Fic: Ghosts, Chapter 13 (CSI, Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders)
Title: Ghosts, Chapter 13
Fandom: CSI
Pair: Nick Stokes / Greg Sanders
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
Spoilers: Play With Fire
CSI Las Vegas Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Warrick stared at Nick over the table. Nick’s hands were shaking against the mug
he was holding. His eyes were bloodshot, and lined with dark circles.
“Pull yourself together, man. Shift starts in ten minutes.”
“I’m fine.”
“No you’re not. You’ve been walking around like a zombie for the last three months.”
Warrick consider for a minute if he should be more specific, and decided to say it.
“Ever since Anders left.”
“Stay out of it.”
“Nick, everyone’s seen it. You’re late more often you’re on time,
you look like you haven’t slept for weeks and you reek of old boozy. People are
worried about you.”
“I’m doing my job, that’s all they need to know.”
“Grissom is gonna add another three months to his sabbatical, so Rains will stay
in charge for now. You know that if you screw up, she’s not gonna cover for you.”
“Hello, boys.” Rachel walked in and handed both of them a stack of papers. “The
new shift list. Read and weep. There’s been few changes. And Stokes?”
“What?”
“You look like hell.” She spotted a group of lab techs on the other side of the
corridor and aimed for them.
“What did I tell you? People notice.”
Nick wasn’t listening anymore. His eyes were fixed on the copy in front of him.
He grabbed it and rushed out. A minute later Sara marched in.
“What the hell is this? Some kind of a joke?”
“What?” Warrick turned to look at her.
“This.” Sara slammed a paper on the table. It was a copy of the shift list. “Check
tonight’s names.”
He took the paper and read it. He frowned and read it again. “Nicholas Stokes,
Warrick Brown, Sara Sidle, Gregory Sanders….” He paused. “What the hell…”
“That’s exactly what I said.” Sara agreed. “If that’s a joke, it’s pretty sick.”
“Who’s sick? Hey Sara.” A familiar voice greeted them from the door. Greg gave
them a wide smile and leaned against the doorframe. He looked tanned and his
hair was back to it’s old blond spikes.
Sara didn’t answer. She didn’t say anything. Her eyes rolled back and she fell
on the floor.
-------------------------------------------
Nick paced back and forth in his living room. It was dark outside. Night-time. He
should be working, but he couldn’t go back. He just couldn’t. His cell phone kept
ringing. It ended laying on the floor in pieces, after it had been thrown against
the wall. Nick wanted to calm down but his restless limbs didn’t like the idea.
Finally he gave into temptation and pulled a bottle of scotch from the cabinet.
An hour later he had passes out on the couch.
-------------------------------------------
Nick wasn’t sure what time it was. He had woken because of a noise, but he wasn’t
sure what it was. The throbbing in his head didn’t make thinking any easier.Then
he realised what is was. The doorbell.
He grumbled up from the couch to answer it but regretted it as soon as he saw
who was at his door. Greg.
“Hey. Can I come in?”
Nick didn’t answer. He moved to the side to let him in.
“I know I shouldn’t have just shown up like that, but I didn’t wanna break it to
you over the phone.”
Still no answer.
“You should have seen Sara, she actually fainted.” Greg babbled nervously. “When
I came here under a different name she just gave me a weird look. When I used my
own name she fainted. As far as she and Warrick know, I just got back from Lyon.”
“What are you doing here?”
“They told me you left before the shift even started. But… I would have come
here anyway.”
“Why?”
“I know I said it on that letter, but I wanted to apologise. I didn’t treat you
very well.”
“You tricked me to think you were somebody else, I fell for you and you just
took off.”
“I know.”
“I mean….” Nick tried to control his voice. “If you wanted to hurt me for some
reason, couldn’t you just drive over with a car or something?”
“Nick, I never wanted to hurt you. Never. You have no idea how guilty it made me
feel. I… I’m seeing somebody.”
“And you wanted rub my face in it?”
“No, I mean a therapist. And now that I’m here she directed me to this local doc.
I probably should have done this right after the explosion. Maybe thing would
have turned out differently.
“But they didn’t. So, you’re back. You have a job at the lab. What do you want
from me? You want to jump into bed so you could dump me again?”
“No.” Greg sighed. “I don’t expect us to be even friend after all that.” He walked
to the living room and picked up the nearly empty bottle from the table. “Warrick
told me about this.”
Nick broke into a hysterical laughter. “You’re unbelievable. You play people like
puppets and you think you have a right to judge me because I take a drink now
and then.”
“According to him it’s not just now and then. And I’m not judging you, I’m really
not in a position judge. I’m worried about you, Warrick`s worried about you.”
“I don’t need your worries. Or his.”
“Apparently you do.”
“You screw with my head and now you want to help me? It would have been better
if you had really been dead.”
Nick froze as soon as the words were out of his mouth. His eyes started to tear
up.“I didn’t… I didn’t mean….”
“I know. What do you want me to do? What does it take?” Greg took few steps
closer to him. “You wanna hit me? Go ahead.”
“Greg, don’t.”
“I’m serious. You wanna do, then do it. Come on.”
“I mean it, don’t do that.”
“You’re mad at me, you`re hurt, do something.”
That was the last straw. Nick grabbed Greg by his shoulders and slammed him against
the wall. He place his hand on both sides of him, locking Greg between him and the
wall.
“Why do you do that? Every time you come here I don’t know what I’m supposed
to do. I want to hate you.”
“Let it out.”
Nick grabbed him by the shoulder again and pushed hard against the wall, over and
over again. “I loved you and you left. I love you and you come to see if there’s
something left to destroy.” He emphasised every word with a push.
“I want to hate you…” His voice and pushes had lost their anger. Now he seemed just
exhausted. Tears were running freely down his face. He pressed his forehead against
Greg’s and cried.
TBC