Meet the Stokes

Greg yawned as he followed Nick to baggage claim, dragging his feet and his duffle bag. Working night shift had its perks, but when one wanted to interact with the rest of the human world then one tended to lose sleep. What Greg didn’t understand was why Nick had booked them a flight for seven in the morning. He was normally crawling into bed at seven, not out of it.

It wasn’t all bad, he did get sleep on the plane after all, but it just seemed slightly evil. Nick knew, firsthand, that Greg wasn’t a morning person and he would have chewed the Texan out if he wasn’t so busy yawning.

At the moment, what he really wanted was a cup of his Blue Hawaiian to keep him on his feet. If fact, he’d kill for a cup. An airport was a good place to hide a body, right? Thousands of people from all over the world pass through an airport like DFW in a day, and that would leave a list of suspects a mile long. Something like that would really make Brass’s day.

He let go of the idea of killing for coffee in favor of a glance at his watch. It stated, in big digital numbers, that it was ten o’ one in the morning, but Nick said that they’d gained two hours in transit, so that put them at about noon Texas time. He reset his watch.

When they arrived at the baggage claim area, the luggage from flight 602 out of Las Vegas was already circulating on wide conveyer belts.

Nick’s parents were coming to pick them up. No matter how much reassurance he received, Greg still wasn’t certain that this vacation was such a good idea. In two days, he was going to be in a house full of Stokes for a family reunion he didn’t belong at. Sweet though it may be that Nick wanted him to be a part of that, he couldn’t imagine every member of his family understanding Greg’s presence there. Hell, not even Greg’s parents were all that comfortable with his lifestyle choices and they’d seen it coming, so why should Nick’s conservative parents be okay with them?

“I know it’s early, but is anyone home in there?”

Nick snapped his fingers in front of Greg’s vacant gaze and was rewarded with a startled look. He had to smile. The youngest member of the CSI team had slept the entire trip, including the taxi ride to the airport. It had taken all of Nick’s effort to get him dressed and out the door on time, so he was glad that he’d had the foresight to make Greg pack the night before.

Nick chuckled and pressed his lips to Greg’s forehead, murmuring more to himself than his partner, “You’ve got to get some sleep tonight. I shouldn’t have let you stay up so late.”

“You were up late too.”

So he was alert enough to respond, that was a plus. After a quick scan of the crowds for a familiar face, Nick maneuvered them over to an unoccupied wall and set down their suitcases. Greg leaned, gratefully, against the solid surface

“Yeah, but I obviously run better on a low battery than you do,” Nick said and fell against the wall beside him. “They’re late, probably got caught in traffic. The roads can get pretty bad around here.”

“It’s probably nothing like the traffic on the Strip.”

“Well, no, but the traffic on the Strip is pretty constant. Highways like 75 can become a parking lot in a moment’s notice.”

Greg hummed his acknowledgement and let his eyes fall closed, but he didn’t get the chance to get truly groggy.

A single, accented voice cut through his drowsiness, “Poncho!”

Nick pushed off the wall, his biggest grin cutting across his face, and met his parents with open arms. Mr. Stokes all but picked up the level three CSI in a bear hug. Laughing, Nick greeted his family warmly, “Cisco! Mom, it’s good to see you!” When the judge released him, Nick gave his mother a much gentler hug.

Greg shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for the pleasantries to pass, smiling when Nick met his eyes.

“This is Greg. Greg, these are my parents, Bill and Jillian Stokes.”

They shook hands all around and said proper ‘Howdy’s and ‘Hello’s before moving the luggage into the elder Stokes’ SUV and heading out.

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“Well, I assumed that you’ll be staying in your room, Nick, but I wasn’t sure where we would put Greg. The foldout couch is still up for grabs or I’m sure we could find you a sleeping bag…”

Nick chewed his lower lip and traded a glance with his lover, who raised his eyebrows in an obvious question, ‘You invited me here, and they don’t know?’ He winced slightly and interrupted his mother, “We’ll both stay in my room, Mom.”

His comment didn’t faze her. “Oh no, that won’t do. I’m sure Greg wants some privacy and I’ll be more than happy to find him a place,” she said smoothly as she continued to dig sheet sets out from the linen closet. Nick’s hint had slid right past her.

“Mom, we’ll both stay in my room. Besides, half of his stuff is in my suitcase,” he mentioned, laying out a much more obvious clue. His mother knew about his preferences when it came to love and he’d been relying on her to make the connection. He hadn’t confided with Judge Stokes on that matter, however.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Greg giving him a look that spoke of a future argument, but he chose to ignore it.

A flicker of recognition crossed Jillian’s face and she fell silent. Just when the air was getting heavy with unspoken words, she smiled again. “Alright,” she confirmed, and then turned to Greg, “I’ll get you a sleeping bag anyway, I know how Nick tends to steal the covers.”

“No denying that. It’s a pretty constant battle,” Sanders quipped playfully and followed Mrs. Stokes down the hall. Nick quirked an eyebrow at Greg’s comment, but let it slip when his mother made no physical or verbal response to it. He’d really wanted to ease his parents into the concept of their relationship, not drop them into the lake before the waters had been tested.

“So, who all’s here?”

“Well, George and Mary arrived yesterday, and Carol showed up about an hour before you two,” Jillian informed as she opened the last door on the left side of the hallway.

Nick entered his childhood room first, Greg hot on his heels, and dumped their luggage on the bed. Having not found time to brief his lover on the many relatives he would encounter, he tossed a word in Greg’s direction to fill in the blanks, “Siblings.”

“Unfortunately, Angelica was assigned a major project and couldn’t come.”

“George’s wife, sister-in-law.” The DNA specialist absorbed the information with a quick nod.

“Mathew is dying to see you and just can’t wait for you to play with him. All he can talk about is some new video game he brought with him. Apparently that dead-beat dad of his won’t play it with him. He knows you will.”

“Of course I will. That kid’s getting real good; he gives me a run for my money.” Nick laughed and sent the appropriate explanation to Greg, “Mathew is my nephew, Carol’s son. His dad’s a dirt bag that nobody liked, but it took Carol a little longer to notice than the rest of the family. They got divorced about two years ago.”

Greg nodded and unzipped his duffle bag. He wondered if the family had acted on their dislike of Carol’s ex. It was an intimidating thought, because Nick had a lot of immediate family and it was quite possible that they wouldn’t like him. What if he didn’t fit in? What if they decided that he didn’t belong? A twitchy nervousness took up residence in his guts in anticipation of meeting the rest of the family.

Jillian gave them both a warm smile and extracted herself from the doorway. “I’ll let you two get settled, but you’d better come downstairs soon. I don’t think that I’ll be able to keep Matt at bay,” she joked as she left.

In her absence, Nick could feel Greg gathering his thoughts to share a piece of his mind. He mentally braced himself and started to unpack. “I thought they knew.”

“I really don’t want to fight about this,” Nick sighed as he shook out his nicer shirts and hung them up. “Besides, they both know that I prefer the company of men. My mother is alright with it.”

“And your father isn’t?” Greg squeaked. The situation was intimidating enough; he really didn’t need Judge Stokes to be un-approving of their coupling. The man was rather frightening when he was angry and Greg had only seen him that way once, but he’d also only met him once. Then, he’d just been grateful that Bill’s anger hadn’t been directed towards him.

“No, my dad and I fought about it and then I went back to Vegas before we really smoothed things over. That was a couple Christmases ago, before we got together.”

Greg flopped onto the bed, his chocolate-brown eyes widening slightly. The expression made him incredibly adorable. It wasn’t often that the level one CSI looked so bewildered and, though Nick felt bad about it, he couldn’t help but laugh.

The heartfelt chuckle broke the tension, leaving the room at ease. Nick cupped his lover’s face in his hands and reassured him, “Don’t worry, my family’s going to love you.”

“They’d better… I get the feeling that they’ll eat me if they don’t.”

Nick snorted. “Hardly. Most of them are pretty harmless, unless my sisters catch you in a mob… That can be a frightening experience.” Greg gave him another hopelessly adorable wide-eyed look, causing Nick to fall into another round of laughter. He planted a firm kiss on the young CSI’s mouth, reassuring him, “Even if they don’t, I still will.”

“That’s comforting,” Greg murmured with a smile, his sarcasm barely noticeable around his playful kisses.

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The next few hours went by in a blur. Greg was hustled downstairs and introduced to so many people that it would be impossible to remember all their names. He could recall George easily enough, mainly because the man was Nick’s only brother, but also because had asked him if he’d ever shot anything before. The question had caught him completely off-guard.

“What?”

“Have you ever shot anything before? I’m a quail man myself, but I go for deer and turkey as well,” the man Nick had introduced as George said cheerfully.

Definitely not what he’d been expecting. Greg didn’t want to be one to judge, but Nick’s brother was beginning to look like one of those extreme conservatives that believed that god made the gun to fend off the homosexuals. Not that all conservatives were frightening like that, he’d known a lot of good ones, but he could already feel that George was going to be a problem.

“I actually don’t get much of a chance to hunt. Nicky and I work nights, so a day off just doesn’t put us at prime hunting hours,” he avoided as smoothly as he could, shooting a bewildered look at Nick.

The Texan turned Vegas-ite didn’t notice. He’d turned his attentions to a skinny, almost puppy-like boy that had latched onto his waist. The dark-haired boy was babbling excitedly, and tugging on Nick’s hand. To Greg’s complete dismay, Nick allowed the child to drag him out of the room and out of site, leaving the young CSI with a plethora of unknown people.

Greg looked back at Nick’s brother, hoping that his bewilderment wasn’t visible on his features. If you showed fear to the pack, didn’t they eat you? He swallowed compulsively.

“So, you work with my brother at the crime lab. What do you do there?” George asked, clamping a strong hand onto his shoulder. It was a friendly gesture, but Greg had to hold a cringe at bay. It felt like the man could rip off his arm easily. He pushed that into the back of his mind, reminding himself firmly that Nick’s family was not violent.

“Um, I used to process DNA, but I moved onto the field recently. We work together on cases.”

A curious pair of eyes locked onto Greg. They’d been resting on him off and on since he’d walked into the room with the youngest member of the Stokes family, but had really taken more of an interest when he’d affectionately referred to Nick as ‘Nicky’. Unknown to Greg, his watcher was making judgments upon him. The bright green eyes narrowed slightly as she contemplated her suspicions.

“So, does Nick behave himself out there? Doesn’t get into too much trouble with girls and all that?” George joked with a brief roar of laughter.

Greg blanched slightly. Where in God’s name was Nick and how could he possibly leave him like this! Greg contemplated running away with the excuse that he’d left the oven on in Vegas, but an arm slipped into the crook of his, distracting him from that idea.

“My god George, no need to scare the kid away,” an unfamiliar voice cut in. Greg turned to find that it belonged to a shorter woman with maroon (obviously dyed) hair and bright green eyes. She smiled at him and held up an amber colored bottle, asking, “You want a beer, sweetie?”

He took it gratefully; happy that someone was willing to protect him from the crazy republican since his boyfriend was NOWHERE IN SIGHT! Anything could be better than the man who wanted to shoot things, so he followed the new acquaintance into the kitchen. “So, are you Mary or Carol?”

She picked up a mixed drink off the counter and offered her hand, replying, “I’m Carol. Mary is the stuffy one outside with Dad.”

Greg shook the manicured hand, noticing the bright orange polish on her long nails. Carol seemed the wilder of the Stokes sisters and the DNA tech was got the feeling that he might get along with her well. She seemed just random enough to understand him.

“Sorry my brother abandoned you with George. He can be a little overwhelming before you get to know him.” Carol took a sip of her pink cocktail and added, “Matt just couldn’t wait to see him, so I wasn’t really surprised when he dragged him off. They’re probably playing that X-Cube, or whatever it is, that Nick got him for his birthday.” She hopped up on the counter, giving Greg the signal that it was okay to do the same.

Even though Nick griped at him when he did it at home, it was still a habit. Then again, on occasion, Nick pick him up and put him on the counter to get better access to… Well, it was really just better to see someone else do it before he hopped up on a stranger’s kitchen surfaces.

“So, how did you meet my little brother?”

Greg took a sip of his beer, which was pretty good but he couldn’t identify the brand, and set it down next to him. “Well, we met through work. I started working at the lab straight out of college and then he showed up about six months after I did. We goofed off in the lab a lot, being that we were some of the youngest people there, and then started hanging out outside of work. Nothing spectacular,” he admitted with a shrug.

He left out the latter half of their relationship, that the hanging out had turned into making out right before they’d decided to date seriously. He also decided that it would be best not to mention that the sex was great and Nick was very creative when he was horny… Or that he knew about the tattoo the Texan had about three and a half inches below his bellybutton. Yes, there were many things that he was going to have to keep to himself.

Carol nodded. She opened her mouth, a funny look on her face, but then closed it, like she’d changed her mind. After a moment’s consideration, she mentioned, “You two must be pretty close if he brought you out here for this.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that…” Ok, time to leave. George might have been frightening, but at least he hadn’t been prying at his relationship with Nick. Those green eyes were just too piercing; it was like they could peer inside and read his every little secret. They seemed to say that they knew everything.

Greg pushed off the counter and muttered something about getting another beer. The eyes followed him out the door, and then crinkled at the corners with a smile.
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TBC