Fic: Behind The Scenes, Chapter 3 (CSI/CSI NY/CSI Miami, Ryan / Eric, Nick / Greg, Hawkes / Flack)
Title: Behind the Scenes, Chapter 3
Pairing: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders,
Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko,
Don Flack / Sheldon Hawkes
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Summery: Six months later. Some things have changed, some things are exactly the same.
Sequel to Soaps R Us:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7
Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 (NC-17)
Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20
Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Epilogue
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
“Jack?” Greg walked into his office and spotted the man sitting on his desk. “What’s with the long face?”
“I got a call this morning. You wouldn’t believe how slowly information goes uphill.”
“I would. What’s going on?”
“Actually it includes Hawkes. Since you’re closer to him, I thought it would be better if you told him about it.”
“Is it about the new promos?”
“No, nothing like that. This is personal.”
Greg took a step back to close the door.
“I’m listening.”
------------------------------------------
“Do that, and I’ll call off the whole thing.” Ryan threatened. “I can marry a guy, who has to call his mother three times a week and attend Sunday supper every week, but this is non-negotiable.”
“Ryan-”
“Don’t even try. That…. thing is just too hideous.”
“What’s wrong with a Hawaiian shirt?”
“Beside the fact that it’s incredibly ugly?”
“It will look good in the pictures!”
“Eric….” Ryan let out a frustrated sigh. “Think very carefully: Do you want to look at your wedding picture twenty years from now and cringe?”
“Fine, I’ll go shirtless.”
“No, you’re not. I’ll choose, you’ll wear.”
“Sounds like a regular day….”
“I’ve never dictated what you can wear, I just threw away some old trash.”
“You threw away all my flower shirts! They were my thing!”
“Get your thing in those and stop whining.” Ryan tossed him a pair of white slacks and a white short-sleeved dress shirt. “I’ll wear the same.”
“Identical white clothes and a ceremony on the beach?” Eric chuckled. “I think I saw this once in the show… Enrique’s second wedding, three years ago.”
“You planned the whole beach-thing. You got your ring?”
“Yep, you?”
“Safe and sound. Nothing girly, right?”
“What?” Eric pulled his shirt on and gave him a confused look.
“The rings. We agreed to keep them simple.”
“Yeah, I kept it simple.”
“Good.”
“Just a little heart.”
“Heart?”
“Yeah, outlined with those pink little stones, whatever they’re called, and then there is-”
“You better be kidding.”
“I am.” Eric grinned. “I remembered your guidelines.”
“I didn’t give you guideline, just some good advices.”
“You said and I quote: No stones, no hearts and if you get me something girly, I’ll dump you at the altar.”
“It’s better to make it clear who calls the shots before taking the plunge.”
------------------------------------------
“Are you in?” Greg peeked his head into Hawkes`s office. “Or should I ask: Are you awake?”
“Barely.” Hawkes lifted his head from his desk bringing along a post-it note that was hanging on to his forehead. “I fell asleep after five, slept four hours and then I overslept. I missed my meeting and I haven’t even had coffee yet…”
“Cancel whatever you have, we have to go to the hospital.”
“Hospital?
“Jack Malone came to see me, he thought it would be better I told you about this.”
“About what?”
“They got a call this morning about a vehicle that was registered to the studio.” He picked up a ceramic mug filled with pens and tapped it nervously. “They weren’t sure who to inform, they called him.”
“Why are telling me about it?”
“The vehicle was involved in an accident yesterday. The driver didn’t have IDs with him, so they checked the license plates.”
Hawkes pulled off his glasses and blinked few times.
“Do you know who was driving?”
“Are you fishing for another name, or are you just trying to avoid hearing it?”
“Say it.”
“The car was signed out by Don.”
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“When did it happen?”
“Around five.”
“So he… He’s been in the hospital since yesterday.” He paused. “Right?”
“Right.”
“Hospital, not… that other place?”
“Not that other place.”
“Is he…?”
“Is he what?”
“Seriously….”
“…injured? I don’t know, but they’ve been keeping him under heavy medication, so it has to be pretty bad. That’s why they couldn’t confirm his identity himself.”
“But he’s not….?”
“Can you finish even one of your questions by yourself?” Greg frowned. “I had very little sleep and I come to work and the first thing I hear is this. I’m not exactly on my sunniest right now.”
“You’re not at your sunniest? Don’s in a hospital and somehow this is about you?”
“No, this is about you.”
“You’re blaming me?”
“Who do you think I should blame?” Greg’s tone was turned heated and he sounded like an engine gearing up the maximum speed. “The other driver? I can’t, because he really is in that other place. Don? No, because the other guy was drunk and driving on the wrong lane. You? He wouldn’t have been driving if you hadn’t put up your prima donna act once again.”
“I didn’t put him in that car!”
“He took that car, because he didn’t want to drive home with you!” Greg slammed the mug against the edge of the desk. Pens and little pieces of ceramic flew all over the floor. “Nick said you didn’t answer when he called you. One call and this wouldn’t have happened.”
Greg took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. Hawkes had pressed his back against the backrest of his chair to get further away from him.
“I think I’ll do what he did and take my own care.” Greg finally stated. “If we got on the same vehicle right now, it wouldn’t end well.”
------------------------------------------
“No.”
“Querido….”
“No.”
“Just one….”
“You’ve already had one.”
“I need something to calm me down.”
“And Mai Tai would do the trick? You’re not getting another one.”
“I’m a grown man, I know my limits.”
“Where have I heard that before? Oh right, at my friend’s Christmas party.”
“Not that story again….”
“They still haven’t found a new chandelier to replace-”
“A soda?”
“You can have a soda.” Ryan gestured at the bartender. “But make sure you don’t spill on your shirt.”
“You shouldn’t even see me before the wedding.”
“We’re in a bar waiting for the priest to finish with the previous couple. The same priest who by the way performs Elvis impressions three nights a week in that comedy club down the road. We’re not that traditional anyway, so don’t worry about being seen.”
“And you did a lot of looking last night, so it’s late anyway.”
“Actually, I didn’t see much, there was too much soap bubbles.”
“You forgot the best bit.” Eric received his soda from the bartender and took a sip.
“Some of the things we’ve done, are the kind of stuff traditional people wouldn’t even consider before their ten year anniversary.”
Chapter 4 (NC-17)