nickngreg | Yes, another scene (Reply)

Title: Marilyn Manson For Babies (the first parts can be found here and here)
Author: Bry
Fandom and Pairing: CSI; Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Claim & Prompt: baby; song!fic (

wordclaim50)
Notes: No, I didn't pull the songs out of nowhere--I *am* familiar with them, but you don't have to be. And, of course, I had to end with the last one.
Summary: Greg just wants to see...

"What CD are you putting in?" Nick asked, legs crossed to support the paper he currently skimmed.

"What do you think?" Greg replied, contorting his face into goofy expressions for the sake of his 'tiny' audience. As at two months old, the baby barely looked like even one.

Nick looked up, critical. "No."

"I just wanna see if he likes it," Greg said, still as if he were talking to the baby. The carrier sat on a chair, letting the infant inside watched quite contentedly as Greg inserted the CD.

Nick stood, then walked to them. "No. We're only supposed to play them, like, baby music. Barney and stuff."

"They can't tell the difference."

"Yeah, I know I always get Marilyn Manson confused with purple dinosaurs."

Greg smirked. "You do."

Nick snorted.

"I'm just going to play 'Sweet Dreams.' It's gentle."

"'Gentle'?"

"In comparison. It's pop, not too hard. Come on, just let me see how he reacts."

"Fine, but don't turn it up too loud."

"You hear that, Evan? There will be no blowing out your eardrums tonight. We'll save that for when you're a toddler."

Nick groaned.

Greg shrugged, cocking his head and frowning slightly as his eyebrows raised. "Okay,"—he stood upright, volume set—"this is it."

They both looked to the baby, and he seemed to stare off at nothing.

"He's concentrating—he hears it," Greg insisted, and so he turned it up a bit louder.

"Mm hmm," Nick hummed with his cautious skepticism, still watching.

Then Evan's eyes met theirs, alternating between them a couple times as obvious distress set in. His face started reddening, and he even whimpered.

"I think that's enough."

"No, no, just give it a second."

"Greg, look at his face—he's gonna start crying. He's scared."

"That's how most people react at first—he just needs to get used to it."

Nick sighed, still watching with wary concern.

Evan emitted a few more grunting whimpers, limbs jerking nervously, before he finally broke down. It began quietly, like a shy lamb's "bah"-ing, before turning into all-out desperate screaming. And though Greg immediately turned the music off, his cries didn't consider ceasing.

"Aww, honey," Nick sympathetically laughed as he lifted Evan to his chest, clutching him there. "It's okay, sweetheart. Oh, I know," he shushed with soft amusement. "We didn't mean to make you cry."

"I'm sorry, baby," Greg assured through a babyish murmur as he kissed Evan's head. "He didn't mean to scare you."

"I didn't scare him."

"No, Manson."

"But…I thought that was his intent."

"Actually, contrary to popular belief, Marilyn Manson has no known vendetta against babies."

"Ha. I meant scaring people in general."

"Nick, just because he scares you doesn't mean he scares everybody."

"Mm hmm. Well, I'm going to bring him to the nursery, see if some rocking won't calm him down."

"Wait, isn't Eric still sleeping?"

"He could be up by now. Go check on him."

"Okay. I'll be right back," Greg said with too much excitement before heading off.

"Oh, yes, darling, I know. Life is so, so hard," Nick lovingly assured with mock pity, slightly bouncing Evan and rubbing his back. He continued like that for a little while longer, until he heard Greg coming back.

"Look who's awake!" Greg announced with Eric seated on his forearm, back against his chest, and with a hand clutched over the baby's chest.

"Look who's going to hopefully go to sleep," Nick said as he then walked past Greg.

Greg turned around to watch them go, encouraging Eric to "say 'bye bye'" as he waved the infant's hand for him.

It took a few minutes of gentle shushing, back rubs and rocking before Evan gave in to calming down. And before Greg cried with unreasonable excitement for Nick.

"You have to come see this!"

"Now?!" Nick called back.

"Yes, now, hurry!"

Nick sighed and worked himself out of the chair and down the hall, baby still wrapped in his arms. "Greg, turn that off."

"No, just wait. See, I tried playing 'Sweet Dreams' again, but he started making that Evan face. So, I pressed skip, and it landed on 'Fight Song'—also not a baby favorite. And then we hit 'Personal Jesus' and look at him! He's smiling!"

"That's gas."

"He's not crying. Neither is Evan. They love it!"

"Mmm…" Nick raised an eyebrow.

"You know what good music is, don't you?" Greg cooed, leaning in close to Eric. A finger then tickled the baby's cheek, prompting a wide, toothless grin. "There's my smile! Man, I should market this or something!"

"What, Marilyn Manson For Babies?"

"Yes!"

"Sure, it'd do great right alongside Baby Mozart and The Wiggles. Besides, what kind of parent wouldn't buy it?"

"Probably the boring ones like you."

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Oh man, look at his arms—he's trying to rock out already."

"He's just moving."

"I knew they'd love it. I knew it."

"Yeah, okay," Nick replied, unable to avoid his smile.

Just then, the song finished, catching Greg unaware as it immediately switched to another, less "pop" song. Greg didn't stop it and instead he watched them, certain that they just might like this one, too. But Eric started it all off first, opting to wail without hesitation. Nick didn't give Evan the chance, as he immediately hurried back to the nursery before Greg even stopped it.

"Man," Greg sighed as he lifted Eric. "You had me so excited, baby. That's okay," he said through his shushing. "We'll just have to try again later, when it's only you and Papa. I know you'll love '(s)AINT.'"