Disclaimer: I do not own anything of CSI. If I did, then things would be a whole lot different.

A/N: Thanks to my great Beta Seshat3. While California Here We Come still has a few more chapters to go, I have decided to go ahead and start my next Nick and Greg story line. This story will take place during and after the events of the episode Grave Danger. It will focus on Nick's mother finding out that he is gay and in a relationship, her reactions to her son and also to Greg both before and after she learns of the truth. As a result, this story won't be a one-shot. I hope you will enjoy it.

Chapter One, the Screaming Face.

Austin Texas, several hours ago,

Jillian Stokes shut the refrigerator door and set the carton of eggs next to the bacon and hash browns on the kitchen counter. Judge William Stokes was seated at the table, reading the morning paper and drinking his coffee.

"How would you like your eggs dear," Jillian asked as she placed the pan on the oven's burner. "Is fried okay?"

"That's fine dear," William replied in a dull tone without looking-up.

"And your toast?" Medium-brown alright with you?" she asked, hoping to get a more vocal response from her husband who tended to be oblivious to whatever she said at times when he was reading.

"That's fine with me," the Judge replied in the same dull tone as he turned the page.

"And I'm cooking the sodium-free turkey bacon that your doctored recommended," Jillian said, hoping that that would get her husband's attention even though it was a lie.

"Whatever you say, Jill," William answered, his eyes never leaving the page.

Jillian rolled her eyes as she turned back to the stove.

"And do you mind that I leave you for our ranch-hand Hector who I've been seeing for the last five months and asked me to run away with him to Hawaii in two days?"

"Whatever works for you dear."

Jillian shot the former judge a look over her shoulder. She was just about to crack an egg into the pan when the kitchen phone began to ring.

"Who could be calling at this hour?" Jillian asked as she placed the egg down and headed to the phone.

"May be its Hector who couldn't wait two days to run off with you to Hawaii," William replied dully as he looked-up then set the paper down.

He removed his glasses and smirked at his wife who now had a shocked expression on her face as she held the still ringing phone on her hand.

"William Nicholas Stokes. You never cease to amaze me," the mother of seven said in an amused voice before she hit the answer button.

"Stokes Residence. Oh hello Doctor Grissom, how nice to hear from you. My husband and I were just-"

"Mrs. Stokes," the supervisor interrupted, "I'm afraid I have some bad news to report about Nick."

Jillian felt her stomach clench instantly. "What's happened to my baby?" she asked, her voice filled with worry and fear. William's head shot-up at hearing his wife's question.

"Mrs. Stokes, I think it would be best that you take a second and-"

"Tell me now!" she demanded.

William had gotten-up and stood next to his wife just as her face turned white and she let out a terror filled shriek. The phone dropped from her hand and he caught it before it hit the floor. He could hear the concerned voice on the other side of the line as he led his sobbing wife to a chair. Once she had sat down, the judge held the phone up to talk to his son's boss to find out what had happened to him; his wife continued to cry uncontrollably.

As he was told of his son's situation, the former judge felt his insides grow cold.

Las Vegas Now

Their plane from Austin had landed just thirty minuets ago and the two parents came straight from the airport to the crime lab. They were met at the entrance by Grissom and a Captain Brass. Both men had troubled looks on their faces. Jillian recalled Nick telling her the gruff looking detective had a truly kind and warm personality. Doctor Grissom was a highly intelligent man who may come off as eccentric and maybe a little scary at times due to the random tidbits of information he would volunteer or just randomly say but Nick had always said that the man was in truth a caring, thoughtful, tolerant and protective man. But at the moment, these two strong males looked more like frightened children to her.

The first words out of her husband's mouth were if they had found anything new and the two men exchanged worried glances before Captain Brass started to tell them all that they knew. After he had finished, Grissome went on to explain that they had managed to establish a video-link to where Nick was being held. Jillian demanded to see it even after the entomologist had warned her that it would be too much for her to see. But Jillian was unyielding and so the supervisor took her and her husband to the lad while Brass left to head back out to the field.

Seeing the screaming face of her youngest child on the computer screen caused the inside of Jillian Stokes to completely freeze. She wanted to break down and cry right there in the CSI lab but she found that she could not do so. All she could do was stand there and watch as her son yell and banged his fist on the ceiling of the plexi-glass coffin.

"My baby boy," she finally managed to get out as her eyes filled with tears. As she turned away from the screen, Jillian buried her face into her hands. Next she felt her husband bring her into his strong arms. Jillian buried her face into her husband's neck and he in-turn brought-up his hand to stroke her hair in his attempt to sooth her fears.

"It'll be ok dear. We'll get our boy back."

As much as Judge William Strokes presented himself as a pillar of solid strength, he was just was worried and wracked with fear as his wife. Seeing his son's face on that computer screen filled with pure terror, deep down somewhere within himself, Judge Stokes feared that there may be the chance that they would not be able to save Nick in time. But he tried everything in his power to not to think about that possibility and focused on comforting his wife.

Gil Grissom stood and watched as Judge Stokes tried his best to comfort his wife. The CSI supervisor saw where his third level CSI got his compassion from. Too often he had seen Nick do everything he could to help comfort the victims he would run across during his investigations. Whenever the crime involved children, Grissom saw the exact same look that would appear on Nick's face that he now saw on William Stokes' face. It was one of concern, compassion and support for the child.

"Your husband is right, Mrs. Stokes. We have every single available officer and CSI working around the clock to find Nick. I promise you that we will find him and bring him back safe and sound."

Jillian lifted her head from her husband's shoulder to look at her son's boss. Looking into his eyes, Jillian saw there a fierce determination. Jillian recalled what Nick had told her about the entomologist and how he made sure to fulfill every promise he made. She found that the promise made to her by the third-shift CSI supervisor helped her in giving her the support in believing that they would find Nick and bring him out of this terrible ordeal alive.

"Thank you Mr. Grissom. I hope…I hope you're right."

She could not help but look back to the screen. Her son was no longer yelling or hammering away at the ceiling. Nick was hardly making a move but it was easy to tell that Nick was now crying. The sight was too much for her. Seeing her son buried alive was torture but seeing him crying was heartbreaking.

"Excuse me," she checked out as she left the room, leaving her husband and Gil Grissom behind in the lab. Bring his hand up to face; Judge Stokes rubbed his eyes before turning to face Gil.

"You're sure about promising that you'll find our son alive?"

"I am."

Judge Stokes looked at the man with a hard stare and spoke with pure honesty next.

"And what if you're too late?"

Grissom did not answer right away. He reached into his pocket and felt the rosary that had been his mother's. Ever since this nightmare began he kept it close to him. Touching the sacred beads gave the man of science a feeling of security.

"I pray that we're not."

After leaving the lab, Jillian did not know where she was going. She simply allowed her feet to take her wherever they were heading. Finally, Jillian looked up and found herself outside the lab. Not remembering opening any doors to leave the building, the mother of seven attributed it to being on autopilot and just wanting to get away from that awful screen.

The image of her son haunted her mind and though she could not hear him, Jillian could vividly imagine she could hear Nick's cries. Feeling as though her knees could give way at any second, Jillian walked over to one of the benches that lined the walkway and sat down. It was quiet outside. Only a few cars had gone by since Jillian sat down and tried her best to calm herself. She knew that working herself into a hysterical mess was not the thing to do. What she needed to do was calm down and gain control. Jillian knew that her son's friends would find him and bring him back to them alive. Then she could be there for her youngest child. Nick would need all her love and support to help him in his recovering.

As she sat on the bench Jillian noticed that the wind had picked-up and it was starting to get cool even though it was summer. As she began to rub her arms to warm herself, Jillian's mind drifted back to the last time she had spoken to her son a week ago.

"I just can't mom."

"Are you sure you can't get away dear? Even for just the weekend? It's been so long since you've been home. Everyone here misses you."

Nick heard the sadness in his mother's voice. It had almost been a full year since he had gone back to the family ranch. He missed seeing his siblings and their families. Not seeing his many nieces and nephews clenched at his heart. Talking to someone on the phone was not the same as actually seeing them face to face.

"I know mom but there's nothing I can do. Ever since the third shift got split-up, there's just no way I can get the time off right now. I know it's shitty-"

"Don't you dare use language like that when you are talking to me young man."

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," Nick had replied in the same manner he did when he was a child.

"It's alright, Nicky. So here's no way then?"

"Only if by some miracle the team gets back together. But it would have to be something big to get Ecklie to undo the split."

"And from what you've told us about that man, that doesn't seem likely to happen at in the near future."

"I'm sorry mom."

"It's alright dear. Hopefully things will change. Otherwise things are going well?"

"Yeah. Matter of fact, things have been going real good for me lately." Jillian heard the change in Nick's tone. It had gone from a sad sounding one to one of happiness. She then decided to ask the question that she hoped was the answer for it.

"Have you finally found a nice girl to settle down with?"

"How many times are you going to ask me that same question every time we talk before you realize that my answer is going to be the same as it was before?"

"Excuse a mother's wish of seeing her over thirty year old son finding some he loves and starting a family with. I just want you to be happy is all."

"I know mom I know."

There had been a momentary pause on the line before Jillian heard her son's voice again.

"Do you mean that mom? You just want me to be happy?"

Jillian could not have missed the worry that had crept into Nick's voice. She knew that there was only one correct answer.

"Of course it is dear. That's all I ever wanted for my children."

There had been a longer pause before Jillian chooses to ask her youngest son a question of her own.

"Is there anything you want tell me, Nicky? Anything at all?"

"No, ah nothing…mom…well…no. Nothing right now any way. It's fine for now."

Jillian knew automatically there was something troubling her son but she choose not to press the issue for the moment.

"Alright, Nicky. Well I don't know anything else right now. I guess that's it for now."

"Ok mom. I'll talk to you later then. Tell dad and everyone else I said hi."

"I promise dear. I love you."

"I love you too mom. Bye."

"Bye sweetheart."

Little did Jillian Stokes know that would be the last time she would hear her son's voice before she found herself in the middle of a true living nightmare that she could not awake from. She hoped that that would not be the last time she would ever speak to her son. Jillian felt tears running down her cheeks again and her shoulders starting to shake. All the agony was starting to become too much for her to handle all by herself. But for the moment she was all alone. None of her other children had yet to arrive in Las Vegas and her husband was still inside the lab. So she sat on the bench in the cool night all by herself, weeping for her son.

All of a sudden Jillian felt something being draped over her shoulders. Looking up she saw that a jacket had been placed around her to help warm her. Then she saw a young man standing by the bench. He looked to be in his late twenties though he still looked young given the soft features of his face. Looking him over from top to bottom, Jillian was surprised by how slim he appeared even though he did have a decent amount of stoutness to himself. His hair was dirty blond which Jillian could tell was a dye job because she could see brown near the roots and she could tell that at some point, it had been fixed with a great amount of hair gel. But it was his eyes that caught Jillian's attention. They were extremely soft and were the color of rich brown chocolate. Judging by the redness, Jillian could tell that this young man had been crying too. She also saw evidence of fresh tear trails on his cheeks.

"Thank you for the jacket," Jillian said as she brought it closer around her.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Stokes," he replied, "It can get kinda chilly out here at night."

Jillian was a little shocked that he knew who she was.

"How did you know who I was?"

"It's your eyes," he answered with honesty, "Nick has the exact same eyes."

"You know my son?" Jillian asked. She was even more confused by his statement. Hardly anyone knew that she and Nick had the same eyes.

"We're friends and we work together. We haven't been introduced before. I'm Greg. Greg Sanders.

-Author's Note-

Don't forget to leave me your wonderful reviews. Even if it's a smile made out of colons and parentheses, I would love to see it.

Yes, Nick having the exact same eyes as his mother is from Harry Potter probably a terrible cliché on my part, but thought it was a nice touch to add to relationship between Nick and his mother. The opening scene with Nick's parents was a new addition I came up with after I had written this chapter the first time. I thought a little humor before the serious of the situation might be needed. Again, if it doesn't work, it's my fault. It's based on a similar scene from an episode of the Gilmore Girls involving Lorelei's parents.

I'm hard at work on California and Enigma and I've started work on the new series that involves Coach Stokes and Professor Sanders and the two's other personalities. I also have some ideas for a few new Oliver stories as well. So it's just a matter of time and waiting.

In the mean time, I hope you do leave me your thoughts and opinions and once again, I thank you all.