Classic Episode Discussion: S4Ep04

[nickngregmod.livejournal.com]

S4Ep04 Feeling The Heat
After flirty season 3, in the fourth season it looked like Nick and Greg hit a bit of an impasse in their evolving relationship. But even though they weren't seducing each other out in the open as much as before, it's of course impossible for the guys to hide their love completely; it shines through on the workfloor, even if they're not alone. Watch as Greg once again turns up the heat and makes Nick stutter;)


01.
NICK *sighs*: We have no idea where they went.

02.
GREG: Heard you guys narrowed your search area to 44 square miles.
{Hello.}

03.
GREG: That could take like... months.
{Can I come in and play?}

04.
NICK: And I'm sure you're here to shed some light on the situation.
{I suppose there is no way I can stop you, is there?}

05.
GREG *grins* {nope}

06.
GREG: Your case is a boy-girl thing, right?
NICK: Right.
SARA: Mm-hmm.

07.
GREG: Body was washed up near Windmill Cove?
NICK: Mm-hmm.

08.
GREG: These two coves to the north -- Cotton Wood Island, Tequila --
{Pay attention, Nick. Look at my hand}

09.
GREG: ...huge make-out spots.
{See what I did there? LOVE-ROCKHAND! \m/}

10.
GREG: {That means I wuv you <3}

11.
NICK: {Breathe... breathe... Dammit Greg, Sara is right there, we agreed to keep this thing a secret}

12.
GREG: But nearly impossible to get to by land.
{Ahw, don't worry, Nick...}
SARA: And how would you know that, Greg?

13.
GREG: A gentleman never tells.
*continues to Nick* {... our secret is safe with me.}

14.
GREG: Anyway, I thought that would be a good place to start. If you guys need an extra set of hands ...

15.
NICK: Uh, no. No. I think we got it, boss.
{Please go, before I jump you}

16.
GREG: {Hey Sara, I'll tell you all about it later;)} <--Come on, you *know* Greg is too happy to keep dirty details to himself;)

Heehee. We didn't even need the added subtext to get Greg's meaning. He emphasizes all the telling words: "boy/girl thing", "make-out spots"; Greg is still the king of unsettling Nick. \o/ You may squee in the comments about cheeky Greg and his hand of love or Nick's muscular arms and anything else you noticed:) Oooh, know of any good Nick/Greg make-out stories? Share a link!

Your Mods,

BeeLikeJ, Sillie, SlashxYouxUp and RustyTheTrain

P.S. Remember how Nick (accidently?) used the same sign language towards Greg in Abra Cadaver? We'll talk about that moment next week, when we continue our Search For The All Time Favorite Nick/Greg Moment in Season 3:)

Comments

[not_so_logical]

Wow I never noticed the 'rock on - i love you' hand signs thing there! Good catch!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

:-D Greg is very subtle;)

(Oooh, I love your icon, nervous Nick waiting for Greg to save him. Awesome)

[not_so_logical]

Haha! Apparently. ;P

Thank you!

[mydearestdesire.livejournal.com]

pictures 05 & 11 makes my heart melt.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Isn't Greg just the most precious thing you've ever seen? I don't know how Nick can restrain himself and not ruffle his hair;)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Heehee, they always do that; quietly moving towards each other until they can feel the heat;)

[cmali.livejournal.com]

You guys are freakin' awesome. And so are the boys :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Ahw. Thank you. We agree on the awesomeness of the guys \m/

[10th-letter.livejournal.com]

Holy balls! I never noticed the rock I Love You hand sign before. WAY subtle!

Also, I always used this scene to prop my "Greg is Bi" theory. Not only is Greg flirting with Nick, he sure isn't leaving Sara out to dry.

Thant and his whole "That's what you get for eating--" line in Fur and Loathing...

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Greg is smooth, baby!

Ha, so you remember Greg teasing Sara, despite us sneakily leaving out those caps;) Greg sure is an equal opportunity kind of guy, but we know he saves his best moves for Nick \o/

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

I love how -for once- Greg is initiating the closeness between them in this scene and giving Nick signs, despite Nick's obvious efforts to prevent himself from reacting to Greg. Up until this season, it was usually Nick touching Greg or entering his personal space. Greg also seems to be enjoying the fact that he could turn the tables and make Nick nervous for a change.

And as usual, Greg kindly ignores whoever is with Nick until they demand his attention somehow. I can't help but wonder if Sara suspects something, since she does not seem to react to the boys' behavior at all, and she normally doesn't take well to being ignored or left out of the loop.

I also like how Greg waits in the doorway until he's pretty sure his presence is going to be accepted well.
Scenes like this one suggest, to me anyway, that the boys might have acknowledged the chemistry between them between seasons three and four.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I adore Nick when he tries very hard to not get (a)roused by Greg:) I also love how that just seems to spur Greg on \m/

I've always been convinced Sara knows, she was present at a couple of significant scenes (Rashomana (http://community.livejournal.com/nickngreg/1281277.html) being one of the most memorable moments), but I also believe she and Greg are close enough to share personal stuff. I suspect she may have even been told before Nick *grins* Remember how Greg knew about her and *coughneverhappenedinmycanon* Grissom?

In my personal timeline the guys got it on in A Little Murder <3

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

Lol.

From season five onward, I don't see how anyone could not think that Sara and Greg talk to each other about personal issues/thoughts. They have such a strong sister/brother vibe going. I think it was there before that too, but I'm not sure how much they talked, since Greg makes the comment that he's 'a really good listener' during Unbearable.

Really? May I ask how you see that happening, or is written down somewhere that I could read?

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Oh my, my Nick/Greg canon. *giggles* I'm sure I babbled about it before, back when I was still preaching on the forums *grins*, but that was years ago, at least eternity on the internet, so I couldn't find that thread again, but luckily I saved the little soap-opera summary I made before intense research (aka a long marathon session with artistic_sillie;) made me (us?) come to the conclusion about Nick/Greg's first time.

Here's what happened: in 2006 Sillie and I (after having met in this community and discovered we both lived in the same country) had caught up on Season 6 together and wanted to do another CSI marathon session. Since Nick and Greg brought us together, we decided to focus on all the relevant episodes for their relationship and we asked the forum to help us find them. This lead to the soap-opera summary below (I'll be nice to LJ and split my comments, get a drink and sit down;) which we used as our guide for the marathon...

The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

S1Ep1 Pilot - Greg starts the flirting with anal swabs - that gets Nicks attention. Then the touching starts: first in S1Ep6 Who Are You and continuing in S1Ep11 I-15 Murders, where Nicks notices Greg's fine behind.
Unfortunately after that Nick starts to doubt himself (we will not mention her name...) but Greg knows how to get Nick to focus on him again: he fakes an 'I love you more' phone conversation to make Nick jealous in S1Ep17 Face Lift.

In Season 2 the serious flirting starts and even though Nick tries to deny there is something between them in Ep 5 Scuba Doobie Do, he can't resist touching Greg in Ep 7 Caged. And he can barely stop himself from kissing Greg in Ep 8 Slaves of Las Vegas... I'm not sure what happens in Ep 11 Organ Grinder, but according to reliable sources, this is where the guys become obvious. I guess after that they decide to try and not touch at work anymore, but the eyefuckage in Ep 17 Felonius Monk leaves little to the imagination. More touching, playing and flirting follow in Ep 19 Stalker, Ep 20 Cats In The Cradle and Ep 21 Anatomy of a Lye. The season's finale Ep 22 The Hunger Artist is heavenly: Greg is eating in the labtrail to get Nick to focus on his lovely mouth, but Nick is again more interested in another part of Greg's body...

In Season 3 Ep4 A Little Murder Greg let's Nick know he's available and in Ep 5 Abra Cadaver Nick shows Greg so very subtlely that he loves him. Rock on!
Of course things don't run smoothly, in Ep 10 High And Low they even have a little fight, but in Ep 17 Crash And Burn all is well again as Nick demonstrates by remembering Greg likes his music loud. But Greggo can also be quiet as he proves in Ep 18 by sneaking up on Nick in the garage.

In the next seasons we do get to see the occassional flirtation (S4Ep19 - Bad Words, S5Ep5 Swap Meet) but all of a sudden the serie focuses on Crime Scene Investigation, how boring. A glimps of an established relationship is seen in S5Ep11 when Greg passes his test. Nick is very proud.

In Season 6 the guys show how comfortable they are together, it seems they are in this relationship for the long run. Notice how Greg can make Nick feel better by just waving at him in Ep4 Shooting Stars. That is love. Nick still appreciates Greg's ass in Ep 14 Killer, where TPTB fail to explain why the guys spend so much time off screen in the desert...
Sadly they have a minor break up somewhere in between that scene and Ep20 Poppin' Tags: Greg has tried to get over it in the gym. After Nick discoveres his man has been working out without him, he asks Greg to take him back. (that is what happens in the scanningscene, just watch the eyefuckage!)

And this is how we get to Ep21 Rashomana: can you hear weddingbells?

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

As you can tell, we didn't pinpoint A Little Murder as a particular turningpoint when we compiled the soap opera point of view of CSI. But when we watched all of these N/G episodes in order, it became clear there was a definite shift in behavior between the guys after that scene.

So, here is our conclusion (or mine anyway;)...
Before work, Nick and Greg somehow ended up at Greg's place, where they made out and finally slept together (to use the proper euphemism for having sex;). They slept in a little and had to rush to get to work, that's why Nick didn't have time to go back home to change and he borrowed one of Greg's crazy shirts (as shown under his jeans-jacket).
When Nick finally had time to catch up with Greg, he had worked his brain into a frenzy and wasn't sure if it was more than a one time thing.
So in that labscene from A Little Murder (http://community.livejournal.com/nickngreg/1408278.html), Nick is trying to find out how Greg feels. Since they are in the middle of a fishbowl-lab they can't be too specific, so obviously he starts talking about the case. While Grissom is coming in, Greg realizes from Nick's posture that work is not what Nick really wants to talk about, so he gives Nick a line he can respond to without making it obvious and he then offers Nick the microscope so he doesn't have to look Greg in the eye when continuing their conversation.

And in the end when he says he's "open 24 hours" he's really saying: sure, you can come over again Nick. Any time.

*blushes* Hope that made sense. It's been a while since I fangirled so brazenly. Feel free to mock or continue playing in this little slash-bubble;)

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

Well, if you were Nick or Greg and were finally getting it on, would you stop to bother with the alarm?
The 'I'm open 24 hours' line was definitely a proposition or promise. You know Greg would never present it like that to anyone else in the lab, even if he truly was willing to come in for their case whenever.

It made sense. Don't sites like this exist so we can fangirl and hatch these sorts of plots?

I figure, season one starts during Greg's first year but after he's worked at the lab for a few months at least, and he's already digging on Nick but Nick is in denial. Therefore, many of Greg's comments tend to throw Nick or make him squirm (in more ways than one). That's not to say that Greg makes Nick uncomfortable, if anything, Nick seems a little too comfortable with Greg, which is probably what get's him thinking by mid season two (probably some point between Organ Grinder and Anatomy of a Lye.

From that point until sometime after High and Low (possibly until the end of season three), Nick is coming to terms with his own issues and deciding what to do about this thing between he and Greg. Likely, something happened between them between Abra Cadaver (although I may have to up that to A little Murder after reading your thought son it) and High and Low, but Nick backed out, which is why Greg just wanted to be left alone in the latter episode. Sometime between then and the opening of season four, the boys get together for real.

In season four, the initial tension/need to attract (for Greg) and claim (for Nick) is past, so they can settle down a little. Plus, now that there was something between them, they knew to watch themselves at work. Season four is the 'this is more than just dating' year and five is the 'falling into sync' year of the relationship, and by season six, they're a comfortable, well established couple.

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

Do you think that was Greg's first year with the LVPD then, or is that just when Nick suddenly noticed the little hottie in the lab? Huh, I noticed the touching but never any booty checks in I-15 Murders; I'll have to watch that one again and look for it. Heh, that phone conversation in Face Lift did have sort of a 'you missed the joke' vibe to it.

Hmm. Nick struck me as decidedly uncertain in Organ Grinder (but at least he's finally thinking) and then seems to make his first move toward a decision in Anatomy of a Lye, when he invites Greg in unprompted for the first time (that I recall, anyway).

That t-shirt in A Little Murder does seem fishy. I'll give you that, and Nick so knows what he's doing (at least, physically) in Abra Cadaver.

I actually like that the show focuses on the cases (leaves more room for us to play/fill in, in any case) but it is a shame they reeled the boys in a bit. Nick is so painfully obvious in Who Shot Sherlock...he might as well just say 'I'm so proud of you baby', it's written all over his face anyway.

I think I missed something, why the break up preceeding Poppin' Tags?

Oh yeah. There's definitely a prelim to a proposal in there while Nick's talking in the diner.

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think Greg had only recently joined the LVPD in season one; considering his age, he couldn't have been there very long. It also may have taken Nick a little time to -ehm- get used to Greg?

I liked how you said "Nick seems a little too comfortable with Greg"; that's exactly it! Despite Greg's bounciness and excited approach to life, Nick is at ease with Greg, finding himself flirting back without effort.

I too like the show for the cases, that bit in the soap opera summary about it being boring was very much tongue in cheek;)

Oh, Who Shot Sherlock: Nick almost squeezed Greg to death there, he was so happy:)

I don't have an explanation for the break up, but that scene in Poppin' Tags was a little akward (Greg's joking felt a bit forced) and I thought it was weird Nick didn't know about Greg working out, so I figured they spent some time apart. However, it's obvious Nick likes Greg's familiar flirting and I'm confident they made up right after the shift. \o/

And that's when Nick realizes he doesn't ever want to be apart again, hence the proposal;)

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Greg is only what...about 24 in the first season? Even if he graduated early (if you believe Ultimate CSI, he did) that still doesn't leave a lot of time for experience.

Doesn't he come off that way in the first couple seasons? I could totally see Nick realizing it too late and freaking before he accepted it.

Ah, cool.

Huh...you know, thinking back there was a bit of tension in that scene, wasn't there. Greg seemed to be testing the waters and Nick was trying hard not to react. And Nick's comment about the gym did sound sort of like a slam. Maybe they didn't break up per say, but had their first serious fight since they settled in as a couple?

That fits. ^_^ I like it. You're good at this.

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

First fight sounds like an option. So they ignored each other for a bit and then Greg needed another activity to get rid of his excess energy, hence the gym ;)

It all makes sense!

Re: The Nick & Greg Soap Opera

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

Precisely. For some reason, the image I just got of energetic-Greg on a treadmill made me chuckle.

It does! Wow, I never thought of just how well these guys work in canon until I started participating on this site.

[riku-rocks.livejournal.com]

The marathon-session bit sounds like fun...I should do that sometime.

Got it. *locates drink and gets comfortable...*