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Jan. 14th, 2007 04:07 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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nickngregRating: Chapter 22: PG13
Author: kieksterbanjo
Warnings: None
Summary: Fathers before anything else...Nick and Greg take on the challenge of raising children
Disclaimer: Would I like to own them? YES. But do I? Alas No. I would also like to make money from this and marry Benji Schwimmer from So You Think You Can Dance but one must live in the real world. *sigh*
Chapter 22
“Ta-da!” Charlie screamed jumping into the master bedroom and throwing his arms out to the side, “Oh.” He said disappointedly when Greg wasn’t in the room.
Nick chuckled as he followed Charlie into the room, “I think I hear the hair dryer. He’s in the bathroom.” Nick whispered in Charlie’s ear and watched the five year old run quickly to the closed bathroom door.
Nick waited where he was as he heard Charlie once again scream ‘Ta-da!’ and heard Greg scream ‘Holy Fuuuuu…ddle duddle’, obviously seeing who had scared him. Nick smirked before he cringed at the yell of, “What the HELL did you do to my son?!”
“Don’t you mean ‘heck’ my love?” Nick asked amused as he sauntered slowly into the bathroom with his hands in his pockets. He chuckled, leaning against the wall as Greg stood wide eyed; his hair a giant poof from just being blown dry.
“No, no. I mean ‘hell’. As in ‘What the HELL did you do to my son?’” Greg said alarmed.
“You don’t like it Daddy?” Charlie asked softly. Greg tried to make sound come out of his open mouth but nothing came, all he did was reach out a hand and run it tentatively over Charlie’s head; feeling the soft peach fuzz where the short spikes used to be.
“What did you do?” Greg whispered over Charlie’s head with a horrified look on his face as if Nick had just killed his childhood pet.
Nick smirked, “I didn’t do anything. He wanted to do that. Aidan and I were getting it done and he felt left out.” He shrugged.
“He’s five! He doesn’t get to choose his hair styles. We do! Well that is until today because you no longer get to take them to the barber. You got Aidan’s hair like that too?” Greg cried.
“What’s wrong with it? I do it.” Nick said indignantly.
“And I love it when you do it.” Greg said hurriedly, “But…but…” He looked down at Charlie’s head and hugged the little boy to him, “His hair was so perfect.”
Nick laughed, “It’s hair, Greg. It’ll grow back. It’s nothing.”
Greg looked up from Charlie’s head wide eyed and nodding rapidly, “Oh it’s nothing? It’s nothing is it?”
“’Kay, now you’re scaring me.” Nick chuckled backing away from his husband.
“No I just had something to tell you that I was gonna wait to say until just the right moment but since you’re so nonchalant about chopping off my son’s hair, I’ll say it. I found someone who’ll buy the truck.” Greg smiled with a tilted head as if to say ‘Ha’ and then walked Charlie out of the bathroom; past Nick who stood with his mouth open, the smile gone from his face.
“What do you mean you ‘found someone who’ll buy the truck’? When did we decide to sell the truck?” Nick asked alarmed as he followed Greg in the bedroom to find him handing Charlie the remote.
“You can watch TV in here for a while Char.” He said and Charlie wordlessly grabbed the remote and bounced to the end of the bed on his stomach, frantically changing the channels. Greg turned to Nick and walked back past him into the bathroom as he spoke, “You’re a smart man Nick. Mentally count how many children we’re going to have in a few months and then count how many seats are in the back of each of our cars. 5 doesn’t fit into 3. It’s like fitting a square peg into a round hole.” Greg shrugged picking up his hair gel and going to work fixing his hair.
Nick leaned against the counter facing away from the mirror, “Can’t we sell yours?” He pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Sure Nick. We’ll just put a second mortgage on the house when the money from selling my shitty car doesn’t cover the cost of a new van.” Greg said sarcastically and then sighed, “Your truck will allow us to buy a new van and still have money left over. We need that and you know it.”
Nick toed his shoe on the ground, his pout still obvious, “I’m not going to drive that van around with no kids in it.” He said defiantly.
Greg sighed, “You can drive mine when you don’t have to have three or more of the kids with you. And who knows,” He said with a shrug, “A couple of years down the road, if we save right, we can buy you a shiny new truck.”
“I really liked my truck.” Nick mumbled to his feet.
Greg walked in front of his husband and laid a hand on his shoulder, ducking down to look at Nick in the face and saying with a smirk, “And I really liked Charlie’s hair. We all have things we have to get over.” And with that he rubbed Nick’s shoulder a couple of times to comfort him and then walked out of the washroom.
-- -- --
Nick walked through the house that night before work with a perplexed look on his face. He made his way across the hall and knocked on Aidan’s doorway. Like most parents, Nick felt to knock on his own child’s door wasn’t something he was required to do, but he knew as Aidan got older he needed his privacy just as Nick and Greg did. So, he knocked.
“Yeah?” He heard called from inside and he pushed the door open to find Aidan lying on his stomach on his bed; a drawing pad in front of him and a pencil in his hand. It wasn’t uncommon to find those two items around where Aidan was concerned; the nine year old had taken up a passion for drawing and sketching.
“Have you seen your sister?” Nick asked.
Aidan pushed himself up from his stomach to sit on his knees, shaking his head with his eyebrows knitted in confusion, “No. Did you lose her?”
“I didn’t LOSE her. I was getting ready for work and I turned around and she wasn’t on the bed.” Nick sighed.
“You lost her.” Aidan said with a nod and shrug of his shoulders.
“I did not and don’t talk to me like that.” Nick said pointing his finger at his son. Aidan laughed.
“It’s not a very big house. There are only so many places she can be.” Aidan reasoned and Nick knitted his eyebrows with a suspicious look on his face. He went to leave but turned back again with the same expression to find Aidan staring calmly back at him.
Nick turned again and closed the door with a shake of his head, “When did he become more reasonable then me?” He asked to himself as he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. He stopped when he saw the picture in front of him and quirked an eyebrow.
In front of him stood Angelica; caught with her hand literally in the cookie jar. She was standing on her tip toes on one of the kitchen chairs with her hand in the clay cookie jar they kept on the kitchen counter; a soother stuck between her lips. She was wide eyed as she looked at Nick and she froze in her movements. Nick tried his hardest not to laugh as he attempted to look stern and put his hands on his hips, “Angelica Jillian what are you doing?” He asked sternly.
Angelica dropped from her tip toes and grabbed the bottom of her yellow sundress in her hands and shrugged. Nick made his way over to her and pulled the soother from between her lips and looked down at her, “I asked what you were doing.” He said.
“Nothin’.” She said innocently, looking up at Nick with puppy dog eyes.
“So I didn’t just find you with your hand in the cookie jar?” He asked pointing to said cookie jar.
Angelica turned to look at the cookie jar and then back at Nick with a shake of her head, “No. I was not doing nothing.” She said and if anything her puppy dogs eyes got bigger. In a few short weeks Angelica’s ability to talk had grown in leaps and bounds till the point where, just shy of her second birthday, she was speaking in full complete sentences.
Nick tried not to melt at the eyes. He could feel his resolve melting. It was a rule. No cookies unless you asked for them and none after dessert. Angelica was technically breaking both rules, but the eyes…and the bottom lip that had started to jut out…
Nick felt whatever reprimand he was going to use die on his lips, “Oh nothing happened? Nothing happened?” He said playfully, tickling Angelica’s sides as she squirmed and cackled.
He picked her up from the chair and slid it back into its place as he walked out of the room, “How am I ever going to be mad at you?” He asked more to himself then to Angelica on the way up the stairs.
“You won’t.” Angelica answered anyway with a shrug of her shoulders. Nick looked side long at his precious little girl with a smirk and slid the soother between her lips again, knowing there was a good chance she was probably right.
-- -- --
“Ouch, that’s rough. He’s probably gonna pick out some beige van or something like that just to piss you off to.” Warrick said with sympathy at work that night when Nick told him about having to sell his truck in favour of a van.
Nick nodded with a sad chuckle as they entered Grissom’s office, picturing Greg actually doing something like that, “If I have anything to say about it he won’t be picking it.” Nick whispered as they joined the rest of the team.
“That’s why you don’t get a say.” Nick jumped at the voice from behind him and turned to see Greg smirking as he leaned against the wall of Grissom’s office.
“Like hell I don’t get a say. We’re selling MY truck, so technically the van will be mine too.” Nick said with resigned nod to Warrick who patted him on the shoulder with a nod of support as well.
“You said ‘if’ darling. You said ‘IF I have anything to say about it’. You said ‘if’ because you knew it wasn’t up to you whether or not you got a say. You know that’s my decision. And I made it. You don’t get a say.” Greg reasoned out, his lips still holding a smirk.
“Ouch.” Sara said to the right of Nick and he turned to see her also smirking. Catherine was next to her and she simply brought her hand up and made the whip nose as she snapped the imaginary whip in her hand.
Nick shook his head and turned away from them all with his arms crossed in front of him. Greg moved up behind him and whispered in his ear, “I still love you though.”
Nick grumbled, “Yeah, yeah. I love you too.” He could feel Greg grin against his neck before he backed away.
Grissom entered the room and started to hand out assignments without even saying hello, “Nick you’ve got a 419 at Circus Circus, take someone with you; I don’t care who.” He said handing Nick a paper.
“I’ll take Greg.” Nick said immediately and Grissom nodded before going on to the other assignments.
“Warrick you’ve got a B&E on…”
Grissom’s voice faded as Nick and Greg walked out of the room, “Why so eager to pick me?” Greg asked. As husband it would seem natural for Greg to be on the top of Nick’s ‘Who to work with’ list, but they actually preferred to work apart when they had a choice. Helped them to leave work at work and not bring it home with them and they spent so much time together at home as it was, there was no need to potentially cause needless arguments at work if they could avoid it.
“You’re not leaving my sight tonight.” Nick said simply.
Greg sighed knowing what Nick was talking about, “Nick I already told you I’m fine about what happened. You don’t have to watch out for me.” Greg said with a roll of his eyes even though it was nice that Nick was concerned.
Nick stopped just before they reached the doors and looked back at Greg, “You could have died that night. I want to make sure you’re safe. I’ve decided. This, YOU don’t get a say in.” He turned and walked from the building and Greg followed him out.
-- -- --
“Aidan could you pass me that paintbrush please buddy?” Nick asked holding out his hand as he stood on a ladder. He turned when he didn’t feel the end of the brush in his hand to find his eldest son leaning against the wall; his arms crossed and a defiant scowl on his face as he starred at Nick, “Aidan I asked you to pass me the paintbrush.” Nick asked again, expectantly.
Aidan’s scowl deepened as he looked around at the shell of a room that a short week ago had belonged to Charlie. It was now empty and primed and taped, ready to be painted for the twin’s arrival. He pushed up from the wall and trudged over to the ladder. He bent down and grabbed the paintbrush, complete with yellow paint and handed it to his father, “He smells.”
Nick laughed, “Who smells?” He asked using the given paintbrush to start cutting in near the ceiling.
“Charlie.” Was Aidan’s answer.
Nick laughed and then sighed as Aidan scowled, “Look, Aidan, I know this sucks. It probably sucks for Charlie to but we all have to make sacrifices.”
“But he SMELLS!” Aidan said again as if it explained it all.
Nick stopped painting, “He doesn’t smell Aidan. You’re just angry. I get it. But that’s why we’re doing this now. If you and him sharing a room doesn’t work out we can figure something else out.”
“He can’t move in with Angelica?” Aidan asked.
“Angelica’s a bit too young for a roommate and it’s a lot easier to have you two boys together instead of a girl and a boy.” Nick answered, resuming his painting.
“Couldn’t we turn your office into Charlie’s bedroom?” Aidan asked hopefully.
“If it comes to that we might. But Aidan, you and Charlie are going to be sharing a bedroom, that’s all there is to it. I know it sucks. I lived with 5 sisters and a brother growing up. I was NEVER without a roommate, but you learn to deal. And who knows, you guys might have fun.” Nick answered. He knew Aidan was getting almost too old to have a roommate in his five year old brother but it was the only option they had within their budget.
Aidan was quiet for a moment before he looked up at what Nick had been painting, “Is the whole room going to be yellow?”
Nick nodded, “It is. It was the only colour Daddy and I could agree on. He wanted red, and then orange and I think he even suggested black. None of which are suitable for a baby’s room.” He laughed remembering his and Greg’s week long conversation about the colour of the twin’s room.
“He made a sacrifice.” Aidan reasoned.
“He did indeed. We all do.” Nick nodded as he heard continuous honking from their driveway. He leaned back on the ladder and looked out of the window with a sigh and a shake of his head, “Unfortunately we all do.” He mumbled climbing down the ladder. He lead Aidan from the room and they both walked outside to find Greg leaning out of the window of a shiny new dark blue 7 seater van.
“What do you think?” Greg asked with a smirk.
Nick cringed and Aidan looked up at him, “This is your sacrifice isn’t it Dad?” He asked.
Nick nodded sadly, “Yeah. Yeah it is.” He said with a sigh, already calculating how long it would take him to get his truck back.
TBC
A/N: The twins should be coming pretty soon. Fingers crossed that everything goes well… Please leave some feedback if you’ve got it. It’d be much appreciated.
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Date: 2007-01-14 11:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-14 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-15 09:46 am (UTC)Anyway, I loved the chapter. I love how domestic it is. :)
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Date: 2007-01-15 06:59 pm (UTC)but I thought they'd deal more with the events of the previous chapter... 'cause I like my bit of angst LOL
but overall great as usual:)
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Date: 2007-01-16 09:05 pm (UTC)Poor Nick and his truck. Well, at least they'll all be safe in the new blue van. I enjoyed how you've shown Aidan working through the new arrivals. I can't wait to read more-thanks!
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Date: 2007-01-18 01:57 am (UTC)