Say Hello to the Past (CSI fanfiction)

My favorite phone calls are with you

(AN: the chapter is broken up into three parts. takes place after season 5; episode(s) 13 "Nesting Dolls," 14 "Unbearable," and 15 "King Baby.")

"What do you mean he was in Vegas when you were?" Nick sounded angry, but he wasn't mad with the person on the other end of the phone.

"Apparently the proof came from the day shift team at the lab. The police here in Texas questioned Jackson again, and he slipped up or something to make them think he had been in Las Vegas when my wreck happened." Emma Grace's voice was incredibly claim considering all that was unfolding during the reopening of the case that killed her family in 1994.

"I'm coming home as soon as I can." Nick was pacing in his kitchen rubbing his hand over his head. If his hair had been longer, he would be messing it up so bad that he would need another shower.

"Nicky, I know you want to be here. I want you to be here to hold me. But, it's not possible right now. You're having to deal with the stress and the tension between Grissom, Catherine, and Ecklie. And, I'm just going about life as normal. I go to work; I help Megan get ready for the baby, I help Maya and Chris plan the wedding. There's nothing that can be done until all the evidence comes in." Emma Grace sounded as if she was tired from the fight she had to go through, but she was accepting this fight, and she was going to see it through.

"What are you going to be doing the next couple of days? I don't want you alone, Sweetheart." Nick didn't care about the tension at work or the cases he had if Emma Grace needed him he would be on the next plane home.

"Well, after I get off of the phone with you, I'm taking Lexi and Elizabeth to the park for awhile. After that, Lexi, Elizabeth, and I are taking the van to pick up Molly, Brittany, Tyler, Lauren, and William from school." Emma Grace smiled at the concern she heard in Nick's voice. She felt safe just knowing he cared about her enough to want to protect her.

"Who gets to ride with Emily and Joshua today?" Nick couldn't help but chuckle.

"Oh, Chris is the lucky one today." Emma Grace let out a small laugh. "But, in all honesty, those two are pretty good drivers. They're taking the whole 'licenses are a privilege' thing very seriously." Emma Grace was proud of her twin sixteen-year-old niece and nephew who recently got their driver's licenses.

"How did that case with the foreign women go?" Emma Grace brought up the case that Nick had been having a hard time with recently.

Nick sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and let out a heavy sigh. "We got the husband for killing the wife. We were even able to find out the identity of other woman who was also buried. She died in a suitcase trying to get to the States illegally. " Nick still wasn't happy with the results of the case because he couldn't save all of those women.

"But you're not satisfied. Why?" Emma Grace knew something else was bothering Nick.

Nick released another sigh and decided to share the detail about the salon with Emma Grace. The two talked for about two hours concerning the case. Then they spent two more hours just talking about everything they could think of.

Nick ended up going back to the salon that the foreign women worked at and was able to talk to a few of the girls and hand them some information about the help they could get to become an American citizen and not have to sell themselves in marriage. Nick didn't know if he made a difference or not, but he hoped he had.

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"Hello, Beautiful," Nick answered the phone and glared at his seventeen-year-old nephew, Andrew, who rolled his eyes at the nickname Nick had given Emma Grace.

"Hey, Handsom. How's it going with Ashley and Andrew in your house with no help?" Emma Grace was struggling not to laugh.

"It's interesting. I thought by the time Ashley was nineteen and Andrew was seventeen they would stop hitting and biting each other. Looks like I was wrong." Nick chuckled as Ashley and Andrew both stuck their tongue out at Nick.

"Is Andrew enjoying visiting the colleges around there?"

"Yeah, I think we might end up with a niece and nephew going to school in Vegas."

"Nicky, please tell me that Jake is still breathing." Ashley's boyfriend of five months, Jake was spending the week at Nick's house while Andrew toured colleges and Ashley went with her brother.

"Yes. He's still breathing. I promise." Nick sounded like a child pouting because he had to be nice to Ashley's boyfriend.

"Let me speak to Ashley. She'll tell me if Jake is still alive or not." Emma Grace was slightly kidding.

Nick handed Ashley the phone, and she reassured Emma that Jake was still alive. She even put Jake on the phone so that Emma could hear that he was okay herself. Nick and Emma talked for a few more minutes. Nick told her that Marie and Katlin were over at the house that night for dinner. That information made Emma Grace's day so much better. Then, Emma Grace caught Nick up on the snail-paced progress of the case against Jackson.

When the couple got off the phone, Nick joined Ashley, Andrew, Warrick, Sara, Greg, Marie, and Katlin for dinner. 

When Emma Grace had gotten off the phone, she joined the rest of the Stokes family and Megan for dinner. After dinner, she helped Maya and Chris make some more progress in planning their wedding.

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Emma Grace received the laugh that she needed during Valentine's week when Nick called her after a case one night. Emma Grace had not been able to make it to Vegas for Valentine's Day because she had been in court, and Nick hadn't been able to come home to Texas because he had a case he had to work on.

The week had been terrible for Emma Grace. One of the foster children she had been helping with since he was ten-years-old had aged out of the system and had left on his own without a word to anyone. Another child that Emma Grace was the caseworker for had ended up in the hospital after the brother of her foster mom had hit her. Finally, Emma had gone to visit Jackson, who was still in jail, without telling anyone and he had threatened her; something else she hadn't shared with anyone.

"I had a case where this guy liked to pretend that he was a baby. Grissom and I went to the adult baby store that provides these things for these people, and the woman thought Grissom was buying adult diapers for me! The woman even called Grissom, oh man, the woman called Grissom my Daddy!" Emma Grace could hear Nick let out a fake gag on the other end of the phone.

Emma Grace burst out laughing. Her laughter lasted for a good ten to fifteen minutes. When she could breathe and speak again, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said, with a chuckle, "I'm sorry Nicky, but I needed that today."

"If that brought a smile to your face then it was worth it. What's going on Honey?" Nick couldn't help but smile. He loved hearing her laughter, and he loved being the one to give her a reason to laugh.

The couple talked about the week they'd had. Emma shared about the difficulty with the children that broke her heart and Nick shared about the adult baby case. Emma provided Nick with some information about people that could help the lady, Tonya, at least know where her baby was, even if she couldn't see her baby because of the murder.

Emma Grace felt guilty for not telling Nick about her meeting with Jackson, but she didn't want to add more stress to his life right now. So she kept quiet.