Falling Up Part 5
Part Five - Prove Me Wrong
“Are you sure we weren’t supposed to bring something?”
“For the last time, Nicky, Bobby told me not to bring anything. They have everything covered, don’t worry.”
“It just seems a little rude that we’re showing up empty handed.”
“We’re not empty handed. Did you not see the presents we bought for Kari? Now stop whining and ring the doorbell.”
Nick just sighed and brought his hand up to the doorbell, but the front door swung open before he had the chance to.
“I heard you two bickering like an old married couple out here. Oh jeez, looks like you brought more stuff for the baby. Didn’t you do enough damage already?” A very tall man with auburn hair and hazel eyes grinned broadly down at Greg.
The lab tech handed off the packages to the taller man. “I didn’t buy as much this time. Oh, Ryan, this is my boyfriend, Nick.”
Ryan stuck out a large hand out to Nick. “Hi, I’m Ryan Shaw.”
“Nick Stokes. Nice to meet you,” Nick shook his hand, a bit unsettled by the fact that Ryan’s hand completely enveloped his own.
“Stokes? Don’t you work with Bobby?” Ryan asked as he let his guests inside the house.
Bobby, probably hearing his name, came wandering out of the kitchen and into the living room where everyone was settling. His eyes nearly popped out at the sight of the Texan standing there with Greg. “Nick? Nick Stokes? You’re Greg’s boyfriend?! I never would have thought …”
“That I’m gay?”
“No, that you’d be with Greg,” Ryan cut in with a smirk.
“Hey, what is that supposed to mean!” Greg demanded.
“Not that any of us thought anyone would have enough patience to deal with Greg. Nick, you must be a saint,” Ryan teased.
“Is that anyway to treat a guest?” Greg pouted as he crossed his arms and stomped his foot.
“Come on now, guys, dinner is ready and if you keep this up you’re going to wake the baby,” Bobby ushered them into the dining room.
Dinner was a pleasant affair, though whoever made dinner couldn’t cook very well. Nick didn’t mind, the company more than made up for the overly dry chicken with too much pepper, undercooked pasta and soggy green beans. Bobby and Ryan were a cute couple, making fun of one another and finishing each other’s sentences, the Texan couldn’t help but feel a little envious of them. Greg teased them about their closeness and babbled on about work and various other topics. Nick for the most part remained quiet, only talking when questions were directed at him or when it was expected that he add his opinion. He sat there, smiling and laughing along with the others, feeling content to sit there and observe.
“Greg, Ryan, help me with these dishes,” Bobby said as he started collecting plates and silverware after dinner was finished.
Nick grabbed his own dishes but Ryan shook his head and took them. “The first time is free, so relax for a bit. Next time though we’ll have you scrubbing the kitchen floor till you can eat off of it.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nick smiled.
A soft cry came from the baby monitor and Bobby abandoned the duty of clearing the table to go check on Kari. Greg and Ryan disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Nick by himself. After sitting at the table for a couple of minutes, Nick was beginning to feel awkward at the fact that he was by himself in a house he had never been in before. Since Bobby was busy with the baby, he decided to go help Greg and Ryan with the dishes. He was about to push open the kitchen door, but he heard his name spoken in a hushed, secretive tone and he unconsciously stopped to listen.
“Are you saying that you don’t like Nicky?” Greg didn’t sound very happy.
“No, I can tell he’s a good guy and everything Bobby has told me about him from work has all been good. I’m just saying that he doesn’t seem like the type of guy you should be dating.”
“And why not?” It came out as an angry hiss, something Nick never heard before from his boyfriend.
“He’s really quiet and passive. You should be with someone more like you, someone with energy. And there’s something about him that’s just kind of off.”
“You’ve met him once! You can’t determine if he’s right for me or not. I care about Nicky, more than I’ve cared about anyone in a long time.”
A loud sigh came from Ryan. “I don’t doubt that you care for him, but is he this closed off when he’s with you? I’d imagine that you’d want someone who’s honest and talks freely to you.”
“Nicky is a shy, private person and after the things that have happened to him in the last couple of years I don’t blame him for being a little closed off. We’re taking things slow and when he’s ready he’ll open up to me,” there was a lot of confidence in Greg’s voice.
“Alright, alright, I get it. But answer this; does he put any effort towards you? Whenever you talk about you two as a couple all I ever hear is about what you’ve done for him. Greg, I just don’t want to see you stuck in a one sided relationship.”
A thick silence followed. Nick knew the answer and that knowledge rested painfully in his chest. He stumbled his way back to the dining table and numbly sat there until Bobby returned. The ballistics expert talked happily about the joys of being a parent and Nick just nodded along, pretending to listen. When Ryan and Greg finally came out of the kitchen neither of them looked very happy. Greg mumbled an excuse about something he had to do at home and soon Nick found himself sitting in a silent car with his boyfriend.
Silence was always an odd thing when it came to Greg and it only came around when one of two things happened. Either Greg was coming down from the high of an orgasm or there was something on his mind, and Nick knew it wasn’t the former that was causing this silence. The Texan didn’t attempt to say anything; he didn’t know what to say that would make things better. But when the car stopped in his driveway, Nick decided to try.
“Do you want to come in for awhile?”
“No, I … I need to figure some things out,” Greg shook his head and let out a deep breath. “I’ll see you at work, Nick.”
He almost cringed at the way Greg said his name. Nick. It had almost always been Nicky, but now he was Nick again.
Taking his cue, Nick got out of the car and for the first time since he started dating Greg, walked to his door by himself. He stood there for a moment and watched as Greg’s car pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road. Letting himself inside his townhouse, the first thing he saw was the Sanders bear sitting on his couch, waiting for someone to come keep him company. Plucking the bear off its usual spot, Nick clutched onto it as he went into his bedroom and crawled into bed.
He wondered how things could get worse.
“So, what do you think about Nick and Greg?” Catherine asked as she walked through the crime scene. Her eyes zoomed in on the broken lock of the backdoor. “Looks like the assailant came through the back and made his way to the bedroom. I’m going to see if I can lift any shoeprints.”
“I’ve got a blood trail from the bedroom to the bathroom, he might’ve cleaned up in there,” Grissom started taking pictures of the half dried blood drops on the hardwood floor. “And why am I supposed to be thinking about Nick and Greg?”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed,” Catherine threw him an exasperated look. She was itching to talk to someone about this since Sara was pleading the fifth. She had yet to corner Nick or Greg because the lab was particularly busy this summer and in the past week she had yet to draw a case with Nick. While she had a case with Warrick earlier, she had the foresight to know that Nick would rather out himself to his best friend, rather than have Catherine do it for him. However, she felt that Grissom was fair game to gossip with. “I’ve got shoeprints and I doubt they belong to the victim.”
“Why do you say that?” Grissom made his way into the bathroom to check to see if there was any blood evidence.
“Because she was a size five in women’s and these are at least a sixteen in men’s. I’ll have Brass check to see if she had a boyfriend or anyone over lately with big feet.” She placed the print in an evidence bag. “So you really haven’t noticed?”
“Noticed what, Catherine?” He called out in annoyance from the bathroom. All he wanted to do was his job, not chitchat about his coworkers, especially if it had anything to do with Nick.
“That Greg and Nick are going out.”
“What?! Why wasn’t I told about this?” Grissom stuck his head out of the bathroom to look at Catherine, who was dusting the backdoor for fingerprints. An emotion he was very unfamiliar with rose up in him, it made his chest tighten and his heart race, and he did his best to suppress it.
“Well, they haven’t announced it or anything, but I’m pretty sure they’re going out or they’ve had at least a couple wild nights together. Though knowing Greg, he’s probably dragged Nick into a relationship.” Silence followed her comment and she began to worry that gossiping with Grissom was a bad idea. “What? Are you uncomfortable with the fact that Greg and Nick might be going out?”
“The vic had a cat, right?”
Catherine rolled her eyes, “Yes, she did.”
“I found it, or at least a piece of it.”
“Man, who dumped you?”
“No one dumped me,” or at least that’s what Nick hoped.
“Well, you look like someone ran over your dog and since you don’t have a dog I assumed it was your heart that took the beating,” replied Warrick. He buttoned up his shirt and put his gun in its holster.
“It’s nothing, I didn’t sleep well, that’s all,” Nick slipped on his vest and sat down on the locker room bench to tie his shoes.
“Alright man, whatever you say.”
In a flurry of Sara Sidle patented angry, Sara came storming into the locker room and shot Nick a glare. “What the hell did you do?!”
Nick glanced at Warrick and turned to Sara. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She looked at Warrick and for one awful second, Nick believed that she was going to announce his hidden relationship with Greg to his best friend. It seemed she reconsidered and settled on intensifying her glare and giving him a warning. “This isn’t over, Stokes.” And as quickly as she appeared, she disappeared.
“So, are you going to tell me what that was about?” Warrick asked.
“Nope.”
“You just happen to bring out the best in people, huh?” Warrick snorted.
“What can I say? It’s all a part of my charm.”
Near the end of his shift, Nick was ready to go home and crash. Sara kept giving him dirty looks; Greg spoke to him only when necessary and called him Nick; Catherine was mothering him and he wondered what she felt guilty about this time; Grissom avoided him more than usual; and Warrick was just confused.
He didn’t get a match to the fingerprints at his crime scene and knew that there was nothing else he could do for the night. Looking at his watch, Nick felt relieved that the shift was over with and started towards the locker room. The Texan didn’t get very far though, he was stopped by a light touch at his elbow and his entire body froze. He knew that touch very well.
“My office,” was all Grissom said and Nick was so shocked at the physical contact that all he could do was obey.
Once they were in Grissom’s office, Grissom closed the door and looked at the Texan with the same gaze he used for suspects. As a reflex, Nick began to talk about his case. “Couldn’t get a match on the fingerprints or the DNA. Vega said that none of the neighbors saw anything and the vic …”
“Are you and Greg in a relationship?” Nick winced at the question, Grissom always had away with small talk.
“We’ve been seeing each other,” he chose his words carefully, he didn’t want to fall into a trap that his boss was more than certain to lay.
“And you two are still seeing each other?”
Nick hesitated and he knew that Grissom picked up on it right away. “Yes, we are.”
“You don’t sound very confident about that.”
Nick gritted his teeth, angry that Grissom was suddenly taking an interest in him now that he had been dating Greg. He was even angrier that Gil could still read him. “Ya know, Grissom, none of this is yer damn business. So, I’d ‘preciate it if you didn’t stick yer nose in my personal life!” he snapped. Then his eyes widened a bit, realizing that his accent had thickened.
Grissom made note of this as well. “Whenever you get upset over something your accent gets heavier. Now what’s causing you to get this worked up?”
“I’m not upset. It’s been a bad day and I just want to go home to get some sleep.” He made sure to hold back his accent this time.
“Did he hurt you?” Gil’s voice was soft in a way that Nick had never heard it before; it was a tone that he could only describe as deep, genuine concern. The feather light touch of Gil’s hands ghosted over Nick’s arms as his boss moved closer to him. The touch became more solid as Gil murmured, “He did, didn’t he?”
Nick jerked violently away from his boss, his heart was racing. “Not anymore than you did.” And with that he fled the office without bothering to take a glance at Gil to see his reaction. On his way out, he nearly ran into Sara and his heart twisted at the sight of her for more than one reason.
“We need to talk,” her voice was stern and left little room for argument, but Nick decided to argue anyway.
“I can’t, not now. I have to go home.”
She grabbed his arm and hissed, “No, we need to talk.”
“I have to go.” He wrenched his arm away from her and nearly ran to the parking lot.
He couldn’t sleep. Instead he was in bed, curled up around his Sanders bear, playing with the bear’s mohawk. He didn’t like to admit it, but he desperately missed Greg. Still, there was a part of him that told Nick that he should be relieved that Greg had broken it off before Nick became even more attached. It whispered to him that sooner or later Greg would have realized that he could do much better than Nick and it was for the best that it all happened sooner. Nick was too passive and knew too little about relationships to ever make the lab tech truly happy, soon Greg would move on and find someone better suited for him and become much happier than he ever was with Nick.
And what about the whole incident with Gil? Was Gil jealous? That’s what it looked like, but Nick knew it couldn’t be true. Maybe Grissom had stopped whatever it was he had been doing with Sara and was taking a new stance on relationships in the workplace. Still, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him.
The repeated ringing of his doorbell and frantic knocking at his door snapped Nick out of his musings. Slipping on a bathrobe, Nick made his way to the front door, unsurprised to see Greg standing there.
“You look awful.”
“Hi to you too.” Nick headed for his kitchen to make some coffee, leaving the door open for Greg to come in.
Greg followed him, standing in the doorway, unsure if he could get any closer, “I’m sorry, I just meant that it doesn’t look like you’ve gotten a whole lot of sleep, which is probably my fault … Look, I’m a jerk, a really big jerk.”
Nick didn’t reply, he turned on his coffee maker and watched as coffee dripped into the pot, keeping his back to Greg.
“Okay, I can understand why you’d be ticked off at me, as I said before, I’m a jerk. I got worked up about things that don’t matter and I should’ve known better. I guess seeing Bobby and Ryan with their perfect relationship made me a little jealous, but I realized that what’s perfect for them isn’t what’s perfect for us. I was stupid and I listened to some things Ryan said and I shouldn’t have. He got me thinking that this was a one sided relationship, but I know it’s not. I know you do put in a lot of effort into this relationship just by trusting me.”
“You should be with someone better. I’m a bad boyfriend,” Nick whispered.
“No, you’re not,” Greg insisted as he stepped forward and put his hands on Nick’s shoulders. “Nicky, you’re amazing. Whenever I’m with you I can’t get over the fact that you’d waste your time on me.”
“Greg …”
“No, listen to me. I know you don’t see how wonderful you are and I know that you’re waiting for me to leave you.” Nick stiffened at this statement, but Greg continued, “By acting like a complete and utter jerk I proved you right, I proved to you that I’d hurt you. For now on though, I’m going to prove you wrong.”
Nick turned around to face Greg and wrapped his arms around the younger man’s shoulders, pressing his face against Greg’s neck. “Don’t do that again. Please, don’t do that again.”
“I won’t, baby, I won’t. I’m so sorry.” The lab tech pulled Nick closer to him, resting one hand on his hip and the other rubbed the spot between his shoulder blades. They stood like that for several minutes, and then Greg said, “You know, I didn’t see the teddy bear I gave you on the couch when I came in.”
“He’s somewhere else,” came Nick’s muffled reply.
“Oh?”
“He’s in my bed.”
“Well, maybe I can take his place,” the lab tech grinned.
Lifting up his head, the Texan smiled back at his boyfriend. “Maybe you can.”
To Be Continued