Fic: Between The Covers, Chapter 8 (CSI, Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders)
Title: Between The Covers, Chapter 8
Pairing: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Notes: Set after season seven. Contains references to seasons 1-7.
CSI Las Vegas Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
“What does this look like?”
Nick tried to shake himself away from his slumber and looked at Greg like the man had just asked him to recite the periodic table.
“What?”
“What does this look like?”
“What does what look like?”
“This!” Greg waved is arms around in such large arcs, he almost dropped the ringing phone in his hand. “What does this look like?”
“Your bedroom?”
“Bingo! Not the train station or a conference centre. People keep calling and dropping by like we got happy hour twenty-four seven. All I wanted to do was eat, have sex and catch up on my sleep. Is that really too much to ask for?”
“Are you going to answer the phone or not?”
“This is like that sitcom, where A and B were talking on the phone, and then D called and then C dropped by at Z`s place while he was talking to B, but B didn’t want A to know so he put him forward to X, who happened to call A while B was busy. You know what I mean?”
“You lost me somewhere between A and B.”
“Pay attention on what I’m saying. I may sway from the topic, but I’m always worth listening.” Greg clicked the phone line open. “You’ve reached the phone of one and only Greg Sanders. He’s currently busy exploiting the physical attributes of a hot man in his bed. The research and the subsequent deep briefing may take a while so leave a message after the frustrated sigh.” He panted into the phone like a perverted prank caller. “Okay, I’m done, what’s going on?”
Nick prodded his head against the headboard and listened patiently as Greg repeated the same litany of “yeahs”, “hmmmms” and “then whats”.
“It’s not like anyone got pictures or-” Greg paused and listened for a minute. “Well, can’t anyone borrow his some pants? How much can a little tear matter, put some packingtape on it or something... I mean how much can a blind man grope? Yeah, they were in the dark, but how’s that any kinda explanation? What? Next they’ll probably blame Newton for discovering gravity… Listen, you try to calm her down and he’ll come out of the closet when he’s ready. I don’t mean ready like that, they probably were already ready, but I mean ready. You know what I mean? Bye.”
“Who’s in the closet and why does he need new pants?”
“Remember what I said about sitcoms?”
“About A, B and C?”
“No, how people always end up locked up in closets. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”
“I don’t remember seeing-”
“I’m talking here. Catherine lost her voice.”
“Last I heard she was fine.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t a cold or anything like that. She just freaked out in the middle of the hallway and screamed so long her voice gave up.”
“How did that happen?”
“You know how you sometimes open a closet and skeletons come tumbling out?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s what happened. Except that the skeletons were alive and they had their pants halfway off.”
“She caught people doing it in a closet?”
“Yeah, but it’s a step up for Warrick. Supply closet is a lot nicer than a men’s room in a bar.”
“Warrick?”
“Like a rerun of the Christmas special, except that this time a lot of people saw them. She pulled the door open, started screaming, people came to see what the noise was about, the guys were against the door so they fell on the floor, everyone was confused, they couldn’t find their pants-”
“How did it happen?” Nick stammered with his eyes wide. “I mean you said they were drunk at the Christmas party, but they were working!”
“That’s the other funny thing.”
“I’m not gonna like this, am I…?”
“I don’t know, but I thought it was funny. Warrick claims he was temporarily blind, and his hand ended up in Henry’s pants by accident when he was trying to find the knob.”
“He was trying to…”
“Find the doorknob, Nicky. Just because you hear about people getting it on in the supply closet, you don’t need to make it sound sleazy.”
“Wait… did you say temporarily blind?”
“Yep. I think the whole “we were drunk” story was a lot more convincing. And Henry’s version is even weirder.”
“Let me guess… He was temporarily deaf?”
“No, he claims Warrick ran into him, he lost his balance, grabbed the nearest thing, in this case the nearest Warrick, and they both crashed into the closet.”
“Of course…”
“He’s convinced gravity is plotting against him. He’s now locked up in the locker-room and totally sure his mom will disown him.”
“Because he fooled around with Warrick? Twice?”
“Because Warrick`s not Jewish.” Greg deadpanned. “What do you think? He got caught with an older divorced man. Actually... forget that last part, I don’t think the man part will be that surprising.”
“Why not? Henry’s-”
“Not the butchest knife in the drawer. Anyway, they’re trying to talk him into coming out.”
“Coming out?”
“Of the closet. How can it be so hard to talk about this? Simple thing: Two guys got caught in the closet, therefore they had to come out of the closet to get out of there. It’s simple.”
“Nothing about that mess sounds simple.” Nick tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a minute. “How Catherine?”
“According to Sara, she’s ready to scratch Warrick`s eyes out for misleading her for years, but she can’t. Just in case he really was blind. So she’s probably doing step number two.”
“You have to explain that.”
“Step number two. You know, five steps of dealing with a loss. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance.”
“You think she sees it as a loss?”
“They’ve known each other for what? Decades? They’ve both been married and they’ve both been single. If it was meant to happen, it would have happened by now.”
“Does that mean you would have given up on me if I hadn’t done something?”
“You didn’t do anything, I did.” Greg grinned. “And yeah, if you hadn’t responded I would have thrown in the towel. How many years did we waste, because I kept waiting for you to make a move?”
“Too many.”
“Ding, ding, ding. The answer is correct, you win the main prize.” Greg leaped back into bed and crawled into Nick’s lap. “By the way… you haven’t heard the best bit about the Mysterious Affair of the Supply Closet. Henry claims he was trying to look for some kinda weapon to open the door with. He found something he thought was a crowbar and kept yanking it, but was attached to something.”
“I don’t want to hear about it.”
“I do, too bad Henry’s too shy to give the juiciest details.”
Chapter 9