Fic: Up in Smoke

[vampwb36.livejournal.com]

Title: Up in Smoke
Chapter Title: Running in Circles 6/?
Rating: PG13
Summary: Friendship Therapy. A meeting with Grissom. And Greg gets some bad news. 

A/N: Posted in 2 different posts ecause LJ is being a $*%@$*^%!@%$&
Beta’d By: The AMAZING jayceepat

A/N: Here it is CH 6! Yay!! Thanks for the birthday wishes! I had a fab birthday and I am having a huge party all weekend so if my extraordinary Beta jayceepat hadn’t gotten this back to me so quickly you might not have gotten this chapter until Monday. So and extra big thank you to her!

 

Read, Review and Hopefully Enjoy >8)

 

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Greg closed the door after Nick for the second and hopefully last time that morning.

 

Nick ordered pasta from a 24 hour Italian restaurant that Greg was unaware existed.

 

The sauce on his spaghetti had been to die for and, according to Nick, all natural.

 

The food was great but the conversation a bit awkward. Each had been  in their own world for part of the meal deep in thought about the day and what was going to happen next. When they weren’t thinking they had each attempted to make small talk that usually ended in awkward silence.

 

Greg was about to feign being tired to get out of the awkward meal when Nick spoke up.

 

“Why is this so awkward?” He had asked, his straight forward question startling Greg somewhat.

 

“I have no idea.” Greg responded before scooping up another mouth full of food.

 

“I don’t like it.” Nick stabbed viciously at his salad.

 

Greg suppressed a smirk “It’ll get better”

 

“When?”

 

“I don’t know? Tuesday good for you?” Greg had joked attempting to lighten the mood but regretting it when he had seen the hurt look on Nicks face.

 

“I’m serious about this Greg, if you aren’t…” Nick had trailed off a sad look on his face that Greg had needed to fix.

 

“No. I am serious about this Nick; I was just trying to make things less awkward.” He frowned when he realized his joke had the opposite effect. “I’m sorry” he frowned.

 

“I’m sorry too, I’m just being a little touchy. I really want this to work.” He sent Greg that smile that made his heart beat faster.

 

“I know I do to but it’s going to take time.”

 

“You’re worth it” Nick had said.

 

Greg blushed deeply and quickly shoveled more food in his mouth so he wouldn’t have to respond. It had been Nicks turn then to suppress a smirk.

 

The rest of the meal had been spent in a relaxed silence.

 

Greg really wanted everything with Nick to work out. Nick made him feel things, want things, he never had before. Those feelings and desires both excited and scared him, but for Nick, Greg was willing to push the fear away.

 

For now at least.

 

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Nick arrived for shift 30 minutes early that night. Catherine had left him a message on his machine letting him know they had a meeting with Grissom before shift.

 

Nick wasn’t looking forward to it. He had to convince Grissom first that Greg was lying and then, that he should label the case as cold.  

 

Catherine could help him with the lying part, but the cold case part; he was on his own.

 

He paused outside Grissom's office door to gather his strength for the discussion ahead; for Greg he could do this.

 

“Evening” Nick said as he walked into the office closing the door behind him.

 

Catherine was slouched down on the couch, she looked like she hadn’t gotten any sleep the night before, her face was pinched and there were shadows under her eyes.

 

Grissom didn’t look in top form either, though Nick didn’t know if it was from last nights find or from the huge amount of paper work he had to catch up on.

 

“We were waiting for you.” Catherine stood up and took a seat in front of Grissom’s desk. Nick followed suit.

 

“Catherine filled me in on what Greg had to say last night. I want your take on it.” Grissom said putting away the paper work and locking his gaze in on Nick.

 

“Well, I think Greg’s lying” Nick said; with Grissom, blunt was best.

 

“Did he say anything to you?” Catherine asked. Nick assumed she meant after she had left.

 

“Not directly…”

 

“I’m hoping there is a ‘but’ here” Grissom frowned.

 

“His body language screams victim.” Nick knew he was going to have to come up with some more solid evidence than body language before Grissom would even consider believing him. “He couldn’t even face us when he talked about telling his mom what Bender did to him.”

 

“What motivation does he have to lie” Grissom sounded less skeptical than Nick expected.

 

“Fear, shame, maybe his parent’s never knew the real truth.”

 

“What else have you got?” Grissom leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together.

 

“Phrasing of things, words. When we were talking last night he said, ‘No one did anything to you’ implying someone had done something to him.” Nick could tell that Grissom was close to being convinced that Greg was lying. Catherine must have spent some time talking to him last night, Grissom was never this easy to convince about anything.

 

“Anything else?”

 

Nick smiled slightly; he’d saved the best evidence for last. “When I told him I wouldn’t make him tell me the truth that I’d wait for him to do it, he didn’t deny he was lying. He asked me if I would really wait.”

 

Grissom raised an eyebrow. “I agree with both you and Catherine” Nick had been right Catherine had been talking to him. “Greg’s lying;” Nick smiled in triumph. “But,” Grissom continued, “There is nothing we can do about it. If he won’t admit something happened then the lead is cold.

 

“Exactly!” Nick shouted excited.

 

“What do you mean?” Grissom asked with a deeply confused look on his face.

 

“You said it yourself; the lead has gone cold.” Nick replied

 

“Your point?” Catherine asked in am irritated manner. Nick knew she hated being left out of the loop

 

“I think we need to label this case cold”

 

“You can’t possibly be willing to give up on this” Catherine shouted sending him a deadly look. Grissom just raised an eyebrow which Nick knew was his cue to continue.

 

“I’m not.”

 

“Then why?” Catherine asked settling back down.

 

“For several reasons; One, we have several other ongoing cases that have hot leads.” Grissom would see the logic in that, and approve treating the case like it didn’t involve one of their own.

 

“Two, I’m sure Bender’s lawyer has (tense) gotten wind of our investigation and if we label it cold we could catch them off guard later.” Catherine would undoubtedly approve of that; playing the politics game in a way.

 

 

“Three, and I think that this is most important. If Greg see’s that we are still actively investigating Stephens claims, I’m afraid he’ll leave the lab.” ‘Not to mention I’ll never be able to gain his trust back’ Nick thought. That was the most important reason for Nick personally. He didn’t want to chase Greg away from a job he loved. “So we label the case cold and still work on it in our spare time.”

 

“Until we get a new lead.” Catherine said jumping on board with his plan.

 

“Or Greg tells you what really happened” Grissom added.

 

“No.” Nick argued, “Whatever Greg tells me is between us”

 

“Nick” Grissom’s voice held a warning tone.

 

“I’m sorry, but I promised him I wouldn’t ask and I think it went without saying but anything he told me he could trust me not to tell” Nick was adamant on this point. He refused to break Greg’s trust again.

 

“Nick, is there something going on between you and Greg that I should be aware of?” Nick had missed the calculating look in Grissom’s eyes a moment ago. If he had, he wouldn’t have been caught off guard by the question.

 

Nick took a moment to think before answering, considering his words carefully. He knew Grissom had no problem with homosexuality. When Bobby from ballistics had come out Grissom had sent a memo saying that anyone who harassed Bobby would answer to him.

 

He also had no problem with people on his team dating. In fact Grissom and Sofia dated briefly and Nick was positive Grissom was now dating Sara.

 

It would be good to have Grissom on their side from the beginning. Grissom protected his people fiercely, but to do that he needed to be informed and the sooner, the better.

 

However, Nick couldn’t out Greg to Grissom and Catherine, not without talking to him first.

 

He would hate it if Greg spoke to Grissom about them before talking to him. He would hate to be outed to anyone really, let alone his boss.

 

“No” Nick said, though he hoped Grissom with his usual astuteness would see through his guise. “There is nothing going on with Greg and I” ‘yet’ Nick added silently; though Grissom seemed to hear it, if the deepening of his frown was anything to go by.

 

Nick added on silently, though Grissom seemed to hear it if the deepening of his frown was anything to go by.

 

“Alright,” Grissom said frowning, “You will let me know when that changes”

 

“If it changes, I will.”

 

“I’ll change the case from open to cold. You can work on it when you have time.” Grissom began searching through the documents on his desk.

 

“Thanks Grissom.” Nick stood up and headed for the door.

 

Grissom just nodded and went back to work on his paperwork. Catherine and Nick left and headed to the break room for coffee. Chatting about Catherine’s latest drama with Lindsey on the way

 

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It had been an incredibly busy day. They had been so swamped that Grissom had let him back out in the field for the day. Though the way his day had gone, Greg wished he’d spent the day in DNA.

 

 Greg had worked with Sara and they had solved three burglaries… All three had different perps. All three were on different sides of town. All three “victims” had been a pain in the ass. At all three houses Sara had made him do the grunt work and had snapped at him when he’d tried to do anything else or dared to complain. At all three houses Greg had barely contained himself from ripping the stick out of Sara’s ass.

 

To say that Greg was in a bad mood was an understatement. Greg was in a god awful mood. He slammed his locker and hurriedly walked out of the building before anyone else could piss him off.

 

He just wanted to go home, make a stiff drink, listen to some music and pass out.

 

He was about to unlock his car when he heard someone calling his name. He slammed his forehead against his car and turned around slowly.

 

“Hey man, I thought I wasn’t going to catch you.” Nick panted out.

 

“Well you did” Greg answered shortly wishing Nick would just go away.

 

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about the therapy thing”

 

He knew Nick agreeing so quickly was too good to be true. He was probably about to spout off some lame excuse about why he couldn’t or wouldn’t go. Greg grunted and glared at the ground.

 

“I uh want you to go with me” Nick sounded very uneasy.

 

“Pardon?” Greg looked up from the rock he was attempting to explode with the heat of his glare.

 

“Well I figured it would be better if you went with me.” Nick looked nervous, like he was asking Greg out on a date. 

 

“Like couples counseling?” Greg blurted out.

 

“Yeah!” Nick began before suddenly realizing what he had agreed to. “I mean no… Well it would kind of be… How about friendship counseling, because we aren’t a couple. Yet.”

 

Greg burst out laughing he couldn’t contain it. He laughed so hard tears formed in his eyes and his ribs hurt. That had been a nervous ramble worthy of Greg himself. It was good to know he wasn’t the only one who got nervous and said stupid things.  

 

“I’m sorry… “ He said as he attempted to suppress his laughter. “I just. Friendship Therapy?” He burst out laughing again. “Thanks man I needed that. I had a shitty day.”

 

“I’m glad I could help” Nick was blushing slightly but there was also a slight grin.

 

“I’m sorry. You were being serious and I laughed at you” Greg regained control of himself for the most part a stray chuckle still escaping every now and then.

 

“No worries G. I’m glad I brightened your day”

 

Greg started laughing again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. You say something sweet and I laugh… it’s just my natural reaction…”

 

“I’ll try not to take it personal” Nick said with a hint of a grin on his face. “So?”

 

“So what?”

 

“Do you want to go to friendship therapy with me?” Nick had a slightly exasperated tone of voice.

 

“I’d love to go to friendship therapy with you.” Greg smiled brightly and Nick blushed again. Greg was surprised at how easy it was to make Nick blush.

 

“Great well uhh my regular session is Thursday, want to come then?”

 

“You have a therapist?” Greg asked surprised. He figured a man’s man like Nick wouldn’t be big on therapy, but then again he’d though Nick was straight.

 

“Yes, I have a therapist” Nick rolled his eyes.

 

“I never would have guessed” Greg said not thinking.

 

 Nick looked at him strangely for a moment “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult”

 

“Me neither… “ Greg replied “What time?” he asked attempting to change the subject.

 

“9 PM. That’s not too early for you is it?”

 

“I’ll be fine” Greg said hopping into his car. He’d spent five minutes talking to Nick and he was in a much better frame of mind.