Fic: Advanced Classes, Chapter 1 (CSI, Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders, Warrick Brown)
Title: Advanced Classes, Chapter 1
Pairing: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders,
Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders / Warrick Brown
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
CSI Las Vegas Main List
Sequel to Easy Lessons:
Chapter 1/3
Chapter 2/3
Chapter 3/3, Part I (NC-17)
Chapter 3/3, Part II(NC-17)
Epilogue
“Nick? Hello, anyone there?”
Nick snapped back to reality. Catherine was waving her hand in front of his face.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just… got distracted.”
“Distracted?” Catherine turned around to see what he had been looking at. The lobby was half full of people. The receptionist was handing Grissom his messages, few of the lab technicians were heading for their break, Warrick was talking to the man pushing the mail cart, and Greg was standing in front of a glass wall, using the reflective surface as a mirror, and fluffed himself like a prize-winning poodle. Greg noticed her looks and bounced closer.
“What do you think?”
“Definitely an improvement.” She stated and took a closer look at his new style. The spikes were gone and so was the bleached blonde colour. His hair was now light brown with golden highlights, falling down his forehead and slightly curly.
“Don’t know about that, but I thought it was time for a change. Or maybe hanging out with Nicky is making me more stable and conservative.” Greg grinned like a manic. “Next I’ll get some leather shoes, stripy tie and a sweater vest.”
“If you start wearing sweater vests in Vegas, you’ll get fried in the sun.”
“It gets cold at night!”
“Not that cold. Besides, no one under fifty uses them anymore.”
“I could sooooo rock the sweater style…”
“Go ahead and try and make sure to tell me in advance. I want to be there to take some pictures for the department newsletter.” She turned on her heels, accessorising her departure with a hair flip and left.
“Should somebody finally tell her she’s getting a bit long in the tooth for that?”
“I wouldn’t… she can be scary when she’s mad.” Nick commented. He tried to resist the urge to touch Greg’s curly locks. “I still can’t get over how different you look.”
“I’ve had great reviews already. That blond in the cafeteria called them sinful and that old blue haired thing at the achieves said I look like that dude from Doors.”
“The band or the movie?”
“The band. I think… This is kinda exciting. You’re the only one from the lab who has seen me Au Natural. Well, you and Warrick. And when you got so much going for you, why bother with the hair? It’s like putting make-up on a peacock or painting stick figures on a luxury liner.”
“And why bother with the hair when your ego takes most of the attention.”
“Anyway, I’ll save a lot of time now, it used to take half an hour to do my hair.”
“I know, I had to wait outside the bathroom door, because you can’t do your hair when I’m doing my business.”
“I will not share the bathroom, unless we’re talking about sex or shower. Or both. Believe me, seeing you on the toilet is where the romance ends.”
“It’s a natural thing! Me and my siblings had to share the john all the time, someone brushed his teeth and someone else was relieving himself. Nothing wrong with that.”
“It’s unnatural.” Greg frowned and a shiver went through him. “Bathroom was invented so people could spend some time alone. Otherwise we would be doing that stuff in the desert and get eaten by a wild moose.”
“Have you ever seen a moose?”
“Okay, a wild bear. There’s bears in Nevada!”
“In the zoo and the animal sanctuary. The chances of encountering a wild bear-” Nick felt a quotation coming and he snapped his mouth shut.
“You were gonna quote something from the Discovery channel again, weren’t you?” Greg laughed and pulled his ringing cellphone from his pocket. “It`s like talking to yourself out loud, people think you’re crazy. Sanders.” He wandered out of the lobby throwing lengthy babbles to the phone.
Nick was about to follow him when he remembered what had disturbed him before. He marched to the counter where Warrick was tapping a message on his phone.
“Rick?”
“Hold on a minute… Okay I’m done.” Warrick snapped his phone shut.
“Got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“Not here.” Nick nodded to the direction of the break room and Warrick followed him. The break room was empty and Nick closed the door as soon as they walked in.
“So what’s up?”
“I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just say what’s on my mind.”
“Shoot, man.”
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I was gonna take a break and get some food.”
“With that kid in the lobby.”
“We were talking.”
“I know when you’re just talking, and that wasn’t it.”
“How’s that any of your business?”
“Normally it’s not, and I wouldn’t even say anything, but what you’re doing is not normal. You really think I don’t see what you’re doing?”
“Yeah. And he’s legal.”
“Barely.” Nick scoffed. “Who do you think you’re fooling? That kid looks a bit like Greg and you’re there like a lightning.”
“You said it yourself: Vegas is full of guys and Greg’s the only one off-limits. I’m just following your lead.”
“You can go to a bar and pick someone up, but you can’t take it to the lab!”
“Says the guy who’s been sleeping with a co-worker for almost a year.” Warrick snapped and poured himself a cup of lukewarm coffee from the pot.
“That has nothing to do with this. Greg and I both knew what we were getting into, but that kid doesn’t. You can’t play some kinda mind games with him, when you have to see him every day.”
“Stay out of it.”
“No. When we go bar hopping you disappear somewhere with some kid you met, when we went for breakfast you put moves on the waiter, and so on and so on. You know what that means as well as I do. That’s a pattern.”
“I’m still new to this, I can play the field if I want to. Just because you and Sanders are playing an old married couple doesn’t mean everyone has to.”
“You’ve been going on like that for three months.”
Warrick shot him an unreadable glare, but his expression made it clear he knew what Nick had meant. It had been over three months since Warrick had spent a night with him and Greg.
“And when we took you to that bar for the first time you took off with that kid.” Nick nodded. “Don’t think I didn’t notice what he looked like. Greg didn’t see it, but I did.”
“Jamie.” Warrick stated with a grim tone.
“What?”
“His name was Jamie. I remember that.”
“You remember any of those other guys?”
“No.”
“That should really tell you something. I don’t know what you should do about it, but leave that kid alone. He’s not Greg and you’re just going to hurt him.”
“I don’t do anything they don’t want!”
“That’s not the point! You can screw as many Greg-clones you want, but it’s not gonna help you.”
Warrick eyes wandered over Nick’s shoulder and he froze.
“Warrick?” Nick followed his line of sight to the break room door where Greg was staring them with his mouth open. All three men waited for someone to break the silence, but none of them did.
Finally Greg seemed to pull his head back together and pocketed his cellphone with a shaky hand.
“Greg?” Nick said carefully. “How much did you hear?”
“I… I think… Funny how people don’t see or hear what’s happening right next to them when they’re agitated.” Greg let out a long sigh. “Who am I to talk about it, I don’t see stuff that’s happening right in front of me.”
“We didn’t mean-”
“How long have you known about it?”
Nick shot a sideway glance at Warrick.
“About Warrick`s one-time fucks?” Nick tried, but Greg’s glare made it clear it wasn’t working.
“You know what I’m talking about, so don’t try that. When did you figure it out? Before or after?”
“I didn’t-”
“It’s a simple question, Nicky. One word: Before or after.”
Nick turned to look at Warrick, but the man seemed too embarrassed to be helpful.
“Before.”
“Before.” Greg repeated. He bit his bottom lip and let out a small chuckle. “You knew and didn’t tell me.”
“It didn’t matter-”
“It would have mattered if I had known!” Greg exclaimed. “You let me go on and on and you let me make a fool of myself.”
“You didn’t.” Warrick interrupted. He looked down at his coffee cup. “I made a fool of myself, not you.”
Chapter 2