| The continuing years of the Discovery Series storyline as the family gets ready for a big event. The family storyteller gathers up some photos and shares a perspective on the past. (including a "photo album" scrapbook) GSR/Yo!Bling/Etc. *Rated PG for Most Everyone. |
| LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY |
| Nick & R.J. |
| Any comments, suggestions or questions can be directed to the author. Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you found something that you could enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to C.S.I., Alliance Atlantic, CBS, William Petersen, Jorja Fox or any other characters contained herein... I just like playing with them now and then while stretching my writing muscles. And if you think there's any money to be gained by suing me, you're in for a horrible disappointment. |
| Check out All the Author's Works in Progress at FanFiction.net |
| Congratulations! You found the Easter Egg! |
| It’s funny how life works out sometimes. Growing up in Texas my parents had a plan all laid out for me from the time I was born. All of us kids did, it was just how things worked in our family. But the thing about plans is they just don’t always happen the way they‘re intended. For instance, when both your parents are lawyers, it’s pretty much a given everyone thinks all their kids will go to law school. My big brother was supposed to take over the old man’s practice, and one day succeed him on the bench. My sisters were supposed to alternate between working with Momma as a defender, and following our father’s footsteps in the prosecutor’s office. Instead, after finishing law school, my brother Danny joined the U.S. Marshal’s Service and never even bothered to take the bar exam. The girls all went to law school, but Maggie went into business law and then became a high-powered executive. Ruth-Anne started off in family law and ended up working for social services. Rachel went straight from law school to the maternity ward and never looked back. And that left Connie, who was the only one to follow our parents’ path by becoming a defense attorney in Momma’s practice. And then there was me. Only kid who didn’t even go to law school. I don’t know; it just never hit me the way it did the others. I didn’t want to defend the law, I wanted to find the truth. And if there’s one thing you learn as a lawyer’s kid, it’ s that the truth and the law rarely work together. For all their careful work and grand plans, my folks got a one in six success rate. I think that’s where that saying comes from. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Of course, Grissom would tell you that it’s a misquote and then go into detail about the original source material, but I’ll stick with the one that makes more sense in the here and now. The other prime example of that little piece of wisdom shares a very special place in my heart. I was never what you would call a playboy, but I also wasn’t real big on relationships that went beyond a few dates and a nice roll in the hay. But at the same time, I grew up thinking I’d have all the same things my folks did. I just kept telling myself that I wasn’t gonna settle until I found something as good as they had. That was the lie I used to settle my guilt. Truth was I didn’t know what I wanted. So, I just focused on my work and tried to have a good time until something better came along. And boy did it. Me and R.J. were never one of those couples whose destiny was written in the stars. There was no love at first sight, no bells, no chirping birds. This was no fairytale romance. She was everything I never looked for in a date; wicked smart, loaded for bear at all times, foul-mouthed, pig- headed, opinionated, ambitious, hardened, sarcastic, and filled with more strength than any ten women I’d ever dated before. And she scared the ever-lovin’ hell outta me. Still does. The part that shocked me though was the real reason all of that scared me. It scared me because of just how much it all made me love her even more. We had a rocky start, to say the least, but every time I thought it would all fall apart, she’d do or say something making it crystal clear that I couldn’t live without her and it would all fall back into place. Once we accepted our fates to drive each other crazy for the rest of our lives, there was only one more instance where we almost fell apart. That was our wedding. It took me the better part of two years to talk her into it. She was convinced it was a waste of time, and we were just fine living together. With a little help from my niece Neeley we finally got her to surrender. But the real challenge was yet to come. R.J. had met my parents and my brother several times before we went down to Texas to announce the wedding. However, it was the first time she’d met the rest of the Stokes clan. There’s one thing you should know about my sisters… They are fiercely protective of their baby brother. Almost to the point of being pathological. I love my sisters very much, but I also know what a hornets’ nest they can turn into. It was the primary reason why I never brought anyone home to get the full treatment. I saw what they did to anyone daring to take on a Stokes, and my brothers-in-law all wore the scars to prove it. And with the first and only woman I had ever brought home, they were beyond relentless. It was the first time in my entire life where I had to stand up against my own family. We weren’t even there two days before they crossed the line, and almost destroyed my whole relationship. You see, R.J. has been through a lot in her life. She used to be really good at hiding most of it, but the years have made that impossible now. Doesn’t stop her from trying, but she’s finally gotten better about accepting help when she can’t physically do something. But back then she was still very stubborn about doing it herself. And my sisters saw this as a reason to reject her as my choice in a wife. They knew Neeley was staying with us up in Vegas, and so they spent a fair amount of time grilling my poor niece about R.J., looking for ammunition to shoot her down. And they found it. R.J. lost a lot in that motorcycle accident; including the ability have kids. But you see, that was never an issue for me. It was the skeleton in my family closet; I never wanted kids. The problem came about because she and I had never actually talked about that aspect of our marriage. Honestly, it never crossed my mind for a lot of reasons. First and foremost being that we had gotten a pretty late start in life and frankly, I just didn’t think it was fair to even ask about it. The woman had been through hell, I had never wanted kids, and so it wasn’t important me. However, my sisters made it an issue when they were huddled together in that damn parlour discussing all the reason why R.J. was wrong for me. They were talking about it without any concern as to who could hear them, and R. J. heard it all. She was totally knocked off balance by the whole thing, and got it in her head that she was going to ruin my life if we got married. Before I knew what was happening, she had already packed up and headed off to the airport. It was Neeley who figured it out, and when I came walking into the house she was firing both barrels at her mother and my sisters. It was the first time in my life I ever heard my mother utter a curse word. Once Neeley explained to the two of us what had happened, my Momma laid into those women with a fire I’d never seen before, not even when she was in court. I’d always respected my mother, but in that moment I was actually afraid of her. It took me two days, and little help from Danny to find out where she’d gone to, but I got on the very next flight and made my way out to Sedona. She was holed up in her parents’ old place and I spent the first night at the gate begging her to let me in. Thankfully her Uncle Petey came home in the morning and took pity on me. The man might have been a little slow, but he was probably the only person in the world that knew R.J. better than she did herself. He brought me into the house and told me to wait there. Next thing I knew she cussing her way down the hall as Petey carried her into the entryway. He gently put her down on her feet and then he took her hand and mine and put them together. In his most sincere voice he shook his finger at both of us and said, “Play nice and make up.” We both stood there silently staring at one another until he left the room. And then we broke out into an awkward round of laughter. When it was over, I wrapped my arms around her and told her the truth. I told her that not only did I not give a damn about having kids, that I didn’t even want to invite my family to the wedding anymore. All I wanted was her, and me, and Uncle Petey, and the preacher, and everyone else could just suck it. Thankfully, she talked me out of that particular scenario, but I would still have been just as happy if she’d have agreed. So, we compromised. We had the wedding, the following week, at this little church in Sedona high up on a cliff. Just my parents, Neeley and her Dad, my sister Connie and her family (after a rather broken-hearted apology), Uncle Petey, and our closest friends. It was small, but it was perfect. R.J. wore her mother’s dress, with a little help from Rosa, and I had to drive all the way to Flagstaff to find a tux at the last minute. But it was perfect. It’s not easy, and there’s always some kind of drama lurking right around the corner, but it’s also the best thing that ever happened to me. I found somebody to challenge me. She challenges me to be a better husband, a better friend, a better man. But more than that, she loves me whether or not I meet those challenges. I wake up every day knowing there’s at least one person in this world who understands and accepts me without limits. And that’s better than anything I could’ve ever planned for myself. |