

Mom gave me another quick squeeze before she moved back to her seat beside Dad. Once she was back in her seat, her demeanor changed. She sat up a bit straighter as Dad reached over to hold her hand. Obviously, they had discussed something during the time between me leaving home and them arriving in Las Vegas. And it appeared that we were going to talk about it now.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry it took Nicky… that it took something as bad as this for us to speak again. I never meant for that to happen."

"I'm sorry too, Mom. I went about what I did all wrong. I should have explained everything to you before I put in the paperwork to change my name. All I can say is that I wasn't thinking… not about your feelings, that is. I had taken some advice from a counsellor at school to heart and ran with it… a little too blindly," I replied with fresh tears forming.

"And what advice was that, Kitten?"

I blew my nose again to center myself before I answered, "That my application to the summer internship here would go further if I didn't have the same last name as one of the CSIs that works here."

"Really? This really was all about your education and some silly internship?"

I let out a heavy sigh then replied, "Yes, it is about my education. But no, it isn't a 'silly' internship. Mom, this is one of our country's best forensic labs. Dr. Grissom is a world-renowned entomologist. You've always said that if you want to be the best, you have to learn from the best. That's why this has become the most sought-after internship in the country and most people consider themselves lucky just to be shortlisted, let alone chosen. But… I know you don't think it's as important as I do and I don't want to start another fight with you, so can we just leave it at that?"

"Oh… NO… Sweetheart, I didn't… I just… Oh… Nicco, we're… I'M so enormously proud of what you've accomplished. Honestly… Congratulations on earning the position."

"Oh? Uhh… Thank you, Mom. But enough about me. For now… I'm sure they shoed you the video of Nicky, right?"

Mom shuddered and just nodded as her response in the affirmative. Dad shifted his chair so that he could wrap an arm around her. She immediately melted into his embrace and turned her head so that she could rest it on his shoulder.

"Yes, Nicco, they did show it to us. I assume that means you've seen it too?" Dad asked in a tone that made it sound like he hoped I hadn't.

I nodded then quietly explained, "Yes, Sir. I was with the team when Dr. Grissom first opened the package. I couldn't… I mean, I didn't last long when Nicky… err… when the camera went live."

Dad waved for me to come over to where he was hugging Mom. I practically jumped to my feet and ran towards them, just like when I was younger. But, unlike then, I didn't immediately crawl into Dad's lap to join their hug. For the most part, I thought that they would say I was too old for things like that. But there was also a tiny part of me that thought I wouldn't be welcomed. Silly, I know, but it's the truth.

Dad patting his right leg erased all of my doubts. It took a little maneuvering, but eventually we were comfortable in a misshaped ball. We had our arms wrapped around each other and sat there in silence for a couple of minutes. I don't know about my parents, but I know that I felt stronger and calmer in their embrace.

I should have left well enough alone. Things were finally good between us, but I had to tell them this too. I lifted my head off my dad's shoulder so that they could hear me say, "I think I have a way to get Nicky home."