Say Hello to the Past (CSI fanfiction)

I just needed to talk to you

                                                            October 2001 (S2; E3 "Overload")
Emma Grace was not having a good day. It started when her alarm didn't go off on time, and she woke up late. Then the coffee pot wouldn't start, and she had to stop for coffee. She got into traffic on the way to work and was almost thirty minutes late! Of course, her workload was more than she could handle at the office and even with working through lunch she had to bring most of her work home with her.

So there she was, grouchy from not having food and trying to hurry through her front door before all of her work fell to the floor. She made it to the table she worked at and dumped all of her work on it. With a sigh, she went to the kitchen and found her something quick to eat, a frozen dinner for one. After eating Emma Grace went into her bedroom and changed into some comfortable clothes. She turned on some country music and put a load of dirty clothes into the washing machine. Then she sat down to her work.

All the way in another state Nick Stokes was sitting in the CSI locker room with his back and head against the lockers. The case he and Cathrine Willows had just wrapped up had drained him physically, emotionally, and mentally. The whole time he had been trying to find justice for the fourteen-year-old boy that was murdered he was trapped in the memory of what that babysitter had done to him when he was nine. With no one else in the locker room, Nick allowed himself to remember everything that had lead up to that horrible night.

Nick's eighteen-year-old sister couldn't babysit that evening because she had a date. Nick's sixteen-year-old sister had to cheer at a basketball game and his fourteen-year-old, and thirteen-year-old sisters were at a birthday sleepover for a friend. His twelve-year-old sister was out of town with Grandma and Grandpa, some classical music concert; the kind that his sister loved but everyone else in the family didn't understand.

Nick and his eleven-year-old brother were in the yard playing when their dad called them in. His parents had gotten a last minute invitation to go out with some friends and were going to let the boys stay with some friends for a little while. Nick's brother went to one of his friends' house, and Nick asked his mom to call Emma Grace's parents to see if he could stay over there while his parents were out.

When his mom called it turned out that Emma Grace was sick with the nasty stomach bug that had been going around school. Nick's mom didn't want him going over there because he hadn't caught the bug yet and she wanted to keep it that way. She and Nick's dad tried to talk him into staying with another friend, but he hadn't wanted to and was upset that he couldn't see Emma Grace. So, in a hurry, his parents called a teenage girl that their friends had used to babysit their kids. She had seemed nice when she showed up and introduced herself to his parents.

She had even seemed friendly after his parents left. They played basketball outside and played board games at the kitchen table. She had helped Nick with his homework and cooked dinner and made extra for his parents. She didn't show her true colors until later that night when they were watching a movie. That's when his whole world had come crashing down.

Back in the locker room, Nick lifted his hand to his face and wiped his tears. He couldn't sit here reliving the past and taking the chance that he would have to tell his secret to someone else he worked with. Nick got off the floor, got his things, and went home. The whole ride home Nick was thinking about one person, and he couldn't stop thinking about her.

As soon as Nick was through his door, he went into his bedroom and changed into some comfortable clothes. He went into his kitchen and poured him something to drink, then he sat on his couch and dialed the only number he could think of.

Emma Grace was about to pull her hair out! She was looking over her files that she had to bring home from work, and they were not making sense to her! She decided that she should get some fresh air before the sun went down. She was about to walk out the door when her phone rang.

Emma Grace picked up her phone on the second ring; "Hello?"

"Hey, Emma Grace," Nick Stokes voice said through the phone.

"Nick, how are you?" Emma Grace asked sitting down on the couch and smiling.

"I've been better," Nick said not even trying to lie to his oldest friend.

"What happened Nicky?" Emma Grace asked concerned.

"I had a terrible case today," Nick replied.

"Nicky you have to give me more than that! Talk to me!" Emma said not about to let whatever was the wrong go.

"Catherine and I had to investigate what happened to a fourteen-year-old boy who died at his therapist's house. There was evidence that the kid could've possibly been with his much older female therapist," Nick explained nearly spitting out the last sentence.

"Nicky, I'm sorry," Emma said knowing that Nick had been reminded of what happened to him when he was nine-years-old.

"Yeah, well it turned out the mother and the therapist were trying this crazy technique called rebirth or something and smothered him to death," Nick said giving her details of the case.

Emma Grace sat there and listened with silent tears streaming down her face. She felt sorry for the boy who had been killed, and she felt the all to familiar pain for Nick over what had happened when they were kids.

When Nick had finished talking, Emma Grace said the only thing she could think of, "Nicky, I'm so sorry about that night. I would give anything I had to change it."

"Emma, I've told you, it isn't your fault and I'm okay now," Nick said sounding a little numb.

"Nicky, I wish it had been me instead of you," Emma stated.

"Emma Grace don't you ever say that again! I'm so thankful that you were sick that night and not over at my house to suffer that fate with me. But, as you reminded me good came out of it, and this experience helps me in my job almost daily," Nick explained to her.

"You're right Nicky," Emma said because she knew he didn't want to talk about the past anymore.

"How were your trips to India and Mexico?" Nick wondered if Emma Grace would give him any information.

"They were amazing! I loved the people I met, and I loved the culture." here was a smile in Emma Grace's tone of voice.

"Tell me about the people and the culture." Nick wanted to hear everything Emma Grace had experienced.

For the next three hours, Emma Grace filled Nick in about the work she had done in India and Mexico. The more the two talked on the phone, the more it seemed as if all those years they spent not talking to each other vanished.

They talked a little while longer about what was going on in their lives and then got off the phone. Nick turned on the TV and watched a game, but Emma Grace was more wired than ever, and she went for that run she knew she had to have. She was hopeful that she and Nick would be able to pick up as friends again when he came home for Christmas, he had to work during Thanksgiving, but she had tears running down her face as she ran. They were tears of pain for her best friend, and what happened to him when he had been nine-years-old.