Say Hello to the Past (CSI fanfiction)

The time Nick Stokes got a Car

AN: short and fun chapter that takes place during Season 2; Episode 20 ("Cats in the Cradle").

Sara and Nick were in the garage at the crime lab taking the wrapping off of the Bimmer that had blown up. Nick remembered the time he had wanted a car and decided to share some of the details of that day with Sara.

"You know, when I was sixteen, I begged my mom for a car. She swore she would come through."

"What happened?" Sara asked as she worked on cutting the wrapping off of the destroyed car.

"Encyclopedia Britannica." Nick couldn't stop the chuckle that followed. "All twenty-four volumes. Still, own them, still, use them."

Before Sara replied, Nick started talking about the crime scene, and where the bomb was in the car. In the back of Nick's mind the memory of how he came to own the twenty-four volumes of the encyclopedias played.

Fall of 1987

"But, I'm sixteen now. I think I should get a car. Please!" Sixteen-year-old Nick Stokes was attempting to try to persuade his parents into buying him a car, yet again.

"This isn't going to work, is it?" Fourteen-year-old Emma Grace leaned over to whisper to Nick's nineteen-year-old sister Kimberly.

"Nope." Kimberly popped the P as she responded to Emma Grace.

"Nicholas, you have been hounding your mom and me for a month now about buying you a car." The other Stokes children, along with Emma Grace and her thirteen-year-old sister Amy, knew that Bill Stokes was becoming very frustrated with the situation based on the tone he was using.

"But Cisco, think of all the advantages of me having my own car could bring." Nick was now trying to change the mind of a judge.

"Does he not realize he's fighting a losing battle?" Sometimes Emma Grace couldn't believe how stupid her best friend could be. One by one the Stokes siblings, along with Emma Grace and Amy, walked away to do different things. They all knew that Nick and their parents would be "discussing" the issue of a car for quite some time.

About twenty minutes after they had wandered off, the kids heard the response they never thought would come from Jillian Stokes. "Okay Nick, I will come through for you and get you a car since you want one so badly. I promise."

"No way! Mom's up to something!" Twenty-year-old Gina exclaimed in a whisper to the rest of them.

"I have a feeling she's in 'lawyer' mode," Amy said.

Eighteen-year-old Chris just smiled. "Something tells me that whatever Mom has planned for him, none of us are going to let him live it down anytime soon."

One month later, in October, all the Stokes children were at home. Twenty-five-year-old Sandra was sitting on the porch swing with her husband Kevin, rocking two-year-old Ashley. Twenty-three-year-old Donna and her fiance James were sitting at the table on the porch going over the guest list for their wedding. Twenty-one-year-old Lisa was working on one of her college assignments; Gina was right beside her working on a rough draft of a term paper. Kimberly and Chris were in the yard playing football with Emma Grace and her friend Megan, Amy, and Nick.

Jillian Stokes came home from work to her children with a smile on her face. "Nick, guess what?"

Nick stopped running with the football in his hands. "You got the car?" At Jillian's nod, Nick threw the football down and rushed to his mom's side.

"Mom you're the best! Where is it?"

"Right here," Jillian said handing her son one of the boxes from the back seat of the car with books in it.

"What?" Nick asked confused as he accepted the box from his mom.

"Encyclopedia Britannica, all twenty-four-volumes. Now you can do extensive research on the kind of car you want and be more prepared when you buy your first car." Jillian Stokes kept a smile on her face as she presented the books to Nick.

"Nicky, you should've known she would pull a 'lawyer' move on you," Emma Grace said trying to control her laughter as she picked up the discarded football and threw it to Chris, who was on her team.

Nick shot Emma Grace an annoyed look as Chris passed the football to Megan and walked over to Nick. "I'll help you carry in the boxes with your 'car' in them baby brother." Nick gave Chris a look but did not protest his brother's help.

The family didn't let Nick forget the day that he got his "first car," but those Encyclopedias ended up coming in handy for almost every member of the family in one way or another as the years went on. Even though the encyclopedias were very useful to Emma Grace through the years, she was the one who wouldn't let Nick forget how he came to own the books.