Chapter Text
“ Christmas Eve will find you, where the love light gleams…I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams…”
Nick will still be cooking for Christmas, even in his older age--though he’ll argue that mind over matter, he’s only “fragile” if people label him as such.
Though he won’t deny that he is having some difficulty standing up straight, an unpreventable hunch will arch his back, his head still swims through a sea of memories, grasping on to some but others just...slip through his fingers. Words get harder to form, so he’ll let his actions speak where his mouth cannot.
Such as cooking, the ultimate physical and mental therapy, to keep his mind occupied--the one constant in his constantly changing life.
And another constant that he just now realizes near the end of the line-- it’s not the end of the line for you, Pancho, not yet, a voice will keep telling him in his head--is that he is always interrupted during his cooking by his daughter, Madison--
“Papa Pancho!” a gasp, followed by the sound of two palms slamming on the counter where he was slowly chopping vegetables.
--Or her offspring.
“Yes, CC?” Nick will ask, and he won’t look up, he never does, but he will still be able to sense the youth’s anxious energy.
“When’s Momma comin?”
“She’ll be home soon, don’t you worry.”
“That’s what you said last year, and I didn’t even get to see her before bedtime,” CC will whine, spreading his body out in an exaggerated fashion on the bar stool
“Well, your mother’s a very busy woman, buddy.”
“Too busy for her family?”
“That’s, that’s not what I meant,” Nick will wave his hand, grimacing at what he’ll realize is a poor choice of words.
“Is...is it ‘cause I was a bad boy this year? I didn’t mean to break Holly’s dolls, I was just playin’ scientist!”
“Corey Coleman Stokes,” Nick will begin, setting down his knife to tend to his spiraling grandson. “I’ve been keeping my eye on you all year, and I’ll vouch for you, you were on your very best behavior...for...most of the year, and Santa will definitely bring you whatever that little spunky heart of yours desires this year.”
“What I want most is for Momma to come home...” CC will pout, despite his giggling as Nick playfully pokes his chest to tickle him.
“Tell you what, first word I get of your Mom, you’ll be the first to know, okay? I promise. Now, why don’t you go help Uncle Parker put up the finishing touches on the tree in there? He seems a little lost.”
“He always has his head in the clouds, Momma says.”
“Talking like Yoda, you are.”
“Strong in the Force, I am!” CC will then tumble out of the room making lightsaber noises that bring a smile to Nick’s face, before he sends an inquisitive text to his daughter.
“She’s late.”
Parker will pace the room after his and Madison’s kids are put to bed. His hand will be on his hip, his tongue will be waving over his lips nervously.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Nick will tell his son with a heavy sigh.
“You said that last year,” Parker will echo his nephew’s sentiment, before continuing, “And y-you remember what happened last year!”
Nick won’t quite remember, but he’ll get the hint that it’s not necessarily good.
“She’s too much like you for her own damn good,” Parker will mutter under his breath.
“Park, now, c’mon--” Nick will make a move to put a supportive hand on his son’s shoulder, but Parker will squirm out of it.
“I can take it, all the shit that seems to follow you around like a black cloud. But Madison...she just pretends she can--”
“You’re not giving her enough credit, Parker, she chose to become a cop--”
“But she didn’t choose you to be her father! Or me to be her brother!”
“What are you saying?”
“She doesn’t deserve us. Doesn’t deserve this. She should be spending Christmas eve and day with her children, not out there chasing criminals. She only does it cause she wanted to be like you--”
“I wasn’t a cop--”
“Not according to Aunt Sara, she makes it seem like you were, with all the running and gunning you did in your prime!”
“That---was only when necessary--”
“And Grandpa Cisco told me you were a cop before you became a CSI--”
“Well, hey, Maddy wasn’t the only one who took after me, young man.”
“I didn’t take after you,” Parker will shake his head. “I took after Dad.”
Nick will chuckle coldly, knowing that Parker’s use of “Dad” in this instance was not in reference to him, but to Greg Sanders, who was reading a bedtime story to Parker’s youngest adopted daughter.
“Yeah, that you did. And I’m still proud of you. Just like I’m proud of Madison, and she’ll come home safe this year.”
Memories will start to poke and prod at Nick, of a bruised and bloodied Madison Stokes entering the threshold and collapsing on the couch, not even pretending to be Santa that year, she’ll pass out after her father cleans her wounds.
But she’ll still have a smile on her face, tell the story--in great, riveting detail to her father of her heroism, that the pain was worth it all, should wouldn’t trade anything she did because she was hailed as a hero for her take down of a dangerous crime group...which included the rolling of a vehicle that caused her minor injuries.
“I rolled that bad boy, Daddy!”
“I promise,” Nick will affirm to his son with a hand on his shoulder.
“Promise wha’?” a sleepy voice will break through the room. CC will shuffle into the room, tug at Nick’s shirt. Nick will pick him up, let him rest on his shoulder, but they’ll have to move the couch, because Nick can’t stand while holding a small child for too long before his knees buckle.
“That your mom is coming home. Same promise I gave to you.”
“It’s bedtime, you know, Papa Pancho.”
“I know that, but apparently you don’t.”
“Your promise ain’t looking that good.”
“Didn’t your Momma ever tell you? I always fulfill my promises.”
Parker will scoff with folded arms as he stares out the window.
“But cause your ol’ Papa here is feelin’ generous this year, I’ll let you stay up instead of making you go back to bed.”
“Do you think we’ll catch Santa?” CC will ask eagerly as Nick yawns, but he won’t catch the contagion, since he’ll stare at the lights on the Christmas tree in the corner of the room.
“Maybe, buddy, maybe. Park? What do you think? Think we can catch Santa?”
“Mm. Sure.”
Nick will whisper into CC’s ear, which makes the boy grin from ear to ear.
“Uncle Parker, I heard you caught Santa red-handed one year!”
“Who told you that?”
Nick will shake his head with a finger to his mouth, but CC spills the beans anyway.
“Papa Pancho. Says you were quite the detective when you were little like me!”
“Not as good as your mother, though.”
CC will slink back into Nick’s arms, who will sigh in exasperation at his two angsting boys.
“C’mon, boys! Where’s the Christmas spirit?”
“With Momma!” CC will whine, but unbeknownst to him, Nick will notice a small puff of ash fall down the chimney.
“Hey, Parker, where do you think Santa is this time of night?” Nick will ask with a forming smile on his face.
“For fu--I don’t know, Dad. Maybe in Africa!”
“Sure he ain’t in San Diego right about now?”
Nick will waggle his eyebrows at both his son and grandson, gesturing to the chimney, as more commotion emanates from the source, and a forcibly deep “ho ho ho!” can be heard echoing down the shaft.
“How--where--?” Parker will sputter as Madison, upside down, beams at her expecting family.
“Santa gave me a lift,” Madison will grunt as she finishes her trek down the chimney, will crawl out and brush herself off until CC jumps off the couch and into her arms.
“Momma!” CC will exclaim as Madison spins him around the living room.
“Oh, sweetie, Momma missed you! But, you wanna know something, Santa told me he wouldn’t come back until all the children were a-sleepin’...”
“Okay…” CC will say glumly. “Can you tuck me in?”
“I’ll be there in two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” Madison will bop her son on the nose before he scurries up the stairs. Parker will then, quickly embrace his sister before muttering something about making hot chocolate.
Nick will remain sitting with a knowing smile as Madison smiles back at him. She’ll take a moment to plop down on the couch, plant a kiss on the cheek of her father.
“Toldja I’d be home for Christmas,” she’ll whisper, before she runs up the stairs to tend to her child.
Nick will sit and wait for his children’s return, Parker will bring back three mugs filled with hot cocoa while Madison will bring the exciting action of her job’s events, and Nick will bring them all together with his two arms and fatherly presence. Another perfect Christmas spent with the Stokes family.