CSI Fic: It Begins...
Title: It Begins
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Beta: N/A
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): Jim/Sofia, referenced Nick/Greg, Tony/Jim, Tony/David H
Summary: Just when Jim thought things weren’t complicated enough, his ex wife comes to town…
Disclaimer: Still no closer to owning. If I did, there’d be less GSR and more The Love… in the background mind you.
Note: Written as the first part of a storyline for
csi_labs.
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Jim Brass sighed heavily, running his hands over his face as he leaned up against the wall, watching out the corner of his eye as the suspect, now proven murderer, was led away to booking. That was one less arsehole on the streets, and Jim was glad to have that case over and done with.
Hearing a light step he glanced up as fingers closed around his wrists, drawing his hands down. Sofia Curtis smiled warmly as she looked up at him, eyes glittering with that same old concern. The woman worried about him too much.
"What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy you got that bastard."
"Oh, I am." Jim smiled tightly as she slid her hands down into his. He squeezed them gently, feeling her return it. "Glad to close the case."
Sofia nodded, searching his face. He watched her as she studied him, seeing understanding cross her beautiful features. "Ellie and Alex."
"Always." Jim sighed, shaking his head. "I just... I can't help worrying about them. I'd hoped Ellie would be more... I don't know. Grow up a bit. Take care of her son instead of dumping all the work on us."
"Some people don't change, Jim. There's nothing you can do about it. Besides," she kissed him softly. "I like taking care of Alex."
Jim chuckled. "Next you'll be telling me you want a baby of your own."
Sofia held the smile, but he saw the way her expression tightened. Obviously not subject to raise again anytime soon. "Not yet."
But maybe in the future. He'd keep that one in mind.
"I better head to booking." Jim dropped her hands, glancing down the corridor. "I want to see this guy personally to his cell."
"I'm just wrapping up my own case. You'll have the report on your desk in an hour." She kissed him again, stepping back, her eyes sparkling as she winked. "Looks like we'll get off early tonight. And if I recall Ellie said something about taking Alex shopping..."
Jim laughed, returning the wink and watching as she headed down the corridor and into the bullpen. He saw her glance up at him through the glass, shooting him another smile as she sat at her desk and picked up a manila folder. He smiled, turning and moving toward booking. They hadn't had any time alone together since Ellie had had her baby back in February, and he was missing it.
He sighed, running a hand over his eyes. He was missing the sex that was for sure. Every time he and Sofia started to get cosy in the bedroom Alex would begin to cry, followed by Ellie's long wail of "Daaad!" And he'd been looking forward to being a grandfather.
Well, at least he and Gil were getting the same amount of sleep. Meant no teasing.
The 'no time' was a double edged sword. No time alone meant no sex, and not just with Sofia. They couldn't escape to Lady Heather's Dominion every other night and Tony Vartann had stopped coming around. Seemed David Hodges had coaxed him into a relationship anyway. Then again, Hodges coaxed everyone into a relationship.
Jim growled. He was sick of Hodges. Every so often Jim would get some time off when Sofia didn't, so he'd call up Nick to see if the Texan wanted to go for a drink or to the gym. Nick always had other arrangements with Hodges. Jim couldn't blame Greg for getting so ticked off and wanting time out for a while.
Hodges was, for lack of a better word, a vulture. He preyed on weaknesses and picked apart relationships like tasty treats. Jim had recently put in a call to his old flame Annie Kramer in Los Angeles to see if she could dig up some dirt on the man. If anyone could, she could, and she knew exactly the sort of thing he'd be looking for. He looked forward to hearing back from her and letting Hodges dig his own grave. And Jim wouldn't be the only one who'd get a laugh out of watching that man squirm, that's for sure.
"Dad!"
Jim paused in his train of thought, turning to look back and spotting Ellie moving quickly down the corridor, face flushed with exertion and Alex clutched against her chest protectively. Spotting the look in his daughter's eyes Jim felt his heart flutter, his stomach clenching.
"Ellie? Sweetie, what's wrong."
"She's here." Ellie stopped in front of him, Jim noting that she was out of breath and had obviously been running. "She came, Dad. She showed up at the front door and demanded I give her Alex or she'll-"
"Woah, Ellie, slow down." Jim reached out, catching hold of her shoulders to steady her and get her attention. "Who's here? Who came…?” He felt his stomach plunge as his mouth went dry. No. That bitch had better not have... "Your mother? Your mother is here?"
Ellie nodded. "She said she sent you a letter saying she was coming."
"She sent me a letter saying that she was going to hire a lawyer and fight for custody."
Ellie's eyes flashed. "Why didn't you say something?"
"Because you would have wanted to see the letter and some things you don't need to see."
Ellie looked up at him, and Jim couldn't help but note that she had the same searching look as Sofia. His eyes darted up toward the bullpen and saw Sofia gazing out, concern on her face, her pen hovering over the forgotten report.
"She said I was a crack whore, right?" Jim looked back down, Ellie huffing and shifting Alex in her arms as the baby squirmed. Jim fought the urge to tell Ellie she was holding him wrong again. "That's what she called me when I rang her and told her I was pregnant."
Yet another reason to hate his ex-wife.
Oh look. Speak of the devil.
"James!"
Jim twitched at the sound of his name coming from those lips. Hell, nails on a chalkboard would have sounded better. And as she approached he saw at once where all the child support he had sent had gone. No wonder Ellie had gone to such extremes to fend for herself - and yet Ellie had once taken her mother over him. Then again, Nancy had probably brainwashed Ellie into hating him. Wouldn't put it passed her.
Ellie shifted, moving around to stand behind Jim, putting him between her and her mother as Nancy's heels tapped on the floor like an impending drumbeat. Jim let out a long breath, running over everything he'd heard about her recently. He was going to need the ammunition.
"James," Nancy stopped before him, her slim frame shivering with rage inside that way too tight outfit. Someone seriously needed to tell this woman that you didn't wear outfits like that once you pass 50. She glared at him under her frame of blonde hair, and looking hard Jim could see the grey roots. Needed to dye it again.
He continued to run his gaze over her, making a mental checklist. Liposuction, tummy tuck, boob job, facelift, hair dye, she'd had a mole and her tattoo removed, fake tan... god, he doubted he'd be able to guess them all. If anything, one more facelift and she'd look like Michael Jackson's twin sister.
"Tell Ellie to hand over Alexander."
Jim's eyebrows rose. Well, she certainly couldn't give her personality a makeover. Still as ugly and raw as ever. "No."
She straightened, blinking at him, although he couldn't understand how she could under all that makeup. It had to be at least an inch thick. No changes there. "James, you know she is incapable of raising a child-"
"So were you, but you still did."
He saw Ellie smile faintly out the corner of his eye.
Nancy huffed. He'd forgotten how much like her mother Ellie was. Beautiful, seductive and sweet - deadly combination. Literally. "Give him to me, James. I know you're just trying to keep him from me in some sort of sick revenge-"
"Oh, you mean like you did with Ellie to me." Jim smiled tightly at her, crossing his arms over his chest and meeting her glare. "You've got no right barging in here and-"
"You have to right keeping him from me!"
"Ellie has that right." Jim set his jaw. "And Alex is doing just fine, as you can see. Ellie has mine and Sofia's support-"
"Sofia?" Nancy sniggered. "Is that the name of your latest slut, is it?"
Jim ground his teeth. "If you're implying you're a slut..." he saw her seethe. "Sofia isn't. And for the record, she doesn't rely on surgeons to fabricate her beauty. Oh yeah," he leaned forward. "She's also a lot younger than you."
Nancy's eyes widened. "Well I see you haven't changed."
"You haven't either." Jim grunted. "Still a pushy, nagging bitch. But at least I see the child support was well spent. How much did those breasts set you back? Couple of thousand? Came as a matching set with the cheek implants? Or did you get them free by sleeping with the surgeon?"
Nancy's face was beginning to turn red. He still had it. "How dare you..."
"Oh, I dare." Jim glanced to the side. "Ellie, go find Sofia, then the two of you take Alex somewhere safe."
Ellie nodded, clutching Alex tightly to her chest as she rushed around Nancy and disappeared down the corridor and around the corner. Jim inwardly smiled as he realised that she must have seen, like him, Sofia carefully stand and leave the bullpen and head for reception.
Nancy watched her go, swinging around to glare at Jim. "Stop making this difficult, James. You wanted nothing to do with Ellie when she was a child. You're only doing this because you know I want him."
"Which is interesting considering you wanted nothing to do with Ellie while she was pregnant. Told her to stay the hell away from you, if I recall, so she came to me. She only ever does that when she really needs help because she knows I'll always be there."
"Ha!" Nancy scowled. "Like you were there for her during her fifth birthday? Stone drunk, if I recall. Knocked the birthday cake over, broke her new doll then passed out in the hall in front of the other parents."
Jim felt his lip twitch. He'd been trying to repress that memory.
"Or how about the day she started school? You thought it more important to go for a round with the boys instead of seeing her off."
She was pulling out everything, that's for sure.
"Oh yes, how about when she let you know she was going to the prom. Instead of flying to New Jersey to see her, you called in a favour and organised a police escort. No better way to say you're there for her then by humiliating her."
That one Ellie never let him forget.
Jim cleared his throat. "So I made some mistakes. We both did. But I straightened myself out."
"Really." Nancy glanced toward the bullpen, looking over those inside. "So how many of them have you slept with? Or the CSIs? That's who you work with a lot now, isn't it?" She looked back at him. "Still got a bottle of scotch in the drawer of your desk? A blackmail collection tucked away into every nook and cranny of your home?"
"Yes I still have the scotch, but I'm not a drunk anymore. No I haven't slept with everyone in there. Just a couple of them. And I do still have that blackmail collection. Getting quite big too." He smirked. "By the way, how come you didn't tell me you liked little people. Stand in under your long skirts and give you your jollies in public. Or did you only do that for a short time last year?"
Her eyes widened. "How did you..."
Jim shrugged. "Still have my contacts."
Nancy huffed, spinning on her heel and stalking out down the corridor. "I'll have you know I'm not going back the New Jersey without Alexander!"
"Then you better start house hunting!" Jim paused, sniggering. "I heard there's a vacancy at the brothel just off the strip-" She slammed out the door, causing him to laugh.
Ignoring the looks he was getting from the other detectives and members of the PD, Jim headed into his office. Closing he door behind him he dropped into his seat, absently reaching for the bottom drawer. He gazed inside at the bottle and glasses before scowling, slamming it closed. Not today.
He reached forward and snatched up a manila folder, flipping it open and scanning through the contents. Seems Vega had closed his case too. Scanning the details Jim saw that everything was in ordered and set it on top of the pile to be sent to the DA. At least he didn't have to worry about the Sheriff complaining about a low turnover of closed cases.
He continued going through the cases, glancing up toward the bullpen and knowing that there were more coming. He rarely got the opportunity to catch up on the case files - it was probably the one thing he had in common with his old job at CSI. The case files were never ending. The difference between then and now was back then he had a lot more time to do them. Then again, he'd also spent a lot of time chasing up Gil for his reports. He never had to do that with his detectives.
Jim started as his phone rang, and after briefly fumbling with the cell he answered.
"Brass."
"Jim, it's me." He could hear the concern in Sofia's voice and yelling in the background. "I brought Ellie to the lab. Thought we'd hole up in the break room."
"Good move. Added protection and safety, plus emotional support if you need it."
"Exactly what I was thinking." She paused. "Thing is, your ex-wife followed us. She seemed to know where we were going to go."
"Yeah, that's the unfortunate thing about Nancy. Bitch is smart." Jim sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Okay, stay there. I'm on my way."
* * * * *
Jim felt all eyes on him as he stalked into the lab. He kept himself focussed as he moved around the labs and headed down the corridor to the break room. He could see Nancy and Ellie yelling at each other, Sofia standing off to the side holding Alex to her, something Nancy did not seem to be happy with. Evidently Nancy had worked out who Sofia was. Perfect.
Jim glanced to the side and saw Hodges, Archie and Henry near the coffee machine watching with stunned and slightly confused faces, but the three were wise enough to stay out of it. Jim knew that the CSIs were around somewhere and it would only be a matter of time before they showed up.
"Nancy!"
She whipped around, glaring at him a moment before shooting Sofia a nasty look. "Guess I know who that phone call was too, eh sweetie? Needed your big bad boyfriend to back yourself up."
Sofia glared at her. "Don't flatter yourself."
"Nancy, I want you out of here right now." Jim planted himself in the doorway. "Keep pushing this and I'll make sure you'll never be allowed to set foot in Vegas ever again."
"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you." Nancy stopped in front of him, hands on hips, one hipped cocked as she met his eye. "I'm sorry, James, but your right to tell me what to do ended the minute our divorce papers were finalised."
"Like you ever listened to me anyway." Jim nodded toward Ellie. "Right now, Ellie has custody of Alex, and nothing you can do will change that."
Nancy shook her head. "I am taking Alex-"
"And I'll charge you with kidnapping."
Nancy stared at him. "You wouldn't dare."
Jim smirked. "You know me better than that."
"He's right, Mum." Ellie looked at her. "You take Alex from me and I'll have Dad charge you-"
"Your Dad." Nancy laughed. "He isn't your father."
The room plunged into a silence, Jim letting out a long breath as he reluctantly looked toward Ellie. He wasn't surprised to see the look of pure revulsion on her face, but what was a surprise was the fact it wasn't directed toward him. She shook her head, stepping away from her mother.
"You slut." Ellie scowled. "You... slut! It's about the money, isn't it. The child support. You used to always bitch that Dad wasn't paying you, knowing he wasn't my father." She looked toward Jim. "Did you know?"
Jim swallowed hard, looking quickly at Nancy before returning his gaze to Ellie. He averted his eyes, nodding.
"And yet you paid anyway." Ellie eyed him. "Why?"
Jim sighed. "Because... you were my daughter. I didn't care about the biology or DNA or all that crap. You were still mine."
"You could have asked for a paternity test."
Jim shook his head. "I didn't care."
Ellie looked from one parent to the other. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Jim set his jaw. "Not the sort of thing you needed to hear."
"I can judge that for myself, Dad." She shot a look at Nancy. "Who's my father?"
Nancy set her jaw, staring Ellie down. Seeing that she wasn't going to answer Jim cleared his throat. "Mike O'Toole." Seeing Nancy look at him sharply in surprise, Jim smiled tightly. "What, you honestly thought I didn't know? I'm a detective, Nancy. It's my job to work these things out."
"That's the guy you put away, right? Dirty cop?"
Jim looked at Ellie and nodded. "Yeah."
Ellie looked back at Nancy. "You told me you didn't start seeing him until after he got out of jail, a long time after Dad came here."
Nancy shrugged. "I didn't really matter."
"It matters to me, Mum." Ellie shook her head, running her hands through her hair. "Did you know how many times that guy hit on me? He was trying to sleep with me, Mum."
Jim's eyes widened. "WHAT!?"
"Stop lying." Nancy shot Ellie a hard glare. "You were always lying about my boyfriends."
"No, I wasn't. I just wish you'd believed me. I wish you trusted me." Ellie chewed her lip, looking toward Jim. "That O'Toole bastard isn't my father. I'm a Brass. I always have been. And now I wish I'd listened to Dad more. He always said you were lying to me about him. Now I think he was right."
"See, this is exactly what he is doing to you." Nancy scowled. "You have spent way too much time here, listening to his bullshit. He's turning you against me."
"You did that yourself." Ellie glared at her. "I can see right through you, Mum. You only want Alex so you can get the benefit money."
Jim's eyebrows rose slightly. He hadn't even thought about that one, but knowing Nancy's lifestyle she was probably scraping the bottom of the financial barrel. She'd taken him for nearly everything he had during the divorce, using his affair with Annie as justification that the attorneys had believed, and at the same time managed large monthly child support payments from him for Ellie.
Jim couldn't help but smirk. Nancy had probably thought that by revealing Ellie's true parentage she would make Ellie turn against him. A couple of years ago, back before Ellie had gotten pregnant and Nancy had kicked her out, Ellie would have sided with her mother. Right now, Nancy's plan had backfired in a big way. Jim was loving it.
"Look, Nancy, why don't you do yourself a favour and go back to Jersey before you dig yourself a bigger hole,"
"I am not going anywhere without my grandson." Nancy turned away from the fuming Ellie to glare directly at him. "You have no right to him at all, James. He is not your flesh and blood, he is mine. And Ellie is not fit to be a mother. I saw the way she was holding him before, like he was a sack of potatoes. Does she do anything with him other than show him off? I bet she has you and your slut do everything."
Jim set his jaw. "The only slut in this room is you."
Nancy snorted. "What about Ellie? Don't think I don't know what she does for a living."
"She's a prostitute, not a slut. There's a difference."
"Such as?"
"Prostitution is an occupation. While I don't agree with her lifestyle, she's making an income. Sluts do it because they can. Like to show how easy they are." Jim paused, looking from Ellie to Nancy. "You know, I just realised something. What do they say about nature/nurture? Some things are genetic? Some are from environment? I bet that if I had won custody of Ellie and brought her to Vegas where she didn't see you putting out and bringing home your numerous playmates, she wouldn't be a whore. What is it... like mother, like daughter?"
Jim didn't see Nancy move until he felt the sharp sting across his face, causing him to step to the side to maintain his balance. Nancy was fuming, the veins in her neck throbbing as her eyes shone blue murder. Jim chuckled, looking down at her.
"What's the matter, Nancy. Can't accept the truth?"
"Dad, don't." Ellie stepped to his side, grabbing his sleeve and turning to look at her mother. "Mum, go home. Please. Forget about it, okay? It's my call who Alex stays with, and right now he's staying with me."
"You're not smart enough to make your own decisions." Nancy shot them both a glare, huffing before stepping around them and out the door, storming down the corridor. Nick and Greg parted to allow her to pass them, Nancy calling back to Jim. "Don't think this is over James! I am going to talk to my lawyers, and I'm going to make sure I get custody of Alexander!"
"Fine, talk to your lawyers." Jim set his jaw. "And while you're at it, have them explain the workings of a restraining order."
"Fuck you!"
"I'm not that stupid."
Jim watched as she disappeared down the hall, feeling Ellie's grip on his arm tighten. He sighed, looking down at her and silently surprised when she stepped into his arms, hugging him. That was out of character. He looked up, catching Sofia's smile as Alex squirmed, whimpering. The little boy was going to start crying in a minute, and with all the yelling and noise Jim was surprised he hadn't sooner.
Seeing a movement out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hodges open his mouth to speak. Jim glared at him. "One word out of you and I'll shoot you."
Hodges wisely closed his mouth again, much to the amused looks of Henry and Archie.
Jim looked around as Alex began to cry, noting that the entire lab was watching. Nick looked confused, which wasn't unusual for him. Greg looked concerned. Looking around Jim saw a mixture of similar expressions, and sighing he turned to Sofia.
"Come on. Let's get out of here and get these two home."
As they left the lab Jim knew this was going to be the talking point for weeks. He hated having everything exposed like this, but if anything he was happy to have the paternity thing off his chest. And looking down at where Ellie still hung on to him and seeing her smile up at him he knew, if anything, it had made him and his daughter closer.
Nancy had one hell of a fight on her hands if she thought they'd just hand over Alex like that. And if that bitch thought she'd ever get him, then she'd better think again. Jim would see to it that Nancy couldn't go within 100 feet of their grandson, if it was the last thing he ever did.
This was his family. Ellie, Alex, Sofia. Them and a few members of the lab and PD. And nothing anyone did would ever take that away from him.
Nothing.
END