Say Hello to the Past (CSI fanfiction)

Summer Memories

"I enjoy being a lab rat in training," Ashley said with a smile.

"Think you'll want to be a field mouse like your uncle?" Emma Grace smiled as she used the terms that the team did to describe the jobs each person had in the lab.

"I don't know. I guess time will tell." Ashley shrugged her shoulders and went back to concentrating on baking the pies.

"Oh." Ashley turned away from the stove so that she was facing Emma Grace. "I can tell you that Hodges has a thing for Wendy, and I think she likes him too."

"Really?" Emma Grace was shocked by this news. She thought about the idea of Hodges and Wendy as a couple. "Hmm." Emma Grace cocked her head to the side with her eyebrows raised in agreement with what Ashley had been witnessing at the lab between two people Emma Grace considered her friends.

The graduation party started when the three-leg race started outside. Ashley and longtime boyfriend, Jake were a team. Andrew and his girlfriend Annie teamed together. Emily teamed with her boyfriend Lee, and Josh teamed with his cousin Anthony. Jessica and Jennifer were together, and so were Matthew and Michael.

Emma Grace was laughing the whole time as she watched the antics her older nieces and nephews used to try and win the game. In the end, Josh and Anthony won the three-leg race. However, Emily insisted that she and Lee would have won if Josh hadn't pushed her.

James and Robert had cut huge chunks of wood and brought them to Las Vegas so the family could play a giant outdoor game of Jenga. The Stokes shenanigans that ensued during the game of Jinga had everyone in tears from laughing.

As the day continued kites were flown, an intense basketball game happened, and so did a game of flag football. The family along with the kids' friends who had joined the festivities, ended up in the house where competitive rounds of Scrabble, Uno, Chess, and other board games happened.

"Okay, the two of you have kept us in suspense long enough. Where are you going to college?" Emma Grace had wanted to ask Emily and Josh the question the minute they walked through the door, but she had waited as long as she could. 

Emily smiled as she announced, "I'm going to Victor Valley College in Victorville, California."

"What are you going to major in Emily?" Nick asked.

"Law. I want to be a lawyer like Grandma and Aunt Sandra." Emily turned and smiled at Jillian Stokes who had tears of pride in her eyes.

"What about you, Josh?" Emma Grace turned her attention to her nephew.

"I'm also going to Victor Valley. I want to major in engineering technology."

"They're going to be close to the two of you just like Ashley and Andrew are," Donna, Emily and Josh's mom said. It made her feel better knowing that her babies would be close to some family at least.

"How far is Victorville from here?" Nick asked.

"About three hours," the twins answered at the same time.

"Maybe we can take a trip there before the summer ends." Emma Grace loved road trips.

"Aunt Emma, I think you and Uncle Nick will have to get used to having four kids before you travel anywhere." Josh couldn't help but smile at his aunt's crazy ideas.

"True." Emma Grace agreed while everyone else laughed.

Three days later Emma Grace went into labor. Thankfully, Jillian and Bill Stokes were still in town when Emma Grace's labor pains began. Jillian talked Emma Grace through the beginning hours of labor while Bill gave Nick some tips for staying calm and helping Emma.

Around hour five of labor Emma Grace would moan every once in a while and hold on to Nick for support. Her contractions were still far apart and irregular, therefore, they decided not to go to the hospital yet.

Emma had called Catherine and the older woman had come over to the house to be a support for Emma Grace and Nick. Three hours after Catherine showed up to the house, Nick and Emma called Ashley to come and take Marie, Kaitlin, and Maggie Hope out so that they would not be scared that Emma was hurting. Ashley ended up having to take Emma's eight, almost nine-year-old dog, Gladiator too because there were times he wouldn't let anyone but Nick near Emma Grace when she had a contraction.

"Ni-Nicky, I think we should head to the hospital." Emma Grace was panting. She had just made it through another strong contraction as she was laying in bed.

"Okay, Baby. We're going right now." Nick still sounded nervous, but not as freaked out as he had been to start with.

There was a lot of screaming, moaning, and crying from Emma Grace once they were at the hospital. Nick stayed by Emma's side and never let go of her hand. Jillian and Catherine continued to coach Emma Grace until her water broke. Nick, the nurses, and the doctor were the only ones in the room with Emma Grace when their daughter was born. Both Emma Grace and Nick cried.

Thirty minutes after the birth Jillian, Bill, and Catherine were allowed into the hospital room. An hour after the birth Ashley brought Marie, Kaitlin, and Maggie Hope to the hospital while Jake watched Gladiator.

"Mommy, is that baby sister?" Kaitlin whispered as she looked into the face of the newborn baby.

"Yeah, Kaitlin. This is your baby sister." Emma Grace still had tears of joy in her eyes.

"Can I hold her?" Marie asked with an excited smile on her face.

"Of course, Darling." Nick had Marie sit in a chair and helped her hold her baby sister.

"She's beautiful, Aunt Emma." Ashley stood by Emma's hospital bed with Maggie Hope propped on her hip.

"'Issy name?" Maggie Hope tilted her head and studied the baby when Nick placed her back in Emma's arms.

"You want to know your sister's name?" Emma asked Maggie Hope. The fourteen-month-old nodded her head.

Emma Grace looked up at Nick expectantly. Nick cleared his throat and began to speak. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Amelia Jill Stokes."

"Amelia after my sister Amy and mom Lilia. And Jill for Jillian," Emma Grace explained as she smiled at Jillian Stokes who was crying with her face hidden behind her hands.

Nick, Emma Grace, and Amelia Jill stayed in the hospital for three days. There were many phone calls to Nick's siblings back home in Texas, and most of the crime lab team came to visit the family.