Come Down To Me (3)
Title: Come Down To Me
Author: Nat
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gil/Nick. GSR (But not in that bad way...)
Author's Note/Warning: Been working on this one for awhile, no specific warnings or spoilers in this chapter...but I will keep you alterted as they appear. And they will. So keep checking these warnings before each chapter if you want to be on the safe side. Disclaimers: No, I did not make any of these characters up. All of that cred goes to CSI and CBS. But I still think they should hire me.
Summary: Gil Grissom has some pretty deep, dark secrets. He turns to Nick when there is no one else he can trust.
"You two didn't hit a guy and bury him in the desert somewhere, did you?"
Gil almost dropped his pen as Warrick's voice came into his office. He looked up at him, as he stood leaning on the door frame.
"Come again?" Gil questioned Warrick as he pulled his glasses from his nose and leaned back.
"I'm just sayin'. Nick seemed off. More off than a guy who just dodged some potential roadkill. And it's not like him to take an unplanned vacation. So I wondered if you wanted to get something off your back."
Gil rocked back in his chair. Somewhere after 'unplanned vacation' he had stopped listening to Warrick. He glanced down at the incident form he had been in the middle of filling out.
...at which point I sent CSI Stokes home for the night, afraid that he would be unable to focus on the crime scene...
Nick had been right. Gil didn't want to write Nick up for something he was sure was his own fault.
"Earth to Grissom."
Gil looked up as Warrick spoke again. He smirked a silent answer to him as he rose from his seat, grabbing the incident report as he did so.
"Did Nick say where he was going?" Gil studied Warrick's reaction.
"Said he may be going camping or something. Just needed a few days. I dunno."
Gil nodded at Warrick as he headed out of his office, handing him a work slip as he left, hoping an arson call would be enough to distract Warrick from further questioning. Gil strutted down the hallway rifling through the remaining slips. He was walking past the lab when he heard music floating through the hall. He turned towards the lab and walked toward the tiny light of a cell phone...which was also the source of a faint rendition of Barry Manilow's "Mandy." Gil smiled al the silliness of the ringtone of what was obviously Mandy's phone. No sooner than he realized her screen was lit with the message that she had two text messages and one missed call. Gil scanned the hallway and after assessing it's relative quiet he picked up Mandy's phone and clicked the screen to illuminate the missed messages. Gil was deft enough on the phone to quickly scan through the list of messages Mandy had received. All but one of which were to and from Nick Stokes.
...Nicholas Stokes, are you playing hooky?
...Felt like an impromptu vacation.
...Where are you?
...Just outside Evergreen Park. Camping. You should come. Don't forget your shoes. :)
Just outside Evergreen Park. Gil deleted the last message from Nick and quickly sat Mandy's phone back on her table. He felt only slightly guilty. Gil hustled back into the hall where he nearly ran into Catherine.
"Two left. You wanna flip for it?" Gil lied as he addressed Catherine. There was only one left.
"Ah, I'm feeling lucky. Whatcha got?" Catherine retorted. Gil handed her a folded slip.
"Shoplifting? You gotta be kidding me. What did I miss out on?" Catharine's voice was filled with her usual cynicism as she called to Gil who was already shuffling his keys in his hands as he walked from her.
"Mysterious trash dumping. Evergreen Park." Gil lied quickly on his feet. So quickly it alarmed him.
As Gil made the drive into the mountains, he played and replayed what he might say to Nick to apologize, but he kept coming up short. When he finally reached the entrance to the park, he stopped with that distraction and instead focused on the task at hand...he had to find Nick first if he wanted to apologize to him.
It wasn't long before Gil spotted Nick's Yukon truck parked off the road, next to a small pup tent. The entire scene illuminated by the tiny glow of an outdoor fire's embers. Gil slowed his car into park, killed the engine and watched the scene for a moment before getting out of his car to look for Nick. There was little sign of him, and Gil circled the fire as it warmed the cool air.
"Grissom?"
Nick addressed him from behind, and as Gil turned, Nick was fastening his belt buckle...obviously returning from a call from nature in the woods surrounding his camp.
"I didn't mean to scare you..." Gil offered quietly.
"You didn't. Not tonight anyway."
Nick walked towards the fire, ending up on the opposite side of the flames as Gil.
"I was out of line, Nick, and I'm sorry. I should never have said what I said." Nick swallowed hard as he listened to Gil, and he was unimpressed by his apology.
"No. You should never have even thought what you said."
Touché. They stood in silence for a moment, each of them being warmed by the fire. Nick was angry but it wasn't in his nature to hold a grudge or be rude.
"You want something to drink?" Nick asked as he moved towards the cooler sitting by the trunk of his truck.
"I'm still on duty, but thank you."
Nick grabbed a beer and tossed Gil a bottle of water which he only barely caught. Nick had his back to Gil as he closed the cooler with his foot.
"Hey, how'd you find me anyway? You didn't have Archie GPS my phone did you?"
Gil opened his water and fidgeted uncomfortably. He couldn't tell Nick he had hijacked Mandy's phone to track him down. So instead he just chuckled and swiftly deflected Nick's question.
"I just thought I owed you more than a phone call."
Nick turned to face Gil, nodding appreciatively. He stood watching him for a moment, thoughts flipping over and over again in his mind of whether he should let sleeping dogs lie.
"You come up here a lot?" Gil asked, appreciating for the first time something that might be a little piece of Nick Stokes he never knew before. Nick took a long look around, his glance finally landing on the clear, star filled sky as he grinned to himself a bit.
"Sometimes it's nice to remember that there is more to the world than serial killers and strip joints."
Gil and Nick grinned at each other as they took sips from their respective bottles. Nick sensed an ease in Gil that spurred him on to go ahead and push the quietly resting envelope.
"Why'd you really come up here, Grissom?"
The question hung in silence for a moment before Gil cleared his throat to muster an answer.
"I might have given you the wrong idea the other day. And I didn't want you spending two days reliving misinformation in your head." Nick raised an eyebrow, waiting for Gil to continue. "The woman I'm with. It's hard for her...to express some things..." Nick watched Gil struggle with his thoughts as he quietly moved around the campfire to get closer to him. Gil stopped stammering on when he noticed Nick approach his side. Gil turned to face him.
"I know what you're trying to say, man, and I think I know you well enough to know why you're trying to do. But this..." Nick carefully reached for Gil's wrist and held it up between them. "This isn't helping anyone."
Gil watched closely as Nick delicately handled his wrists, the fading bruises still visible. He shook a little as he inhaled in such a fashion that sounded somewhat like a whisper and a sob. Nick ran his thumb over the fingerprints on the inside of Gil's wrist. He hissed a little as he thought again of the force that might have caused it.
"Permission to speak freely?" Nick asked quietly. Gil smirked.
"Permission granted."
"Even if it means asking questions?" Nick looked up at Gil, still cradling his wrist. Gil nodded.
"The other day. You said she loved you. Not loves you. Loved you. Do you think...whoever is doing this...loves you?"
Gil watched Nick formulate his inquiry and he thought deeply about his answer before he whispered it to Nick.
"I think she wants to love me."
"And do you love her?" Nick wasn't pushing or prying for any reason other than concern. And Gil guessed that he had no idea how hard those questions would be to answer.
"I don't know, Nick. I feel like I don't know much anymore."
In one seemingly innocent phrase, Gil let his guard down completely. To admit...especially to Nick...that he didn't know something? That he didn't know anything? It moved Nick in a way that surprised him. For someone to strike out at Gil enough to take his intellectual confidence down a notch...made Nick realize this wasn't just rough sex gone wrong. And he would be damned if he was going to let it destroy Gil Grissom.
"I can tell you what I know. And I know I'm no expert. But I know...loving someone...shouldn't make you wanna run into the woods to hide. It shouldn't...make you afraid."
"I ran into the woods because you were here." Gil's voice was low. Almost inaudibly low. And whether or not he meant it the way that Nick took it was suddenly irrelevant. Nick moved into Gil, still tracing the bruises on his wrist.
"...It shouldn't make you do that either..."
"Shouldn't it?" Gil's voice narrowly escaped his throat as Nick stepped into him. The sound of the crackling fire in his ears seemed to amplify as in the firelight he watched Nick move at him, closing himself against Gil. Gil dropped his water bottle, which rustled in the leaves as he tottered on his heels, until Nick braced him by pressing his hand into the small of his back. Nick was kissing him. Deeply. His lips were warm and wet as they touched Gil's mouth...much warmer and softer than Gil would have imagined. And it wasn't long before he was gently parting his lips to let Nick's tongue find its way into his mouth. Nick tugged Gil to him gently, and they shifted their heads in unison to deepen their taste of each other. They were both too lost in the incredible heat of being with each other that they didn't think about the incredible awkwardness of...being with each other. Until reality came crashing down onto them by way of Gil Grissom's clumsy human nature. He pushed Nick's shoulders, unlocking their mouths as Nick was moved back. They stood quietly for a minute, catching their breaths but avoiding eye contact at all costs. Gil stumbled on his feet even as Nick held his ground, running a tongue over his stinging and swollen lips. The effects of kissing someone with a beard were new to him.
"I should get back to the lab..." Gil stammered as he spoke, fumbling uneasily and bending over to pick up his water bottle before backing himself up the path to his car.
"Right. Yeah. You should go."
Nick's voice was equally stunned, but more at Gil's reaction than the initial kiss. He watched Gil clumsily move towards his car. Swiftly, like he was running from something.
"Thank you. For...the...thanks for the water." Gil called back to Nick as he lifted the water bottle in appreciation just as he opened the car door and ducked inside. Gil was quick to start the car and back up...not giving himself any time to change his mind. Leaving a quietly stunned Nick Stokes standing by the fire still holding his beer.
Gil replayed the scene in his head over and over as he sped back to the lab. He was surprised at himself. Not surprised that he had been kissed by Nick. Not even surprised that Nick had made a move on him. He was surprised how much he liked it.
And for the first time in a few weeks...his wrists, his back, his side...
Nothing hurt.
Author: Nat
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gil/Nick. GSR (But not in that bad way...)
Author's Note/Warning: Been working on this one for awhile, no specific warnings or spoilers in this chapter...but I will keep you alterted as they appear. And they will. So keep checking these warnings before each chapter if you want to be on the safe side. Disclaimers: No, I did not make any of these characters up. All of that cred goes to CSI and CBS. But I still think they should hire me.
Summary: Gil Grissom has some pretty deep, dark secrets. He turns to Nick when there is no one else he can trust.
"You two didn't hit a guy and bury him in the desert somewhere, did you?"
Gil almost dropped his pen as Warrick's voice came into his office. He looked up at him, as he stood leaning on the door frame.
"Come again?" Gil questioned Warrick as he pulled his glasses from his nose and leaned back.
"I'm just sayin'. Nick seemed off. More off than a guy who just dodged some potential roadkill. And it's not like him to take an unplanned vacation. So I wondered if you wanted to get something off your back."
Gil rocked back in his chair. Somewhere after 'unplanned vacation' he had stopped listening to Warrick. He glanced down at the incident form he had been in the middle of filling out.
...at which point I sent CSI Stokes home for the night, afraid that he would be unable to focus on the crime scene...
Nick had been right. Gil didn't want to write Nick up for something he was sure was his own fault.
"Earth to Grissom."
Gil looked up as Warrick spoke again. He smirked a silent answer to him as he rose from his seat, grabbing the incident report as he did so.
"Did Nick say where he was going?" Gil studied Warrick's reaction.
"Said he may be going camping or something. Just needed a few days. I dunno."
Gil nodded at Warrick as he headed out of his office, handing him a work slip as he left, hoping an arson call would be enough to distract Warrick from further questioning. Gil strutted down the hallway rifling through the remaining slips. He was walking past the lab when he heard music floating through the hall. He turned towards the lab and walked toward the tiny light of a cell phone...which was also the source of a faint rendition of Barry Manilow's "Mandy." Gil smiled al the silliness of the ringtone of what was obviously Mandy's phone. No sooner than he realized her screen was lit with the message that she had two text messages and one missed call. Gil scanned the hallway and after assessing it's relative quiet he picked up Mandy's phone and clicked the screen to illuminate the missed messages. Gil was deft enough on the phone to quickly scan through the list of messages Mandy had received. All but one of which were to and from Nick Stokes.
...Nicholas Stokes, are you playing hooky?
...Felt like an impromptu vacation.
...Where are you?
...Just outside Evergreen Park. Camping. You should come. Don't forget your shoes. :)
Just outside Evergreen Park. Gil deleted the last message from Nick and quickly sat Mandy's phone back on her table. He felt only slightly guilty. Gil hustled back into the hall where he nearly ran into Catherine.
"Two left. You wanna flip for it?" Gil lied as he addressed Catherine. There was only one left.
"Ah, I'm feeling lucky. Whatcha got?" Catherine retorted. Gil handed her a folded slip.
"Shoplifting? You gotta be kidding me. What did I miss out on?" Catharine's voice was filled with her usual cynicism as she called to Gil who was already shuffling his keys in his hands as he walked from her.
"Mysterious trash dumping. Evergreen Park." Gil lied quickly on his feet. So quickly it alarmed him.
As Gil made the drive into the mountains, he played and replayed what he might say to Nick to apologize, but he kept coming up short. When he finally reached the entrance to the park, he stopped with that distraction and instead focused on the task at hand...he had to find Nick first if he wanted to apologize to him.
It wasn't long before Gil spotted Nick's Yukon truck parked off the road, next to a small pup tent. The entire scene illuminated by the tiny glow of an outdoor fire's embers. Gil slowed his car into park, killed the engine and watched the scene for a moment before getting out of his car to look for Nick. There was little sign of him, and Gil circled the fire as it warmed the cool air.
"Grissom?"
Nick addressed him from behind, and as Gil turned, Nick was fastening his belt buckle...obviously returning from a call from nature in the woods surrounding his camp.
"I didn't mean to scare you..." Gil offered quietly.
"You didn't. Not tonight anyway."
Nick walked towards the fire, ending up on the opposite side of the flames as Gil.
"I was out of line, Nick, and I'm sorry. I should never have said what I said." Nick swallowed hard as he listened to Gil, and he was unimpressed by his apology.
"No. You should never have even thought what you said."
Touché. They stood in silence for a moment, each of them being warmed by the fire. Nick was angry but it wasn't in his nature to hold a grudge or be rude.
"You want something to drink?" Nick asked as he moved towards the cooler sitting by the trunk of his truck.
"I'm still on duty, but thank you."
Nick grabbed a beer and tossed Gil a bottle of water which he only barely caught. Nick had his back to Gil as he closed the cooler with his foot.
"Hey, how'd you find me anyway? You didn't have Archie GPS my phone did you?"
Gil opened his water and fidgeted uncomfortably. He couldn't tell Nick he had hijacked Mandy's phone to track him down. So instead he just chuckled and swiftly deflected Nick's question.
"I just thought I owed you more than a phone call."
Nick turned to face Gil, nodding appreciatively. He stood watching him for a moment, thoughts flipping over and over again in his mind of whether he should let sleeping dogs lie.
"You come up here a lot?" Gil asked, appreciating for the first time something that might be a little piece of Nick Stokes he never knew before. Nick took a long look around, his glance finally landing on the clear, star filled sky as he grinned to himself a bit.
"Sometimes it's nice to remember that there is more to the world than serial killers and strip joints."
Gil and Nick grinned at each other as they took sips from their respective bottles. Nick sensed an ease in Gil that spurred him on to go ahead and push the quietly resting envelope.
"Why'd you really come up here, Grissom?"
The question hung in silence for a moment before Gil cleared his throat to muster an answer.
"I might have given you the wrong idea the other day. And I didn't want you spending two days reliving misinformation in your head." Nick raised an eyebrow, waiting for Gil to continue. "The woman I'm with. It's hard for her...to express some things..." Nick watched Gil struggle with his thoughts as he quietly moved around the campfire to get closer to him. Gil stopped stammering on when he noticed Nick approach his side. Gil turned to face him.
"I know what you're trying to say, man, and I think I know you well enough to know why you're trying to do. But this..." Nick carefully reached for Gil's wrist and held it up between them. "This isn't helping anyone."
Gil watched closely as Nick delicately handled his wrists, the fading bruises still visible. He shook a little as he inhaled in such a fashion that sounded somewhat like a whisper and a sob. Nick ran his thumb over the fingerprints on the inside of Gil's wrist. He hissed a little as he thought again of the force that might have caused it.
"Permission to speak freely?" Nick asked quietly. Gil smirked.
"Permission granted."
"Even if it means asking questions?" Nick looked up at Gil, still cradling his wrist. Gil nodded.
"The other day. You said she loved you. Not loves you. Loved you. Do you think...whoever is doing this...loves you?"
Gil watched Nick formulate his inquiry and he thought deeply about his answer before he whispered it to Nick.
"I think she wants to love me."
"And do you love her?" Nick wasn't pushing or prying for any reason other than concern. And Gil guessed that he had no idea how hard those questions would be to answer.
"I don't know, Nick. I feel like I don't know much anymore."
In one seemingly innocent phrase, Gil let his guard down completely. To admit...especially to Nick...that he didn't know something? That he didn't know anything? It moved Nick in a way that surprised him. For someone to strike out at Gil enough to take his intellectual confidence down a notch...made Nick realize this wasn't just rough sex gone wrong. And he would be damned if he was going to let it destroy Gil Grissom.
"I can tell you what I know. And I know I'm no expert. But I know...loving someone...shouldn't make you wanna run into the woods to hide. It shouldn't...make you afraid."
"I ran into the woods because you were here." Gil's voice was low. Almost inaudibly low. And whether or not he meant it the way that Nick took it was suddenly irrelevant. Nick moved into Gil, still tracing the bruises on his wrist.
"...It shouldn't make you do that either..."
"Shouldn't it?" Gil's voice narrowly escaped his throat as Nick stepped into him. The sound of the crackling fire in his ears seemed to amplify as in the firelight he watched Nick move at him, closing himself against Gil. Gil dropped his water bottle, which rustled in the leaves as he tottered on his heels, until Nick braced him by pressing his hand into the small of his back. Nick was kissing him. Deeply. His lips were warm and wet as they touched Gil's mouth...much warmer and softer than Gil would have imagined. And it wasn't long before he was gently parting his lips to let Nick's tongue find its way into his mouth. Nick tugged Gil to him gently, and they shifted their heads in unison to deepen their taste of each other. They were both too lost in the incredible heat of being with each other that they didn't think about the incredible awkwardness of...being with each other. Until reality came crashing down onto them by way of Gil Grissom's clumsy human nature. He pushed Nick's shoulders, unlocking their mouths as Nick was moved back. They stood quietly for a minute, catching their breaths but avoiding eye contact at all costs. Gil stumbled on his feet even as Nick held his ground, running a tongue over his stinging and swollen lips. The effects of kissing someone with a beard were new to him.
"I should get back to the lab..." Gil stammered as he spoke, fumbling uneasily and bending over to pick up his water bottle before backing himself up the path to his car.
"Right. Yeah. You should go."
Nick's voice was equally stunned, but more at Gil's reaction than the initial kiss. He watched Gil clumsily move towards his car. Swiftly, like he was running from something.
"Thank you. For...the...thanks for the water." Gil called back to Nick as he lifted the water bottle in appreciation just as he opened the car door and ducked inside. Gil was quick to start the car and back up...not giving himself any time to change his mind. Leaving a quietly stunned Nick Stokes standing by the fire still holding his beer.
Gil replayed the scene in his head over and over as he sped back to the lab. He was surprised at himself. Not surprised that he had been kissed by Nick. Not even surprised that Nick had made a move on him. He was surprised how much he liked it.
And for the first time in a few weeks...his wrists, his back, his side...
Nothing hurt.