Fic: When All is Said and Done - Chapter 25

[mneme2434]

February


Greg sat at the kitchen island, staring down at the baby picture of Elijah that he kept in his Manson CD case. It always amazed him at how small his son had been when he had brought him home. He let out a gusty sigh and put the picture to the side. It wasn't helping to deter his thoughts.

He had seen Thad again that morning when he had been leaving work. The first time he had seen the blond, he had written it off as coincidence and figured it wasn't worth it to tell Nick. Vegas was a huge city, so what were the chances of them running into each other? Apparently, the chances slimmed when Thad knew where they worked. Greg was sure he hadn't been spotted while making his way to the parking lot, but he couldn't say the same for Nick, who was working a double that day.

To top all of that, Cindy had asked him to work the Saturday after valentines day. He only agreed to take it because she offered to take the Thursday before for him and Nick had that night off due to racking up his overtime again. Or so Nick told him when Greg had asked about it.

He heard Nick come into the house and decided that it was now or never. He trusted the Texan and knew that trust was returned. Keeping secrets about a stalker ex would make things worse in the long run, he was sure.

Greg got up and poured two cups of coffee and set Nick's down on the island just as said man walked in, "Hey babe." Greg said, smiling at his lover.

"Hey. You're still up." Nick said, tossing his jacket over one of the stools.

Greg frowned at the tone in Nick's voice. It made him sound like he wanted Greg to be sleeping when he got home, "Nick, I gotta tell you something and I don't know how you're going to take it."

Nick dropped down onto a stool, his face pale, "Blythe got Elijah." He paused and looked Greg over, "No, that's not it. You would have called."

Greg took a sip of his coffee and then took a deep breath, deciding to ignore that jump to conclusions for the time being, "When I went out to lunch last week with with Bobby and again today when I was leaving work...I saw Thad."

"Thad." Nick stared at him for a solid minute, "As in my ex Thad? You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. First time I thought it was just a weird coincidence, you know? Millions of people come to Vegas, but it freaked me out when I saw him outside the lab."

Nick looked down at his coffee. He was worried, but Greg couldn't see that, "You sure it was him?"

"Well, his hair was pretty much one solid color now, but yeah I'm positive it was him."

"Well," Nick said, looking back up at Greg, "There's really not much we can do about it unless he tries something. Might as well just let it go for now."

Greg's brow furrowed as Nick stood up and stretched before heading for the back stairs, "Yeah, okay. Letting it go." or not. Greg gulped down the rest of his coffee and leaned back in the stool. Something was going on with Nick and the only question now was, did he really want to know what it was?

~~

Greg grunted as he dropped another box into moving van, "Is this why you haven't been around much lately?"

Sammy nodded and pushed a lock of hair off of her forehead, "Yeah, pretty much. Between looking for a place with a shorter commute for Kieran and the packing, well, thing's have been really hectic." She let a soft smile cross her face, "I'm sorry that you were told with such short notice."

"Sammy, it's not like you were renting the place and under lease. Sure, it would have been nice to know earlier. I could've helped with the packing or something, but it's not bothering me any."

"Right." Sammy ruffled his hair before starting back for the house.

Greg followed her and took the large box she pushed into his arms. It was fairly light, but because of its size, his view was limited to straight ahead. As he walked back out onto the porch, he paused as Nick's Tahoe rolled to a stop next to the moving van. A few seconds later, Elijah was jumping out from the passenger side, Trixie on his heals as always, and yelling, "daddy! we gots chi-neeze!"

Greg smiled at Elijah's announcement and started down the steps, not having any way of seeing what was under his feet due to the box. Because of this, he didn't see Maddox's baseball roll to a stop at the bottom of the steps, nor that he was about to make contact with it. His right foot landed squarely on top of the ball and he let out a mixed cry of pain and dismay as the box flew out of his arms during his rapid descent to the ground.

"Greg!" Three different voices yelled, but Sammy made it to him first, being closest.

"I hope there was nothing breakable in that box." He said, his teeth clenched as he sat up and straightened out his leg.

"Don't worry about that. Where does it hurt?"

"Ankle."

Nick materialized at Greg's shoulder and used his own to help support him, "Can you move it?" Nick asked, worried.

Greg tried to do so and grunted in pain as his foot jerked to the right, "Yeah, but holy hell that hurts."

"Get his shoe off, Sammy." Nick said.

Sammy did so and they took in the ankle that was rapidly beginning to swell, "Maybe you should take him into the ER, just to be safe."

Nick nodded, "That's not a bad idea."

"Oh come on. It's not that ouch damn it!" Greg gasped as Sammy poked the swelling area with her finger. He glared at his friend, "What the hell did you do that for?"

"Making a point. ER." Sammy stood up and backed away so Nick could help Greg up.

Nick stood up and gripped Greg under his arms, easily hoisting the lab-rat up onto his good foot. He eyed the distance to the truck and shook his head, "You'll never make it hopping and Elijah's sure to grab onto you along the way." He turned and presented his back to Greg, "Hop on."

"You're kidding me." Greg said, staring at Nick as if he had never seen him before in his life.

"It's not like I haven't carried you before, Greg." Nick said, looking over his shoulder.

Greg's mouth dropped open and his eyes flitted to Sammy before they settled back on his lover, "Well, yeah, but that's not exactly the same thing you know."

Nick rolled his eyes, "Sammy, help him up onto the stairs. It'll be easier for him and me."

Sammy, who was smirking at their little exchange and the blush dusting Greg's cheeks, nodded and grabbed Greg's arm. She helped him turn around and hop up onto the first step. They paused for a moment for Greg to catch his breath, which was a bit winded from both pain and the exertion needed to make the six inch jump up on one foot. After making it to the second step, she helped Greg balance as he slipped his right leg around Nick's waist and his arms around the broad shoulders.

Nick, once he was sure of his hold on Greg, stepped away from the porch. His lover didn't weigh all that much, and the walk to the truck was only impeded by a little three-year-old grabbing onto his jeans and walking along.

"i go." Elijah stated once they reached the truck.

Greg slipped off of Nick's back and looked at him as he turned around. Nick shrugged, "Up to you G. Doesn't bother me one way or the other."

Greg sighed, "All right Elijah, you can go, but could you do me a favor first?"

Elijah bounced up and down, eager to help, "what, what?"

"Go get me an ice pack from Aunt Sammy?" Greg winced and raised his foot. He had been resting his toes on the ground, but even that was causing pain to shoot from his ankle.

"k!" Elijah ran to the house, yelling for his aunt.

Nick placed his hands on Greg's hips as he leaned in and bussed Greg's mouth, "There's no way you're going to be able to get into the truck by yourself."

"So what do you suggest?"

"As soon as Eli gets back with whatever Sammy deems a suitable icepack, I'll get him in his seat and then lift you in."

Greg scowled, "This is getting really annoying. Why can't I just get in on the drivers side?"

"Bucket seats, G. You'd never make it across the console without aggravating your ankle more." Nick reminded him, slipping one arm around Greg's back.

Greg leaned against him, "Oh right." He sighed, "This sucks, man."

Nick's eyebrows rose, "Haven't you had a twisted ankle before?"

"Uhm, remember the overprotective mom convo we had? I've never done anything to get an injury."

"You surf Greg."

Greg shrugged, "Never twisted or broke anything while doing that. The worst thing I got from surfing was a chafed ankle from the cord when I fell off and swimmers ear."

Elijah ran around the truck door then and proudly held up a bag of frozen peas, "all had."

Nick took the bag from the toddlers hands, "This will work great, little man." He set the bag on the passenger seat and lifted Elijah up into his arms, "Lets get you settled in, huh?"

"okay."

Once Elijah was buckled in, Nick set the seat back into position and turned to Greg, "Ready?"

Greg nodded, hesitantly, "I suppose. Just don't throw your back out lifting me."

Nick laughed, "A little late for that warning."

Greg hopped a few steps forward and then turned himself around so his butt was resting against the side of the seat. Nick clasped his hips and after a brief warning, he half lifted, half slid Greg onto the seat.

Greg, once he was balanced on the seat edge, reached behind him to grab the frozen bag before pulling himself in the rest of the way. He shivered as his butt landed on the cold seat and leaned down to put the bag on his ankle. Nick shut the door and went around the truck to climb in on the drivers side.

The ride to the ER was filled with meaningless chatter and Elijah's consistently asked question of, "you okay daddy?"

Their time spent at the hospital totaled in at near three hours, given that Greg had to have his ankle x-rayed. It was a major sprain and Greg was told to keep off of it as much as possible for the following few days.

While Greg had been in the x-ray room, Nick had taken Elijah to the gift shop/pharmacy, where he purchased crutches for Greg and a hot chocolate for Elijah. Elijah also decided that he had to get his daddy a get better soon gift as well.

"poppy, please? i gotted stuff when sick." Elijah said, looking down at the fuzzy, light blue bear in his hands that happily proclaimed 'It's a boy' across its belly in loopy writing.

"Yeah, but daddy's not exactly sick, little man." Nick said, bemused.

"so? it pretty. daddy 'ikes blue, too!"

Nick hid a smile. Elijah was finally learning to use 'R's' properly in sentences. He wasn't entirely sure when it started, but it was nice to be able to understand the boy. He crouched down and pointed to the writing, "Eli, that writing there says 'it's a boy.' This is a teddy bear for mothers who just had a baby boy. Did daddy have a baby boy?"

"he had me. i boy, poppy." Elijah said, sticking to his guns.

"Not exactly what I meant." Nick scrubbed a hand over his face, "Tell you what. Why don't we get daddy a balloon to tie to his crutches? I'm sure he'd like that."

Elijah studied Nick for a moment before nodding and returning the bear to its rightful spot on the shelf. He followed Nick to the counter where the cashier lady was keeping the crutches and then allowed Nick to pick him up and rest him on the ledge.

Nick handed Elijah his hot chocolate and pointed at the wall behind the counter that displayed the balloons the shop sold, "Okay, little man. Which one should we get daddy?"

Elijah peered up at the wall, taking in his choices. Finally, he pointed to a dark blue balloon that was covered in smiley faces, "dat one! daddy gots undies wit dos."

Nick's face flared red as the elderly lady behind the counter giggled, "He is so adorable! All right, one smiley face balloon coming up." She chirped, ducking down behind the counter.

"He's three, he's three, he has no idea what he's saying..." Nick muttered under his breath while willing his face to return to normal.

Elijah sipped at his hot chocolate while looking up at Nick, "you okay poppy? you red." He reached up and patted Nick's cheek.

He accepted the balloon from a still giggling cashier and cleared his throat, "I'm fine, Eli." He looked at the woman, "How much?"

"Don't worry about it." She said, waving her hand. She leaned over the counter and pinched Elijah's cheek gently, "He is so cute."

~~

The next week passed very slowly for both of the men. Though, to Greg, it certainly had its moments. When he had hopped into the lab the first night on his crutches, most of the woman swarmed around him in bubbly concern. The claustrophobia that erupted from that had been totally worth the jealous tinge that dusted Nick's cheeks and neck every time he walked by the DNA lab.

Thursday night came and Nick managed to wipe out Greg to the point that he had decided to take a nap around two in the morning. Nick didn't bother sleeping, as the plan he had cooked up with Grissom would allow him to get a few hours of sleep in at his normal time. He did stay in bed with his lover, but used the time to just watch Greg.

He laid there with Greg sprawled across his chest and legs, thinking. He wondered if he was doing the right thing with the proposal. He loved Greg, there was no doubt about that, but he had to admit the timing kind of sucked, what with the custody battle going on. He was afraid that Greg was going to think that him proposing was going to deal more with Elijah than wanting to pledge his life to him.

That wasn't true and he knew he should give his lover more credit than that, but hell, he was getting cold feet. It's not as if he had asked anyone to marry him before.

Something Nick was grateful for was that they had finally sat down and talked about his role in the whole parenting role. They went over Greg's fears and how to 'combat' his gut reactions to them, to keep what happened in January from not happening again. As harsh as it sounded in Nick's head, that fight had certainly been a wake-up call for Greg.

~~

Elijah awoke bright and early Friday morning and Nick allowed him to be the one to rouse Greg from his slumber, which the toddler did happily, "daddy! wakey-wake time! it be valy-times day!" He yelled, while bouncing on Greg's hip.

Greg grunted with each landing, "Sproglet, must you bounce?"

Elijah stopped bouncing, "i sorry. guess what, daddy?"

"What?" Greg asked, rolling over onto his back.

"gots you present!" Elijah said, bouncing once again although this time on Greg's stomach.

Greg sat up and watched his laughing son fall backwards, "Oh really? Wonder if its anything like your present."

Elijah's eyes widened as his mouth dropped open into an 'o', "present? for me?"

"Yup, for you." Greg leaned over and pressed a kiss to Elijah's temple, "Where's poppy?" He asked, looking around the bedroom.

"kitshun makin brekkie." Elijah said. He started bouncing again, probably from the thought of getting a present, "poppy says we be havin frenchy toasty."

Greg eyed his son, "Brekkie? Frenchy toasty? Where did you hear those words?"

Elijah shrugged and said simply, "trixie."

"Of course."

Greg climbed out of bed and made his way to the bathroom, glad he was officially off the crutches as of the night before. Once finished, he and his son went down to the kitchen where the smell of freshly made French toast permeated the air. Nick had actually set the kitchen table for once and surrounding the platters of food were their gifts and cards.

Elijah had squealed happily at the large Hershey's chocolate kiss he was given and had then laughed uproariously when Nick read his card out loud to him. Nick fell in love with the binoculars from Elijah and Greg, though Greg mentioned that Elijah had picked the gift out, based on Nick's penchant for bird watching whenever he got the chance. Greg's gift to Nick was a lovers booklet with coupons for special things, although not all of them were of a sexual nature. Greg had had a hard time figuring out what to get Nick and Sammy helped him out considerably with the idea.

When it came time for Nick to give Greg his gift, Nick just smiled, "We have to go out for yours. Eli, Aunt Rayne is gunna be taking you today. Maybe she'll swing by Lauren's and let you play with Summer."

That idea appealed greatly to the toddler and he put up no complaints when Rayne picked him up. Nick told Greg to dress normally and they were out the door themselves at nine thirty.

When Nick pulled up to the Mirage at ten to, Greg lifted his eyes to the large casino and hotel, confused, "Nick, I don't really care for gambling you know."

"I know." Nick said, climbing out of the truck. He waited at the front of the vehicle for Greg before locking the truck with the remote. He slipped an arm around his lovers waist and then continued talking, somewhat sarcastically, "Surprisingly, there are other things to do at a casino other than gamble. Which is why we're here. Come on."

Nick urged Greg into moving and the lab-rat allowed it with a bemused sigh. They walked into the Mirage and Nick led him around the casino and towards the back, where the restaurants and attractions were held. Because of the location of the dolphin pool, they ended up walking through the hotels zoo, a thing that had apparently crossed Grissom's mind when telling him what time to arrive at the Mirage with Greg. Greg managed to stop at every animal cage and some of the more friendly animals actually came forward to meet him at the bars, which meant more time waiting.

It was a full hour later that they made it to the opposite end. Not because the zoo was large, as it certainly wasn't, but because of Greg's need to stop at the lemurs cage, where one of the keepers was feeding them. Nick wasn't sure why animals and the Sanders men did this to him, but he was starting to feel like he should carry a camera with him at all times, especially when the keeper allowed Greg to hold one of the lemurs.

Greg had found it to be an awesome experience, though he would be the first to admit that a lemurs paws were a bit odd feeling on bare skin. He had also noticed Nick trying to hold back his laughter when the lemur decided that Greg needed a bath. Having his face licked all over for five minutes straight was not something he was willing to experience again in the near future, as cute as it had been.

Greg handed the lemur back to its caretaker and stepped over to Nick's side. He raised his hand and squeezed the back of Nick's neck, "Thanks, babe. This was a really cool idea."

Nick smirked at that, which had Greg raising an eyebrow. Nick smirking was rare and usually a precursor to some sort of 'mischief.' Nick reached back and took Greg's hand, keeping it clasped in his as he lowered them, "This wasn't really part of your gift. Just a...happy side effect."

"What, exactly, do you have planned?" Greg asked, following Nick as he pulled him towards a set of frosted glass doors at the 'back' of the zoo.

"If I told you," Nick grasped the silver handle and grinned at Greg, "Then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"

Greg huffed, but before he had a chance to send a sarcastic or scathing comment back at his lover, Nick opened the door. Greg heard the unmistakable cries of dolphins echoing around them and he looked at Nick, trying to figure out what was going on. Nick pulled Greg into the room and stopped as a man in a wet suit walked up to them.

"You must be Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders." He said, holding out his hand, "I'm Darrin Callow."

Nick looked Darrin over as they shook his hand and felt some niggling of worry leave him. They hadn't experienced much homophobia in the time they had been dating, outside of Elijah's mother and her parents, thanks to neither of them being ones for blatant public displays of affection. Most people just assumed they were particularly close friends and it worked for them, especially with their jobs. Well, Nick's job as he was the one to work with people outside the lab.

He had been hoping, since Grissom scheduled this, that their trainer wasn't homophobic. He hadn't wanted Greg's day marred because of someones horrible opinions. Darrin had a casual air to him and he seemed totally at ease in their presence and of their clasped hands, even though he was positive that Grissom had informed whoever that they were a male couple, due to the nature of the proposal that would take place in only a few hours.

Darrin was also a very good looking man. Tall, just bordering six feet, with a dark brown crew cut and a mustache goatee combination that set off a strong jaw line. He also had a long, white scar traveling down his face and into the neck of his wet suit that stood out strikingly against his tanned skin.

Their surprised looks had Darrin grinning, showing off slightly yellowed but clean teeth that was common with smokers, "A car accident a few years back." He explained and then turned his attention to Greg, "Well, I'm sure that your man here didn't tell you what this is all about, so I'll fill in the gaps."

He turned and motioned them to follow him to another door off to the right, "The Mirage has a dolphin show on weekends and for special occasions. It's run by Sigfried and Roy, well, more like it was their idea and they own the animals. We also have a program called 'trainer for a day.' It's relatively new, but fairly popular." Darrin opened a locker and pulled out an unused wet suit after sizing Greg up by sight.

Greg gaped and faced Nick, "Oh my God. I can't believe..."

"You like it then?" Nick asked, worry starting to show on his face. It had truly been the closest he could get to the ocean, without actually leaving Vegas, something that Greg missed terribly. Nick wasn't completely sure how to take Greg's reaction, outside of the shock that was clear.

"I love it!" Greg threw his arms around Nick's neck and squeezed. What he really wanted to do was slam his lover up against the lockers and have his wicked way with him, but he was mindful of Darrin's presence. He caught sight of the one wet suit that was being held by the trainer and frowned a bit as he pulled away from Nick slowly, "Aren't you doing it too?"

Nick shook his head, "This is your gift Greg. I'm going to have fun just watching you do this." He paused and then murmured almost absently, "And there's that camera thing again."

Greg heard the comment but ignored it. The Texan was always muttering about cameras at some point and it was becoming almost normal to hear the thought. He turned to Darrin with a wide grin, "What do I have to do? And if someone had informed me about this, I could have brought my own suit."

Nick rolled his eyes as Darrin laughed and said, "There are showers and changing rooms through that doorway. Go ahead and change. I'll go into more of the details after you get back out."

Greg took the wet suit and went into the second room. Nick dug in his coat pocket and pulled out a navy blue box, "Here's the ring. Were you..."

"Yeah. Grissom told me."

"Grissom? You're the one who talked to him?" Nick asked, surprised. It never occurred to him that Grissom had pretty much said the same thing only a month before.

Darrin nodded and took the box, stowing it inside a nylon bag that was resting by the door, "Yeah. I know Doctor Grissom from way back. Wife's attended quite a few of his lectures and dragged me along for the ride." He grinned at Nick before his face turned serious, "Besides, I run the program. I couldn't just let one of my trainers do the job, not when I don't know how they would have reacted to the...situation."

Nick sighed, "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I think I do." Darrin said and clapped Nick on the arm, "I'll have the ring with me the whole time and Splashy has been preparing for weeks to do his role. I'll wait until I see you enter and it'll go from there."

"Cool." He spied a movement over Darrin's shoulder and he sucked in a breath. If he had known Greg looked so damned hot in a wet suit, he would have tried to get his lover in one sooner.

The suit was a bit small, but he wore it as if it wasn't. The suit went down to his knees and had short sleeves as well. Nick gulped and wrenched his eyes up from Greg's waist, where they had been lingering. Greg dropped his clothes on the bench and held up his hands, "So?"

"Let's head out to the pool." Darrin said. He led them back out into the atrium and through a set of clear doors across from the frosted ones. These led to a pool, where there was a fairly large dolphin swimming around. One that let out a happy chatter when he caught sight of the men.

"This is Splashy. He's a very playful dolphin. Always happy and very talkative. We don't normally use him in the trainer program, as he's the main show dolphin, but he's healing from a strained fin." Darrin said, setting the nylon bag holding the ring down next to the ledge, not noticing that the straps had fallen to dangle in the water.

Nick tapped the back of Greg's head, "Sounds familiar, doesn't it. Seems you two are gunna be a match made in heaven."

Greg crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. His eyes fell on Splashy and watched the dolphin swim along the length of the circular pool on its side. He cocked his head as the dolphin came closer before bursting out in laughter.

Splashy had taken the dangling straps of the nylon bag and had tugged it into the pool. He was now swimming around the far side of the pool with it, as if daring them to come and get it.

Because he was so intent on watching Splashy's actions, he missed the flash of panic cross Nick's face and the brief shake of Darrin's head as he mouthed 'waterproof' to Nick. When he turned to face the other two men, Nick was once again calm and Darrin was looking amused, "Well, I suppose our first thing is to find out if you can swim. The waters not deep around the edges but the center is eight feet down."

"I can swim." Greg said, "I surfed back in school and swimming is kinda a requisite for that."

"All right, that makes life easier." Darrin looked at Nick, "Take a seat if you want. There's soda and water in the cooler over by the table. I figure we'll order lunch in an hour or so."

Nick grinned and went over to the cooler. Darrin was a pretty good actor. It wasn't that Nick wanted to leave and he knew Greg wouldn't want him to either if he had been given the choice, but this was to be just about Greg. Plus he had other things to do, like pack. It wasn't like he was going to be gone for the whole time and now he was trying to comfort himself about his own plan. There was something kind of upsetting about that.

The call came twenty minutes later. Greg had been enjoying himself, riding around the pool on the dolphins back. He knew almost subconsciously that this trainer for a day thing was going to get harder, but right now he and Splashy had to familiarize themselves with each other and were having a lot of fun doing so.

Greg flashed a smile at Nick as he ran a hand down the dolphins side, only to see him on the phone, a frown on his face. Greg turned to Darrin, "Just a minute." He swam over towards Nick and pulled himself out of the pool, "Nick? What's going on?"

Nick, who had hung up the cell phone just as Greg had climbed out of the pool, turned regretful eyes on his hopefully soon-to-be- fiance, "That was Grissom. They're calling me in."

Greg's frown deepened, "But...I didn't know you were on call."

"I'm not." Carefully, so as not to get himself wet, he pressed a kiss to Greg's temple followed by another one on his mouth, "I don't want to, Greg, but Grissom needs me."

"It's okay Nick. I understand. Any idea on how long you might be?"

Nick shook his head, "No. I'll make it back as soon as I can though." He pressed another quick kiss to Greg's mouth before backing away towards the doors, "Have fun G. Love you."

Greg watched his lover turn and leave the room after he reciprocated the sentiment. With a sigh, he turned back to the pool, "Sorry about that."

Darrin waved it off, "No problem. Work is work, you know?"

The next few hours were full of enough activity and excitement to take his mind off most of his problems. After Nick left, Darrin began teaching him in earnest on what the dolphin trainers really did behind the scenes of the shows they put on. He learned the animals eating, sleeping, and playing habits as well as how the 'holding' pool, the one the dolphins lived in when not doing shows, was made to look like a replica of their natural habitat.

With Darrin's help, he led Splashy through the 'exercises' that the dolphin had to go through to help strengthen his fin. They took a break at twelve thirty to have lunch, a small meal of tortilla wraps that they were able to put together themselves. After they had eaten, they waited another half an hour, not because of cramping but to just let their stomachs settle. During this time, Darrin went over some more things that trainers did that Greg wouldn't actually go into himself.

"All right Greg," Darrin said, glancing at the clock on the far wall, "Let's go over a few of Splashy's tricks for the show."

Greg took Darrin's example and swam to the edge of the pool where it was shallower, not noticing that this put him not only furthest from the doors, but also out of direct sight of them, "So, what do we do?"

Darrin motioned to a bucket on the edge of the pool, "I'll put Splashy through his tricks. Once one is completed, he'll come by you for one of his treats."

"Sounds good."

Darrin had Splashy bounce a beach ball, jump through a hoop and 'dance.' Each time one of the tricks was completed, the dolphin swam over to Greg for a treat and a tongue rub. After a few more turns of each trick, Darrin saw Nick enter through the doors. Knowing it was time, he covertly pulled the box out of the bag and whistled for Splashy.

Greg cocked his head in confusion as Splashy opened his mouth and chattered at his trainer. After a few seconds, and what looked like a tongue rub by Darrin, the trainer sent him to Greg, "Give him a tongue rub and a treat. Rub first. He's done with his practice for the day."

"Okay." Greg smiled at the dolphin and imitated his chatter. Splashy opened his mouth to chatter back, allowing Greg to see the purple box for the first time, "What's this?" He murmured.

He grabbed the box out of Splashy's mouth, giving the tongue a good rub before placing one of his fish on it. The dolphin happily swallowed its treat and then nudged the box in Greg's hand. It would have surprised him that he had a dolphin urging him to open a gift, but he had learned quickly that dolphins, and Splashy in particular, were exceptionally smart creatures.

Greg pulled the silver embossed elastic from around the box and lifted the lid. Inside was yet another square box, this one covered in smooth, black fake leather, and he tipped the first box in order to get to the second. He stared at it once it hit his hand. He had a strong suspicion that he knew what it was. He raised his free hand, which had started to shake, and opened the cover.

Inside was a ring, his initial thought was correct. It was rather unique for a ring and he instantly slashed the idea that Nick was proposing because of the design. It had a jagged edged design to it and was done in a satin matte finish. The jagged edge was because of the separation of diamond shapes, yellow gold for the top and white gold for the bottom ones. There were two large diamond rocks set into two of the yellow gold diamond shapes, with a smaller rock set into the white gold shape below the two large.

When he heard a throat clearing, he looked up at Darrin, who pointed over his shoulder. Greg turned and grinned when he saw Nick standing there, "Nick!" He waded through the waist high water to the ledge and pulled himself out. He took two steps towards his lover, but didn't watch where he was stepping.

He hit a puddle and his ankle twisted beneath him, the same one he had sprained only a week before, which had weakened from the work he had done during the day. Nick rushed for him to try and catch him before he hit the deck. Greg grabbed onto Nick's shoulders, but their balance was off and they ended up toppling backwards into the pool. They both surfaced quickly and Greg winced from the pain that was shooting from his ankle due to propelling himself up from the bottom.

Nick stepped closer to Greg and raised a hand to wipe away the droplets of water from Greg's forehead, which were making their way towards Greg's eyes, "You okay?"

"Sore, both ankle and pride, but otherwise I'm okay." Greg gasped and looked down, trying to see through the small waves made by their movements, "The ring, I dropped it! Do you see it?"

There was a chatter behind Greg and he whipped around to see Splashy holding the box by its cover. The box was ruined but the ring was just wet. It was good quality and couldn't be ruined by a bit of water. He reached out to take it and just as it was back in his hand, he felt Nick move behind him.

The Texan wrapped his arms around Greg's waist and leaned in, his mouth brushing the lab rats ear as he whispered, "Will you marry me?"

TBC...