"How are you holding up man?" he asked. They had just closed the Alex Collins case, and it was clear Nick was still shaken up after the whole thing.
"Good I guess. Sorry about that." Nick answered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sorry about what?"
"Freaking out like that. I should have been able to handle that better."
Warrick sighed. "You handle it a lot better than anyone else would have. Depsite what Grissom constantly tells us, it's okay to empathize with the victims. You didn't do anything wrong man."
Nick nodded slowly and looked up at Warrick. "I guess you're right." He sighed and asked, "So what do you wanna do after this?"
Warrick shrugged. "Catherine's having a party for the team at her house after shift...so, like now...you wanna go?"
"Yeah, sounds good. There better be food though, I'm starving."
Warrick laughed. "When has there ever not been food at Catherine's house?"
"Good point."
"Alright, let me change quick then we'll go." Warrick opened his locker and changed out of his black button up shirt into a plain dark blue t-shirt. Nick had already changed out of his white long sleeved shirt into a grey one. Warrick locked up his locker and jerked his head in the direction of the door. "Let's go before Greggo eats all the food."
Nick followed Warrick out to the car and hopped into the passenger's seat. Nick's phone started vibrating and he opened it, held it to his ear for a few minutes, then hung up. He was smiling widely and caused Warrick to smile as well, even though he was confused.
"What are you smirking at?" he asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Nick laughed. "My nephew left me a voicemail...listen to it." Nick opened his phone again and pushed the call button twice then the speaker button and held it between him and Warrick.
The automated voice said, "First saved message:" before a little boy's excited voice filled the car.
"Hi uncle Nick. Guess what? I was at school today and my teacher said our journal had to be about our favorite superhero and Tommy did Superman and told me I was stupid for not doing him too but I said he was stupid cuz he failed the math test and it was really easy and he can't even add."
A voice Warrick recognized as Jen's came into the backround. "Nicky, tell him about your journal not Tommy."
"Oh, yeah." Warrick smiled. "Yeah so I wrote about you and when my teacher asked what kind of superhero you were I said the awesomest kind and my Miss Ryan said that wasn't a word and I said I thought it was so she made me get a dictionary."
"Nicky, just read your journal pal." A man said, and Warrick guessed it was Jen's husband, Jay.
"Okay. My favorite superhero is my uncle Nick because he's strong, brave, smart, and buys me things. Whenever he comes to visit or we visit him, he always plays video games with me and teaches me really cool things, like how to make really good paper footballs and awesome forts. We made one once that covered my entire basement and used up every blanket and my mom was jealous." Nick smiled as his nephew's message continued. "I was supposed to visit him a few weeks ago, but he was in the hospital because this really mean guy kidnapped him and buried him alive, but he was too smart and brave and his friends found him and he's gonna go back to being a CSI." The boy's voice faded a little as he turned to his parents and said, "That's when Tommy said 'I thought he was a superhero' and I said 'You thought 11 plus 7 was 8' and Miss Ryan yelled at me."
"Finish your journal sweetie." Jen said with a laugh.
"What did I say last? Ummm...oh. Okay. He's the best CSI in the world because he always catches the bad guy and can make invisible things appear like magic. I wanna be a CSI like him when I grow up. My superhero's better than everyone else's, especially Tommy's. The End. I hope you like it uncle Nick, mommy wants you to call her after work. Bye."
The automated voice followed. "End of message." Nick closed the phone and smiled wider. He laughed and ran his hand through his short hair.
Warrick was smiling almost as wide as Nick. "That kid's got a pretty good point. How old is he?"
"Six." Nick's smile faded. "If I had...and he found out...man, and he thinks I'm so brave..."
"You are." Warrick said as he pulled to a stop at a red light and turned to face Nick. "You have no idea how brave you are."
"Only cowards want to take their own life, and I was too afraid even do that." he said quietly.
"You weren't afraid. You're too brave to kill yourself bro."
"Seriously Warrick...think before you say things man. See if they really make sense."
Warrick smiled and put his hand on Nick's shoulder. "It's like you said before. It would be so easy to just give up, to not have to deal with anything anymore. But that's not what you did. Wanting to and actually doing something are completely different things. You're still here because you're brave enough to face anything else that gets thrown at you."
"And because I didn't want to dissapoint you again." Nick added.
Warrick turned back to the road as the light changed to green. "What do you mean again? You never have, and I'll bet you never will Nicky."
Nick's smiled returned and they rode in a comfortable silence the last few minutes to Catherine's. It was clear by the cars in the driveway that everyone else was already there. They pulled up behind Greg's blue Jetta and got out of the car and made their way up Catherine's walkway to the front door. Warrick knocked twice, and they waited briefly before Catherine's voice came from the other side of the door.
"It's open, come on in." Warrick opened the door and stepped inside, followed by Nick. It was a little too dark in Catherine's foyer for the time of day, and Nick noticed it got darker as they headed for Catherine's dining room.
"Why is it so..." he realized what was going on when he didn't hear any of the other team members talking. "Oh man." he said with a laugh.
Catherine flicked on the lights and everyone yelled together, "Welcome back, Nick!" The entire CSI team, including Brass and Lindsey, were gathered around the dining table. There was a banner behind them that read 'Welcome Back Home!' Nick laughed as he walked over to his team with Warrick.
"You guys never miss an oppurtunity for a party, do you?" He said, a huge smile across his face.
"It was my idea." Lindsey said, running around the table and latching herself to Nick. "Greg tried to eat the cake me and my mom made, but we hid it on him." She said, looking up at Nick.
Warrick turned looked at Greg. "Couldn't even wait for us man?"
Greg shrugged. "It looked really good, and I'm starving."
Lindsey giggled. "He was so mad he couldn't find it."
Greg nodded. "I wasn't gonna eat it, I just really wanted to know where it was." Catherine walked into the kitchen and took the cake out of the fridge, bringing it back out into the dining room. "Are you serious?" Greg said in disbelief.
The rest of the team started laughing. "Not too good of a CSI yet, huh kid?" Brass asked, patting Greg on the back.
"That's so obvious...I thought there was a secret hide-the-cake-from-Greg spot or something. I highly doubted you'd hide it somewhere I'd actually think of looking."
Grissom felt this was a perfect time for a good quote. "Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt."
"Shakespeare." Nick and Warrick said in unison as the rest of the team laughed.
"Let's go out onto the deck, it's a beautiful day outside, and seeing as how Greg, Lindsey and Grissom had an egg fight, there's nothing left to cook."
Grissom, Greg and Lindsey all looked at each other and smirked. "They started it." Grissom said, pointing at Lindsey and Greg.
"Sure Gil." Brass said as he lead the others out onto the deck. They all took seats around the large glass table under the big navy blue umbrella. It really was a beautiful day out. The clear blue sky had only a few stray clouds, and the sun was shining brightly. There was a cool breeze and it was a perfect 78 degrees.
"Great job on that case guys." Grissom said as he and Sara poured glasses of lemonade for everyone.
"Yeah, you did a good job. Greg and I's B&E is still without a suspect." Sara added.
"Well maybe if you didn't lose our warrant by yelling at the husband's ex girlfriend, we might have one."
"She deserved it." Sara said as she passed out the drinks to everyone.
"Cake and lemonade...I know I'm from Texas, but that's a little weird." Nick said, getting a slight punch from Sara.
"Then you don't get cake." Catherine said as she started cutting the chocolate frosted cake and passing out pieces to everyone.
"Can I have his?" Greg asked excitedly.
"No Greg." Lindsey said. She gave her piece to Nick and took another one from her mother.
"Thanks Linds." Nick said, glaring at Catherine jokingly.
"Cake and lemonade actually isn't too bad." Warrick said.
"I'd have to agree with you on that one 'Rick." Brass said, nodding.
"What do bugs like to drink with their cake?" Sara asked Grissom, causing everyone to burst out in laughter. They finished their cake and engaged in their normal conversation, talking about almost everything other than work. After her third piece of cake, Lindsey got up and ran into the house.
"Where's she going?" Nick asked Catherine, who shrugged.
"Who knows. Maybe she hid another cake from Greg she just rememberded." Lindsey came back outside, carrying Catherine's digital camera.
"I have to take a new picture of all of you guys. It's the rule."
"What rule?" Grissom asked.
"The one I just made up. Now go stand over there." Lindsey instructed, pointing to the side of the deck next to the stairs. The team obeyed, rising from their seats and gathering in front of the railing neatly. Lindsey smiled and she stood in front of them, aiming the camera carefully. "Perfect. Now say 'We love cake and lemonade.' "
They all laughed as Lindsey took the picture. Grissom stood in between Sara and Brass, and next to them Catherine and Warrick were on either side of Nick, with Greg next to Catherine. Warrick's arm was around Nick's shoulders and they were all smiling widely.
"Thanks Lindsey." Catherine said. Her and Grissom started bringing the cups and plates inside with the help of Brass, and Greg had challenged Sara and Lindsey to a swinging competition, leaving Nick and Warrick alone on the deck, leaning on the edge of the railing and watching Lindsey swing much higher than Greg.
"I'm so glad I came back." Nick said, still watching Greg whine about losing to Lindsey.
Warrick turned to his best friend. "I knew you would when you were ready."
"I was only ready because of you. I never would have been able to do this without you bro...thanks, for everything." Nick said, looking over at Warrick.
"You don't have to thank me man. I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
Nick smiled. He looked out at all the houses surrouding Catherine's and seemed lost in thought for a few minutes before he spoke. "Do you believe everything happens for a reason?" He said, eyes still scanning the horizon.
Warrick shook his head. "No, I don't. I really can't see a reason for most of the things that happen. But that's just life."
Nick nodded, and turned back to Warrick. "I could never find a reason for anything that has ever happened to me, but I thought it was just me. I couldn't even find a reason for us being friends, as bad as it sounds."
Warrick shrugged. "We don't need a reason, cuz we're not friends. We're brothers, and that's more than enough."
Nick smiled wider, and they went back to watching Lindsey, Greg and Sara in the yard. Everything was slowly getting back to normal, although it never would be completely perect ever again. And that was okay, because all that mattered was Nick and Warrick were both okay, and they had each other. No matter what.
THE END