Whoops - part three
Whoops: Whoops
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: NC 17
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Disclaimer: CSI belongs to CBS.
Summary: When watching ep 3x17 - 'Crash and Burn' I couldn't help but notice that Nick and Hodges were awfully hostile with each other and here's my take on why.
Greg had been sitting in his lab, finishing off the leftovers from day shift for over an hour now. It would be another hour or so before he got any work of his own to do and right now he was waiting for the evidence to finish processing, and so he decided to go get himself some coffee.
When he walked into the break room, he was a little surprised to see Nick sitting there.
“Hey, what you still doing here?”
“Paperwork,” Nick said as he stopped writing and looked up at him, “I have two outstanding reports and Gris says I have to finish them before I can start something else.”
“Ah, I see,” Greg said as he went to the coffee pot, threw out it’s contents and began brewing his own, “You nearly finished?” he asked.
“Almost,” Nick said, his head bent again as he wrote another couple of sentences and then, with an accomplished grin snapped the folder shut and sat back in his seat, holding up his mug to Greg for a refill, “Now I just have to wait for someone to commit a crime.”
Greg smiled and took his mug from him, sitting it next to his own as he leaned against the worktop, “So are you still okay with this?” Greg asked him.
Nick nodded, “I’m actually finding it kinda fun. Cath and Sara are just itching to quiz me about it but know they can’t with Grissom around. They interfere so much with my personal life that it’s actually kind of hilarious to see them looking completely helpless.”
“Don’t be so mean,” Greg said, “They’ll never forgive you if they find out the truth.”
Nick shrugged, “I’m a big boy, I think I can handle them.”
Shaking his head in amusement, Greg turned back to the coffee and poured him and Nick a cup. As he handed Nick his coffee, he decided to sit down next to him, not opposite him and flung his feet across his lap.
“Greg?” Nick asked as he looked down at the legs on top of his.
“Nick,” Greg said back, sipping at his coffee.
Nick raised an eyebrow at him and was about to tell him to remove his legs when Archie stormed into the break room.
“Right,” he said as he sat down opposite them, “I want details. Now.”
“Uh, what?” Nick asked.
“As Greg’s roommate and supposed best friend, everyone keeps asking me about you two and giving me a hard time when I tell them I know nothing. So please, make life easier for me and give me details.”
“Well,” Greg began but stopped when Archie held his hand up.
“It’ll be better if I record it,” he said, placing a dictaphone on the table, “Make it easier for me when I’m typing it up.”
“Please tell me you aren’t still blogging about my sex life,” Greg said with an exaggerated sigh.
“No. I’m blogging about my life, you are part of that and I want people to know the truth. Plus, if I blog about it I can just redirect everyone there instead of have them queuing at the door to my lab.”
“I’m not answering any questions on tape,” Nick said, picking up his coffee again and subconsciously resting his free hand on top of Greg’s legs.
“Why not?” Archie asked, “Are you ashamed or something?”
“No,” Nick said flatly, “Now turn the tape off.”
Archie sighed and turned it off before looking back up at them expectantly.
“Well what do you want to know?” Greg asked finally.
“When you went to Nick’s this morning, was that the first time you’d had sex or have you been sleeping with each other longer than you’ve been dating?”
“You’re kidding me right?” Nick asked.
“No.”
Greg gave a theatrical sigh before answering, “You remember about a month and a half ago when I went on that blind date and never came home?”
“Yeah,” Archie nodded then snapped his head to look at Nick, “He was the blind date?”
“No,” Greg said, “I got stood up. But Nick was there with the date from hell. When she went to the bathroom, he asked me to use my cell to page him so that he could pretend he had to go to work. When he left, I left with him, we went to another bar, then back to Nick’s and well… you get the idea.”
“Really?” Archie asked, a smile on his lips now, “So then you decided to start dating?”
“More or less,” Greg said with a nod.
Turning to Nick, Archie let the smile fall from his face as he got serious, “So, is it all just about sex for you or do you actually care about him?”
“What kind of question is that?” Nick asked, looking horrified, “Of course I care about him.”
“Oh, so the sex isn’t that good then?”
“That is none of your business,” Nick told him, thanking the gods when his pager went off, “Oh would you look at that, I got a 419 out in Henderson,” he added as he stood, “I would love to stay and chat Archie, but duty calls.”
Picking up his finished reports, he put them under his arm before bending down and giving Greg a small kiss on the lips, “I’ll catch you later Babe.”
Greg nodded, “Remember what I said about the police officers, if they give you a hard time.”
“I know,” Nick nodded, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
As he made to walk out of the room, Archie spoke once more, “When you get back, come see me. We still have to have that, you hurt him, I hurt you talk.”
“Sure,” Nick said with a shake of his head, thankful to just get out of there. Archie was beginning to scare him a bit.
“Was that really necessary?” Greg asked once Nick was gone.
“Greg, I’ve stood back and watched you get hurt more times than I can count. I won’t do it again.”
“Arch, you don’t have to protect me. I’m a grown man.”
“Yeah, and you’re also my best friend,” Archie said as he stood, “Just tell me you’re happy.”
“I’m happy,” Greg said with a nod.
“And if he hurts you?”
“I promise to let you beat him up.”
“Good,” Archie said with a nod, “Now, the girls want to know so I have to ask, how good is he?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Nick arrived at the scene he was slightly touched to see Grissom standing waiting for him, ready to protect him from what ever remarks the officers might make.
“You finish your reports?” Grissom asked him.
“On your desk, waiting to be signed off,” Nick told him with a nod as he began to follow him into the house.
He wasn’t sure if it was actually happening or if he was just imagining it, but he was sure that he was being stared at by everyone there. That couldn’t possibly be true though. He had to be imagining it. But still, it put him a little on edge.
Detective Lockwood led them into the house, not even looking at Nick differently as he explained the situation, which made Nick feel at ease slightly. When they saw the son’s room, he couldn’t help but think that it probably looked a lot like what Greg’s room had looked like as a boy. In fact, his room probably still looked the same. He supposed he’d find out soon.
“Does Greg know how you feel about science geeks?” Grissom asked him with a smile as they made their way to the master bedroom.
“He knows how I feel about him if that’s what you’re asking,” Nick said, making Grissom’s eyes light up slightly.
When they stepped into the bedroom, David was there, doing his thing, explaining his findings to them both and standing back to allow them to take their photographs and answering their questions. When Grissom went to go outside to speak to the husband and call in David’s assistant, David turned to Nick.
“I hear a congratulations is in order,” he said.
Nick rolled his eyes, “We’re dating, not getting married,” he told him as he started to look around the room.
“True, but Doc Robbins and I have been worried about you for some time. It’s not good to spend so much time on your own. We’re both very happy for you.”
Nick turned to look at David, feeling slightly touched by the sincerity in his voice not to mention face. He really was one of the sweetest guys you could meet and he was the first person that Nick actually felt bad about lying to, “Thanks,” he said quietly, “That means a lot.”
“What are friends for if not to support you?” David asked.
Nick nodded, “You’ve been seeing your girlfriend a while now right?” he asked.
“Four months,” David told him, “Why?”
“Maybe we could double date or something,” he said, “I’d like to meet the girl that finally managed to tame the elusive David Phillips.”
David smiled at that, “Sure. I’d like to properly meet Greg too. I’ve only ever seen him in passing before.”
“He’ll probably be full of morbid questions for you,” Nick said, “So prepare yourself.”
“Will do,” David said just as his assistant and Lockwood stepped back into the room.
As they began to move the body, Nick turned and began to investigate the room again, looking for some sort of clue as to what had gone on here.
After the body was gone, Grissom had yet to return and so Nick just carried on processing the room, aware of Lockwood watching them. However, it wasn’t until he had pulled a sample of charcoal from the fire place, and stuck his head up the chimney to find the dampener broken that Lockwood finally dropped all pretence of being interested in Nick’s findings.
“Stokes, I don’t know if you know, but there’s a rumour going about that you’re gay,” he said quietly.
“Is there?” Nick asked, pocketing his sample and lifting up his camera to take pictures of inside the chimney.
“You’re not are you?” Lockwood asked him.
“No. I’m not,” Nick said before bending back over to take his pictures.
Lockwood was silent for a moment before he spoke again, “It’s just that, everyone’s saying you’re dating some Swedish guy from the lab.”
Nick couldn’t help but smile at that. Greg would have a fit if he knew that people were calling him Swedish.
“Actually, he’s of Norwegian descent,” he said as he crawled back out of the fireplace, “Born and raised in California. And he’s the supervisor of the DNA lab.”
Lockwood looked absolutely shocked, “But you just said…”
“I’m not gay,” Nick told him, “But I never said I was straight either.”
“Oh,” Lockwood said, “Well. I uh, I should go make sure everything outside is under control.”
“You do that,” Nick said with a smile, actually finding it rather funny at the speed that Lockwood ran out at.
He was only gone for a couple of minutes before Grissom appeared, “What’s up with Lockwood?”
Nick just shrugged, “Who knows,” he said before turning to Grissom and informing him of his findings.
~*~*~*~*~*~
As Nick walked back into the lab, Greg heard him before he saw him. He was discussing his case with Grissom. Something about smoke inhalation. Whatever it was, Grissom cut him off, taking some of the evidence off him.
“I’ll take these to Hodges, you take those to Greg then meet me in my office so we can go over this,” he said before walking away from Nick.
Nick didn’t think anything of it and carried on his way to the DNA lab, coming in the a few samples for Greg.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“How was your dead body?” Greg asked him as he pulled off the gloves he’d been using to process Catherine and Warrick’s evidence.
“Pink,” Nick told him.
Greg smiled, realising now why they were talking about smoke inhalation, “I see. And what’s this?”
“Blood samples,” Nick told him, “One’s from the DB, the other is from the husband, who survived.”
“Let me guess, you want me to run a tox screen on them?” Greg asked.
“Please,” Nick nodded.
“You know, I can’t keep doing both the DNA samples and the tox samples,” Greg said as he picked up the samples and put them onto the worktop he’d reserved for tox screening, “You need to hire someone else.”
“Greg, I’m just the messenger,” Nick said, “Talk to Gris about it, or better still, talk to Ecklie. You are the supervisor in here, it is your job.”
Greg rolled his eyes, “Hardly a supervisor. There are only two other DNA techs. And besides, Ecklie hardly listens to me when it comes to equipment and sampling techniques. You think he’ll listen to me about this?”
Nick sighed, “Fine, I’ll have a word with Grissom. Maybe he can speak to Ecklie about it.”
“Thanks,” Greg said, “I appreciate it,” he added.
“Sure, I gotta go meet up with Grissom, I’ll catch you later.”
“Nick, wait,” Greg said just before be stepped out of the lab.
“Yeah?”
“How did it go?” Greg asked him, “With PD I mean.”
“Oh. It went okay. A couple of them looked at me a bit weird but as far as I’m aware none of them know anything for sure. It’s all just a rumour at the moment,” Nick explained.
“So no one said anything?”
“Well, Detective Lockwood asked me about the rumour I was dating some Swedish guy.”
Greg’s jaw dropped in mock horror, “Well I hope you told him that I am not Swedish,” he said.
Nick couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, I told him. But to be honest, I think it’s the whole ‘guy’ thing that concerns them, not your heritage.”
Greg stared at him for a moment, “But he didn’t react badly or anything?”
“No. It was fine Greg. Stop worrying.”
Greg nodded, “Okay, but if you want to stop this at any time, you know you just…”
“I’ll let you know,” Nick said, smiling at him again as he finally turned and left.
After his meeting with Grissom, Nick relocated to the break room where he sat down with one of the chemistry books in there to see if he could try and figure out what variables had effected the wife more than the husband. And that’s where Warrick found him.
“Well if it isn’t Don Jaun,” he said as he made to pour himself some coffee.
Nick snorted in amusement, “You talking about yourself again Rick?”
Warrick smiled, “So you gonna tell me what the hell is going on with you and Greg?”
Nick shrugged, “Not much to tell.”
“Well you could clear up the whole gay thing for a start,” Warrick said as he sat down.
“I’m not gay,” Nick told him.
“So you’re bi?” Warrick asked, to which Nick nodded, “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Nick shrugged, “No one needed to know before,” he told him, “A lot of people find it difficult to deal with someone they’re close to coming out of the closet. I didn’t want to put anyone through that kind of distress unnecessarily.”
Warrick frowned, “So what’s different about this time? You and Greg in love or something?” he asked seriously.
Nick couldn’t help but laugh, “Technically, we haven’t actually told anyone. If Hodges hadn’t gone and asked Greg out, then Greg wouldn’t have had to tell him that he was dating someone and then Hodges wouldn’t have spread the rumour and Cath wouldn’t have put two and two together.”
“And you two would still be living in secret,” Warrick finished, “Weren’t you miserable, hiding your affection from each other?”
“You’ve dated girls from the lab right?” Nick asked to which Warrick nodded, “And each time it never lasted very long. Why?”
“It was like living in a fish bowl. People kept watching us, wanting to know the latest gossip. There was too much pressure.”
“Exactly,” Nick said. He watched as realisation dawned on Warrick. He didn’t like lying to him either, but he had been pestering Nick to get back out there and start dating again for a while and so he was just thankful to get him off his back.
“Okay, well, I just hope your happy man and that it works out.”
“Thanks,” Nick said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go see if my trace results are back yet.”
“Hodges page you?” Warrick asked.
“No,” Nick said, “But I doubt he would anyway. We’re not exactly talking at the moment,” he added before picking up his file and heading out of the room.
TBC
Author: Ru_salki99
Rating: NC 17
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Disclaimer: CSI belongs to CBS.
Summary: When watching ep 3x17 - 'Crash and Burn' I couldn't help but notice that Nick and Hodges were awfully hostile with each other and here's my take on why.
Greg had been sitting in his lab, finishing off the leftovers from day shift for over an hour now. It would be another hour or so before he got any work of his own to do and right now he was waiting for the evidence to finish processing, and so he decided to go get himself some coffee.
When he walked into the break room, he was a little surprised to see Nick sitting there.
“Hey, what you still doing here?”
“Paperwork,” Nick said as he stopped writing and looked up at him, “I have two outstanding reports and Gris says I have to finish them before I can start something else.”
“Ah, I see,” Greg said as he went to the coffee pot, threw out it’s contents and began brewing his own, “You nearly finished?” he asked.
“Almost,” Nick said, his head bent again as he wrote another couple of sentences and then, with an accomplished grin snapped the folder shut and sat back in his seat, holding up his mug to Greg for a refill, “Now I just have to wait for someone to commit a crime.”
Greg smiled and took his mug from him, sitting it next to his own as he leaned against the worktop, “So are you still okay with this?” Greg asked him.
Nick nodded, “I’m actually finding it kinda fun. Cath and Sara are just itching to quiz me about it but know they can’t with Grissom around. They interfere so much with my personal life that it’s actually kind of hilarious to see them looking completely helpless.”
“Don’t be so mean,” Greg said, “They’ll never forgive you if they find out the truth.”
Nick shrugged, “I’m a big boy, I think I can handle them.”
Shaking his head in amusement, Greg turned back to the coffee and poured him and Nick a cup. As he handed Nick his coffee, he decided to sit down next to him, not opposite him and flung his feet across his lap.
“Greg?” Nick asked as he looked down at the legs on top of his.
“Nick,” Greg said back, sipping at his coffee.
Nick raised an eyebrow at him and was about to tell him to remove his legs when Archie stormed into the break room.
“Right,” he said as he sat down opposite them, “I want details. Now.”
“Uh, what?” Nick asked.
“As Greg’s roommate and supposed best friend, everyone keeps asking me about you two and giving me a hard time when I tell them I know nothing. So please, make life easier for me and give me details.”
“Well,” Greg began but stopped when Archie held his hand up.
“It’ll be better if I record it,” he said, placing a dictaphone on the table, “Make it easier for me when I’m typing it up.”
“Please tell me you aren’t still blogging about my sex life,” Greg said with an exaggerated sigh.
“No. I’m blogging about my life, you are part of that and I want people to know the truth. Plus, if I blog about it I can just redirect everyone there instead of have them queuing at the door to my lab.”
“I’m not answering any questions on tape,” Nick said, picking up his coffee again and subconsciously resting his free hand on top of Greg’s legs.
“Why not?” Archie asked, “Are you ashamed or something?”
“No,” Nick said flatly, “Now turn the tape off.”
Archie sighed and turned it off before looking back up at them expectantly.
“Well what do you want to know?” Greg asked finally.
“When you went to Nick’s this morning, was that the first time you’d had sex or have you been sleeping with each other longer than you’ve been dating?”
“You’re kidding me right?” Nick asked.
“No.”
Greg gave a theatrical sigh before answering, “You remember about a month and a half ago when I went on that blind date and never came home?”
“Yeah,” Archie nodded then snapped his head to look at Nick, “He was the blind date?”
“No,” Greg said, “I got stood up. But Nick was there with the date from hell. When she went to the bathroom, he asked me to use my cell to page him so that he could pretend he had to go to work. When he left, I left with him, we went to another bar, then back to Nick’s and well… you get the idea.”
“Really?” Archie asked, a smile on his lips now, “So then you decided to start dating?”
“More or less,” Greg said with a nod.
Turning to Nick, Archie let the smile fall from his face as he got serious, “So, is it all just about sex for you or do you actually care about him?”
“What kind of question is that?” Nick asked, looking horrified, “Of course I care about him.”
“Oh, so the sex isn’t that good then?”
“That is none of your business,” Nick told him, thanking the gods when his pager went off, “Oh would you look at that, I got a 419 out in Henderson,” he added as he stood, “I would love to stay and chat Archie, but duty calls.”
Picking up his finished reports, he put them under his arm before bending down and giving Greg a small kiss on the lips, “I’ll catch you later Babe.”
Greg nodded, “Remember what I said about the police officers, if they give you a hard time.”
“I know,” Nick nodded, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
As he made to walk out of the room, Archie spoke once more, “When you get back, come see me. We still have to have that, you hurt him, I hurt you talk.”
“Sure,” Nick said with a shake of his head, thankful to just get out of there. Archie was beginning to scare him a bit.
“Was that really necessary?” Greg asked once Nick was gone.
“Greg, I’ve stood back and watched you get hurt more times than I can count. I won’t do it again.”
“Arch, you don’t have to protect me. I’m a grown man.”
“Yeah, and you’re also my best friend,” Archie said as he stood, “Just tell me you’re happy.”
“I’m happy,” Greg said with a nod.
“And if he hurts you?”
“I promise to let you beat him up.”
“Good,” Archie said with a nod, “Now, the girls want to know so I have to ask, how good is he?”
~*~*~*~*~*~
When Nick arrived at the scene he was slightly touched to see Grissom standing waiting for him, ready to protect him from what ever remarks the officers might make.
“You finish your reports?” Grissom asked him.
“On your desk, waiting to be signed off,” Nick told him with a nod as he began to follow him into the house.
He wasn’t sure if it was actually happening or if he was just imagining it, but he was sure that he was being stared at by everyone there. That couldn’t possibly be true though. He had to be imagining it. But still, it put him a little on edge.
Detective Lockwood led them into the house, not even looking at Nick differently as he explained the situation, which made Nick feel at ease slightly. When they saw the son’s room, he couldn’t help but think that it probably looked a lot like what Greg’s room had looked like as a boy. In fact, his room probably still looked the same. He supposed he’d find out soon.
“Does Greg know how you feel about science geeks?” Grissom asked him with a smile as they made their way to the master bedroom.
“He knows how I feel about him if that’s what you’re asking,” Nick said, making Grissom’s eyes light up slightly.
When they stepped into the bedroom, David was there, doing his thing, explaining his findings to them both and standing back to allow them to take their photographs and answering their questions. When Grissom went to go outside to speak to the husband and call in David’s assistant, David turned to Nick.
“I hear a congratulations is in order,” he said.
Nick rolled his eyes, “We’re dating, not getting married,” he told him as he started to look around the room.
“True, but Doc Robbins and I have been worried about you for some time. It’s not good to spend so much time on your own. We’re both very happy for you.”
Nick turned to look at David, feeling slightly touched by the sincerity in his voice not to mention face. He really was one of the sweetest guys you could meet and he was the first person that Nick actually felt bad about lying to, “Thanks,” he said quietly, “That means a lot.”
“What are friends for if not to support you?” David asked.
Nick nodded, “You’ve been seeing your girlfriend a while now right?” he asked.
“Four months,” David told him, “Why?”
“Maybe we could double date or something,” he said, “I’d like to meet the girl that finally managed to tame the elusive David Phillips.”
David smiled at that, “Sure. I’d like to properly meet Greg too. I’ve only ever seen him in passing before.”
“He’ll probably be full of morbid questions for you,” Nick said, “So prepare yourself.”
“Will do,” David said just as his assistant and Lockwood stepped back into the room.
As they began to move the body, Nick turned and began to investigate the room again, looking for some sort of clue as to what had gone on here.
After the body was gone, Grissom had yet to return and so Nick just carried on processing the room, aware of Lockwood watching them. However, it wasn’t until he had pulled a sample of charcoal from the fire place, and stuck his head up the chimney to find the dampener broken that Lockwood finally dropped all pretence of being interested in Nick’s findings.
“Stokes, I don’t know if you know, but there’s a rumour going about that you’re gay,” he said quietly.
“Is there?” Nick asked, pocketing his sample and lifting up his camera to take pictures of inside the chimney.
“You’re not are you?” Lockwood asked him.
“No. I’m not,” Nick said before bending back over to take his pictures.
Lockwood was silent for a moment before he spoke again, “It’s just that, everyone’s saying you’re dating some Swedish guy from the lab.”
Nick couldn’t help but smile at that. Greg would have a fit if he knew that people were calling him Swedish.
“Actually, he’s of Norwegian descent,” he said as he crawled back out of the fireplace, “Born and raised in California. And he’s the supervisor of the DNA lab.”
Lockwood looked absolutely shocked, “But you just said…”
“I’m not gay,” Nick told him, “But I never said I was straight either.”
“Oh,” Lockwood said, “Well. I uh, I should go make sure everything outside is under control.”
“You do that,” Nick said with a smile, actually finding it rather funny at the speed that Lockwood ran out at.
He was only gone for a couple of minutes before Grissom appeared, “What’s up with Lockwood?”
Nick just shrugged, “Who knows,” he said before turning to Grissom and informing him of his findings.
~*~*~*~*~*~
As Nick walked back into the lab, Greg heard him before he saw him. He was discussing his case with Grissom. Something about smoke inhalation. Whatever it was, Grissom cut him off, taking some of the evidence off him.
“I’ll take these to Hodges, you take those to Greg then meet me in my office so we can go over this,” he said before walking away from Nick.
Nick didn’t think anything of it and carried on his way to the DNA lab, coming in the a few samples for Greg.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“How was your dead body?” Greg asked him as he pulled off the gloves he’d been using to process Catherine and Warrick’s evidence.
“Pink,” Nick told him.
Greg smiled, realising now why they were talking about smoke inhalation, “I see. And what’s this?”
“Blood samples,” Nick told him, “One’s from the DB, the other is from the husband, who survived.”
“Let me guess, you want me to run a tox screen on them?” Greg asked.
“Please,” Nick nodded.
“You know, I can’t keep doing both the DNA samples and the tox samples,” Greg said as he picked up the samples and put them onto the worktop he’d reserved for tox screening, “You need to hire someone else.”
“Greg, I’m just the messenger,” Nick said, “Talk to Gris about it, or better still, talk to Ecklie. You are the supervisor in here, it is your job.”
Greg rolled his eyes, “Hardly a supervisor. There are only two other DNA techs. And besides, Ecklie hardly listens to me when it comes to equipment and sampling techniques. You think he’ll listen to me about this?”
Nick sighed, “Fine, I’ll have a word with Grissom. Maybe he can speak to Ecklie about it.”
“Thanks,” Greg said, “I appreciate it,” he added.
“Sure, I gotta go meet up with Grissom, I’ll catch you later.”
“Nick, wait,” Greg said just before be stepped out of the lab.
“Yeah?”
“How did it go?” Greg asked him, “With PD I mean.”
“Oh. It went okay. A couple of them looked at me a bit weird but as far as I’m aware none of them know anything for sure. It’s all just a rumour at the moment,” Nick explained.
“So no one said anything?”
“Well, Detective Lockwood asked me about the rumour I was dating some Swedish guy.”
Greg’s jaw dropped in mock horror, “Well I hope you told him that I am not Swedish,” he said.
Nick couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, I told him. But to be honest, I think it’s the whole ‘guy’ thing that concerns them, not your heritage.”
Greg stared at him for a moment, “But he didn’t react badly or anything?”
“No. It was fine Greg. Stop worrying.”
Greg nodded, “Okay, but if you want to stop this at any time, you know you just…”
“I’ll let you know,” Nick said, smiling at him again as he finally turned and left.
After his meeting with Grissom, Nick relocated to the break room where he sat down with one of the chemistry books in there to see if he could try and figure out what variables had effected the wife more than the husband. And that’s where Warrick found him.
“Well if it isn’t Don Jaun,” he said as he made to pour himself some coffee.
Nick snorted in amusement, “You talking about yourself again Rick?”
Warrick smiled, “So you gonna tell me what the hell is going on with you and Greg?”
Nick shrugged, “Not much to tell.”
“Well you could clear up the whole gay thing for a start,” Warrick said as he sat down.
“I’m not gay,” Nick told him.
“So you’re bi?” Warrick asked, to which Nick nodded, “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
Nick shrugged, “No one needed to know before,” he told him, “A lot of people find it difficult to deal with someone they’re close to coming out of the closet. I didn’t want to put anyone through that kind of distress unnecessarily.”
Warrick frowned, “So what’s different about this time? You and Greg in love or something?” he asked seriously.
Nick couldn’t help but laugh, “Technically, we haven’t actually told anyone. If Hodges hadn’t gone and asked Greg out, then Greg wouldn’t have had to tell him that he was dating someone and then Hodges wouldn’t have spread the rumour and Cath wouldn’t have put two and two together.”
“And you two would still be living in secret,” Warrick finished, “Weren’t you miserable, hiding your affection from each other?”
“You’ve dated girls from the lab right?” Nick asked to which Warrick nodded, “And each time it never lasted very long. Why?”
“It was like living in a fish bowl. People kept watching us, wanting to know the latest gossip. There was too much pressure.”
“Exactly,” Nick said. He watched as realisation dawned on Warrick. He didn’t like lying to him either, but he had been pestering Nick to get back out there and start dating again for a while and so he was just thankful to get him off his back.
“Okay, well, I just hope your happy man and that it works out.”
“Thanks,” Nick said, “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to go see if my trace results are back yet.”
“Hodges page you?” Warrick asked.
“No,” Nick said, “But I doubt he would anyway. We’re not exactly talking at the moment,” he added before picking up his file and heading out of the room.
TBC