Fic: Dig the Hole Wide and Deep (19/?)
Nov. 18th, 2007 03:05 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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nickngregTitle: Dig the Hole Wide and Deep
Rating: NC-17 for graphic sexual scenes.
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Summary Greg throws a dinner party.
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is a sequel to ‘Putting Down Roots’ which you can find
here
Previous parts of this story can be found here
Hello there, are you all still here? Yes, this is the narrator again. I just realized the last few chapters have been all Nick and that makes sense. Nick is the one in crisis at the moment. What’s that; this is about Nick and Greg so it should be half and half? Oh my, haven’t you all learned by now that nothing is ever fifty-fifty. In any relationship, the chances of both partners being equally happy or equally sad are pretty rare. Most of the time, one partner is going to be ‘needier’ more than the other. Up to now, it’s been Nick but I miss Greg and I bet you do to. Besides, it’s really hard to concentrate on Nick’s emotional storms for too long at a time. I need a break so let’s go see what Greg is up to.
While Nick’s been taking a trip down Nightmare Alley, Greg has been fighting his own battles. He was surprised at how much it hurt to have an impersonal receptionist call him and tell him that ‘Mr. Buehler did not wish to have visitors until further notice.’ He had called Bobby at once and got a roll over to voice so he called Steve’s phone. Steve was madder than hell. Bobby was on his phone getting the ‘Mr. Buehler’ message. Bobby was upset therefore Steve was upset.
Greg told Steve he’d gotten the call also and he was hoping Bobby could give him some idea what had happened but if he was getting the same call, then it had to be something bad. Steve told him he would talk to him as soon as he calmed Bobby down. Greg flipped his cell closed and then realized he needed to go to the man with the answers. He flipped the phone back open and called Alan.
Alan was just having his first coffee of the day and had no idea what Greg was talking, well yelling if we’re going to be honest about it, about. He finally got Greg to calm down enough to tell him about the call and then he got another beep and saw it was Bobby. He conferenced him in with Greg and they both started talking at the same time. Then he got another beep and saw the Texas prefix. He told Bobby and Greg he would call them back. Bobby said OK and dropped off but Greg stayed so he could hear what Jillian had to say.
When he responded to the beep he found he had Jillian and Bill Stokes both and as Jillian said, they were both just as mad as wet hen’s. Bill asked him if he knew what had happened. He was just getting ready to answer when he had another beep. He cursed silently in his head, told everyone to hang on, the clinic was trying to reach him.
It was the receptionist with the same message; Nick was canceling his appointment with Alan. Alan had her switch him to Nick’s day nurse. He got a quick report on Nick’s condition and realized that this was more than just a whim on Nick’s part. Something bad had happened. So bad that Nick was not only reacting emotionally but physically. He was feverish and in distress; all his vital signs were affected. Alan quickly switched to physician mode and prescribed, APAP and lots of fluid. For the time being, he was going to treat Nick’s physical symptoms. The APAP was sometimes called Tylenol #3; it had a low dosage of codeine, Charles had mention Nick moving as though he was hurt and Tylenol for the fever reduction. The combination would make Nick drowsy but not drugged.
This only took a few seconds and Alan went back to the phone and Nicks upset parents. He told them he had Greg on hold and would they allow him to be conferenced in. They said of course so he put Greg in the call and tried to console and calm down three very distraught people.
* * *
After Jillian had summarized the plan of action, that left Greg hanging out to dry. He couldn’t even call Bobby and Steve because Alan needed to speak with them and Greg knew both he and Bobby desperately needed sleep. They had been working the gang war that was escalating rapidly and he only had 6 hours to try to sleep, get showered, repack his bag with spare clean clothes, eat and get back to work. He finally took half an Ambien; one knocked him out for almost eight hours. He was hoping a half would give him 3 or 4 good hours of sleep.
* * *
The events at work kept Greg’s mind off Nick while he was there but every other minute was occupied with thoughts of Nick and their time together and most of all; what the hell had gone so wrong with something that had started out so right. Where once, Greg had been thrilled to be sent out alone on a case, now he wanted to be assigned with someone because the presence of another person forced him to stop living in his memories.
He made himself make time for Annabelle at least once every 3 or 4 days to make sure she had a ride to the store. He tried very hard to make one of those trips on a Saturday morning when he could take her to a farmer’s market on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Annabelle was very insistent on fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible. Up until the crisis at work, she had been giving Greg some cooking lessons and he was amazed at the difference in taste.
He had almost made himself sick the first time she’d fed him asparagus. Now Greg really thought asparagus was a slimy grey stick thing and he had tried it once and never again. He prided himself on staying as far away from asparagus as he possibly could so when she told him they would be learning to cook stuffed pork chops with asparagus; he had turned white, made the sign of the cross and told her to back away from him slowly.
Annabelle laughed out loud at him and told him he was just too precious to be real. Greg said seriously, “I’m not kidding; that stuff is the devils work and I won’t be in the same room with it.”
Annabelle walked right up to Greg, reached up, she was a very tiny woman just barely 5 feet tall, took his head between her hands and pulled him down so she could press a kiss to his forehead. “Do you trust me, baby boy?”
“Sure I do but trust and asparagus do not belong in the same sentence.”
“I promise, you do not have to eat them. I only ask that you take one very tiny bite and if you still feel the same way, I will never say the dreaded word again.”
Greg was very apprehensive BUT he had come to love Annabelle with a purple passion so he took her shopping. They went to Marvin’s, their favorite butcher and got one and a half inch pork chops so fresh, Greg swore he heard an oink when he picked them up. Annabelle told Marvin to butterfly them and Greg almost popped his neck turning around to look at her with a puzzled WTF expression.
“Butterfly, dear; it means to slice them in half but leave them attached on one side. I used to just have a pocket cut in them but my hands are not as flexible as they once were so this is easier for me now.”
Then they went to the market and got vegetables and fruit. Greg was really surprised when Annabelle picked up a bunch of bright, almost lime green stalks. “I thought you were going to get asparagus.”
“This is asparagus.”
“No it’s not. Asparagus is grey and slimy.”
“Oh my Good Heavens to Betsy. No wonder you shudder at the word, you’ve never had fresh asparagus. Just that canned abomination.” Annabelle was shaken right down to the tips of her three inch red heels.
Did I mention that Annabelle was the girliest female Greg had ever met?
“Come with me dear, we just need a few more things. I think we will have broiled peach halves with the pork chops.” Greg wondered for the thousandth time since he’d met this crazy, wonderful woman if he was her pet or her keeper.
He had stayed with her in the kitchen while the stuffing was prepared, the chops were seared, stuffed and sewn up like a pair of cuffs on trousers and the rest of the meal was prepared. She sent him out to set the table with the good china, silver and linens. They always dined in style when they practiced their cooking.
Thanks to Annabelle, Greg’s credit card was almost maxed out and he had the express joy of trying to explain to the Discover people, in the lab where everyone could hear, that yes, he really had charged $680.00 for china and a damask table cloth with matching napkins. When he hung up, he looked up to see a roomful of stunned expressions staring at him.
“What, what are you all staring at? Haven’t you ever heard of setting a nice table?”
Catherine regained her voice first and said slowly and with a great deal of confusion in her voice, “Yeah but somehow the subject just doesn’t seem to connect to you.”
“Well I’ll have you know, I enjoy the finer things in life as much as the next person.”
Warrick finally found his voice and joined in the conversation. “Let me get this straight. You are trying to tell us that you actually plan on putting a damask table cloth on that Salvation Army reject table you have in the kitchen in your pad.”
“No, that’s not what I’m planning to do.”
“I didn’t think so.” Warrick was about to settle back in his chair feeling that he’d won that round until Greg added that he’d bought a new table.
Everyone in the room started talking at the same time and before Grissom could call his unruly bunch to order, Greg yelled at them, “Fine, you all seem to doubt my word. I don’t know why. I may exaggerate a little but I don’t lie. Why don’t you all come over to my place for dinner before shift Friday night and I will show you my new china AND my new tablecloth AND my new table.” He didn’t add, he would show them his newly decorated apartment. He thought he’d just keep that for a surprise.
No I haven’t forgotten about the asparagus. I just went off on a tangent for a moment. I’m coming back to Greg and Annabelle but then I’m going back to Greg’s dinner because it was a blast.
Annabelle called Greg into the kitchen to help her bring the food out. He took everything but he didn’t see the asparagus. Annabelle told him to pour the wine and she would be right there. He did and looked up in time to see her bring in a bowl of beautiful, bright green spears. She set them down on the table and then stood by her chair. Greg just stood there. Finally, she let out a small ‘ahem’. Greg came to and stammered ‘Sorry’ as he went to hold her chair for her. After he had seated his lady, he went to his chair and sat down. She looked at him and asked him what was wrong. He said, “I thought the grey, slimy things were bad but I don’t know if I can eat even one little bite raw.”
“Oh you silly boy. Come on, you promised one bite for me so let’s get it over so we can enjoy this excellent dinner.” Annabelle carefully cut just the tip off one of the spears, stabbed it with her fork and held it up to Greg’s mouth.
He sort of backed off a little and then when he saw her patiently waiting with the fork still in front of his mouth, he thought to himself, “I have waded in sewers up to my armpits, been in garbage dumpsters over my head and had human soup splash in my face….I can do this.”
He closed his eyes, leaned forward and opened his mouth. He felt something very warm land on his tongue. He opened his eyes in surprise; it couldn’t be raw if it was warm. He sort of rolled the tip around on his tongue and when the flavors finally got to his taste buds he moaned in surprise and pleasure. OH MY GOD, that was good. He looked at Annabelle in complete astonishment. “What the hell did you do? Did you cast some sort of spell on those green sticks?”
Annabelle smiled at him. “Language, baby boy. No, I cooked them the way they are supposed to be cooked. Steamed with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and real butter that has been infused with garlic. What do you think?”
Greg was too busy loading some of the delectable, green spears on his plate to answer her immediately. When he did, he just grinned and said, “Annabelle you are truly a goddess. I will never doubt you again. You might even get me to eat liver and onions.”
* * * * *
The reason I spent so much time on the whole asparagus bit was because that was the menu for the dinner Greg prepared for his friends.
Greg had wanted Annabelle to come to dinner with his co-workers but she refused telling him that if she was there, they might think she had prepared the meal and she didn’t want to spoil his fun. She did tell him he was to remember every single remark and expression so he could tell her all about it.
Everyone had accepted his invitation so he had Grissom, Catherine, Brass, Warrick, Sara, Mandy, Wendy, Archie, Bobby, Steve and Hodges all at his place at the same time. That made twelve at the table but he knew he could handle it. He had picked his new table for it’s wood and beautifully carved legs. He didn’t realize until after it was delivered that it had two extra large insert leaves and it would easily seat 12 when fully extended. The chairs were a problem, he only had 6 but Annabelle came through for him again. She found a place in Vegas where he could rent 6 extra chairs that pretty much matched his. His new china was plain white with a gold rim and she had plain white with a green Celtic knot design AND she had 12 gold chargers. By alternating place settings, the table was a thing of beauty and Greg knew between the dining room, the food and his surprise redecoration, his team mates were going to get the surprise of their lives. He was caught off guard by the pain he felt when he realized it would be perfect if only Nick were there too.
* * * * *
The dinner party was over and everyone was back going about their regular activities. It had been a success beyond even Greg’s imaginings and believe me when I say that Greg had a very active imagination.
Except for Bobby and Steve who had not only seen his apartment but had helped him with some of the changes, every single person had done exactly the same thing. He’d opened the door, told them to come on in and they had stopped dead inside the door. He’d gotten ‘Wows”, “Holy Shit’s”, a heart-felt ‘Damn’ from Brass and even a “Well, I’m certainly surprised” from Hodges. Every one wanted to see everything and he was so glad he’d cleaned the whole place and not just his dining room and living room. His friends had examined every single square inch of his home and Catherine had actually groaned out loud when she’d opened his closet doors and saw the shelves, compartments and various hanging rods. “My good lord, I would kill for something like this. I swear, I could get everything I own in here and have room left over. Sanders…who are you and what the hell have you done with my messy, un-organized friend?”
Greg told Catherine that he was not that messy, if she would remember, his lab was always in complete order at all times. He relented though when he saw the complete honesty on her face and heard it in her voice when she told him everything was just beautiful. He offered to come over and help her design a closet to fit her needs. She not only took him at his word, she made him set a date and time. They both agreed the date was subject to change because of their current gang situation.
Everyone was seated and the food was on the table when Warrick tapped his glass for attention and stood up. “Does everyone have a glass of wine ‘cause I want to propose a little toast?” He waited until he was sure everyone was ready and then he said, “There are very few things in life that are perfect, but this comes as close as I’ve been in a long, long time. Great food, great friends and a beautiful place to enjoy them. There is only one thing missing to make this moment perfection.”
Greg knew what was coming. He looked at Bobby. He and Steve were both looking straight back at him.
Warrick raised his glass and said, “To Nick, the only thing we need to make this moment perfect. Let’s do it again when he’s back home with us.”
Greg managed to raise his glass with everyone else, but he couldn’t get the words, ‘To Nick’ past the lump in his throat, nor could he swallow. He just wet his lips and put his glass back down. He knew Bobby and Steve felt the same way he did because their eyes were a little brighter than usual. He was so glad when Jim Brass spoke up and said, “Well if Nick’s not here in body, I’m going to eat his portion and mine.” Everyone laughed a little more than the remark deserved just because the emotion was pretty thick right then and it was a release. Food started passing around the table and everyone started sampling the meal Greg had prepared.
Warrick and Jim both took a bite of the stuffed pork at the same time and both of them moaned. Warrick looked over at Greg and said, “Greg if you actually made this yourself, I’m just going to have to switch sides and marry you.”
Jim spoke up and said, “I’ll arm wrestle you for him.”
Catherine said, “Okay, you guys can just get all hot and sweaty. Us girls will work out a schedule and share him between us.”
Greg spoke up indignantly, “Hey, still in the room here. Don’t I have a say in who gets me?”
The resounding NO from everyone pretty much settled that.
* * * * *
The dinner was the last peaceful time they had. When they got to work that night all hell broke loose. A new shipment of guns had gotten past the ATF agents who’d been assisting and warfare broke out again. Nineteen bodies arrived at the morgue when it was over with. Al and Super Dave called in help from the Day and Swing shifts and finally asked the Medical College if they could send some of their seniors over to assist with the grunt work. Bobby was moving around the ballistics lab very carefully because he had guns stacked everywhere and was afraid a sudden movement would bring some of them down on his head. The CSI’s, not just from Graveyard but every shift were working themselves to death even with the young interns who were on the scene. They weren’t allowed to touch anything but they were invaluable for placing markers at every single piece of evidence, every spent shell, every blood spot, every single thing that seemed the least out of place. Each intern had different colored markers but there were so many, a lot of them were using the same colors so they had to put their initials on their markers as they placed them. Vartann said the street looked like a ticker tape parade with extra large confetti had passed through.
Greg didn’t have a moment to think about Nick or anything else. After they went into their third straight 24 hour shift, Ecklie set up a schedule and forced them to go home in rotation. He finally was sent home after 62 straight hours. He was sure he would never wake up and in fact, when they were sent home, Ecklie told them they were to sleep until they woke without an alarm before they came back again. Greg was sure everyone but Grissom and maybe Sara would do just that. He certainly was.
* * * * *
He was at Lake Mead with Nick. He was off and Nick was on call so they packed a lunch and went out there to spend the afternoon. They found a secluded cove, put down some blankets and just relaxed. They scarfed down most of the food and were enjoying a cold beer when Nick told him to come over there to him. Nick was resting back into a corner formed by two big rocks. He’d padded the rocks with some of the extra blankets they’d brought. Greg moved over and started to sit down beside Nick but Nick stopped him and told him to turn around. He looked at his boy-friend and raised one eyebrow and said slowly, ‘O-k-a-y’. He’d sat down facing Nick who reached out and sort of pulled him across his lap so he was lying against his chest. It was a strange position and not one Greg would have thought about trying to get into but after he got settled and Nick pulled one of the large beach towels they’d brought with them into another pad between his arm and the rocks, it was really very comfortable. He was literally lying in Nick’s arms, they were face to face and it was so easy to exchange slow lazy kisses.
Most people don’t think about gay men and kissing. The truth is, a lot of gay men love to kiss. They don’t do it much during a casual encounter but in a relationship, kissing is a plus. With Greg, it was a huge plus. When he discovered that Nick loved to kiss as much as he did, he was sure he had died and gone to heaven. The fact that Nick was a world class kisser was just frosting on the cake.
There were many times during their time together when they would just go to bed, hold each other and kiss until they fell into a sound sleep, waking later to take it to the next level. Kissing for both of them was comfort and closeness and almost more intimacy than sex itself. For Greg it was love on the deepest level.
Greg knew he was more vocal than Nick about his feelings and that sometimes he embarrassed his new boy-friend so he tried to keep his more extreme outbursts to himself but this was just so close to perfection he didn't even realize he'd said out loud, "You have got to be the worlds best kisser."
Nick pulled back a little and looked down at the man in his arms. Greg opened his eyes and looked up into Nick's amused face. He said, "I said that out loud didn't I?"
"Yep, you sure did. It's funny 'cause I was just thinking the same thing about you."
"You were? Really?" Greg was very surprised. He knew he wasn't horrible but he'd never thought of himself as a great kisser.
"Yeah, your lips are so soft and they just seem to fit against mine perfectly."
Greg smiled and said, "You never get too toothy or bump my nose."
Nick smiled back and said, "You never get too sloppy unless the occasion calls for a really hot, wet one."
Greg moved in until his lips were right against Nick's and said softly, "What do you say we practice what we're preaching?"
He could taste Nick and the cold beer and the ham sandwiches they’d eaten. It was a taste that he knew he could live on forever. He moved closer to this man he cared for so deeply but Nick was moving away from him. He opened his eyes and saw Nick looking at him with cold, dark eyes. He tried to pull him back into his arms but Nick pulled away from him and told him to turn over. He said, ‘You’re only good for fucking. That’s the only reason I keep you around.”
Greg tried to tell Nick he was wrong. He couldn’t say things like that to him; not when he’d just been holding him and kissing him like they were the only two people left on the face of the earth. He couldn’t mean it. Nick held him down and he couldn’t breathe and he was fighting for air and Nick was jerking him up on his knees and he knew Nick was going to force himself inside him with no preparation and he fought even harder and……
Greg woke up with a loud, strangled scream. He had his pillow pressed against his face and he jerked it away and took deep gulps of air into his burning lungs. He remembered his dream, he remembered the rape. He knew it wasn’t a dream. It happened and he lived again the pain, the fear, the horror of watching the man he loved turn into a monster who held him down and tore him open. He barely made it to the bathroom in time to puke up what little was left in his stomach.
Rating: NC-17 for graphic sexual scenes.
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Summary Greg throws a dinner party.
Spoilers: None
A/N: This is a sequel to ‘Putting Down Roots’ which you can find
here
Previous parts of this story can be found here
Hello there, are you all still here? Yes, this is the narrator again. I just realized the last few chapters have been all Nick and that makes sense. Nick is the one in crisis at the moment. What’s that; this is about Nick and Greg so it should be half and half? Oh my, haven’t you all learned by now that nothing is ever fifty-fifty. In any relationship, the chances of both partners being equally happy or equally sad are pretty rare. Most of the time, one partner is going to be ‘needier’ more than the other. Up to now, it’s been Nick but I miss Greg and I bet you do to. Besides, it’s really hard to concentrate on Nick’s emotional storms for too long at a time. I need a break so let’s go see what Greg is up to.
While Nick’s been taking a trip down Nightmare Alley, Greg has been fighting his own battles. He was surprised at how much it hurt to have an impersonal receptionist call him and tell him that ‘Mr. Buehler did not wish to have visitors until further notice.’ He had called Bobby at once and got a roll over to voice so he called Steve’s phone. Steve was madder than hell. Bobby was on his phone getting the ‘Mr. Buehler’ message. Bobby was upset therefore Steve was upset.
Greg told Steve he’d gotten the call also and he was hoping Bobby could give him some idea what had happened but if he was getting the same call, then it had to be something bad. Steve told him he would talk to him as soon as he calmed Bobby down. Greg flipped his cell closed and then realized he needed to go to the man with the answers. He flipped the phone back open and called Alan.
Alan was just having his first coffee of the day and had no idea what Greg was talking, well yelling if we’re going to be honest about it, about. He finally got Greg to calm down enough to tell him about the call and then he got another beep and saw it was Bobby. He conferenced him in with Greg and they both started talking at the same time. Then he got another beep and saw the Texas prefix. He told Bobby and Greg he would call them back. Bobby said OK and dropped off but Greg stayed so he could hear what Jillian had to say.
When he responded to the beep he found he had Jillian and Bill Stokes both and as Jillian said, they were both just as mad as wet hen’s. Bill asked him if he knew what had happened. He was just getting ready to answer when he had another beep. He cursed silently in his head, told everyone to hang on, the clinic was trying to reach him.
It was the receptionist with the same message; Nick was canceling his appointment with Alan. Alan had her switch him to Nick’s day nurse. He got a quick report on Nick’s condition and realized that this was more than just a whim on Nick’s part. Something bad had happened. So bad that Nick was not only reacting emotionally but physically. He was feverish and in distress; all his vital signs were affected. Alan quickly switched to physician mode and prescribed, APAP and lots of fluid. For the time being, he was going to treat Nick’s physical symptoms. The APAP was sometimes called Tylenol #3; it had a low dosage of codeine, Charles had mention Nick moving as though he was hurt and Tylenol for the fever reduction. The combination would make Nick drowsy but not drugged.
This only took a few seconds and Alan went back to the phone and Nicks upset parents. He told them he had Greg on hold and would they allow him to be conferenced in. They said of course so he put Greg in the call and tried to console and calm down three very distraught people.
* * *
After Jillian had summarized the plan of action, that left Greg hanging out to dry. He couldn’t even call Bobby and Steve because Alan needed to speak with them and Greg knew both he and Bobby desperately needed sleep. They had been working the gang war that was escalating rapidly and he only had 6 hours to try to sleep, get showered, repack his bag with spare clean clothes, eat and get back to work. He finally took half an Ambien; one knocked him out for almost eight hours. He was hoping a half would give him 3 or 4 good hours of sleep.
* * *
The events at work kept Greg’s mind off Nick while he was there but every other minute was occupied with thoughts of Nick and their time together and most of all; what the hell had gone so wrong with something that had started out so right. Where once, Greg had been thrilled to be sent out alone on a case, now he wanted to be assigned with someone because the presence of another person forced him to stop living in his memories.
He made himself make time for Annabelle at least once every 3 or 4 days to make sure she had a ride to the store. He tried very hard to make one of those trips on a Saturday morning when he could take her to a farmer’s market on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Annabelle was very insistent on fresh fruits and vegetables as much as possible. Up until the crisis at work, she had been giving Greg some cooking lessons and he was amazed at the difference in taste.
He had almost made himself sick the first time she’d fed him asparagus. Now Greg really thought asparagus was a slimy grey stick thing and he had tried it once and never again. He prided himself on staying as far away from asparagus as he possibly could so when she told him they would be learning to cook stuffed pork chops with asparagus; he had turned white, made the sign of the cross and told her to back away from him slowly.
Annabelle laughed out loud at him and told him he was just too precious to be real. Greg said seriously, “I’m not kidding; that stuff is the devils work and I won’t be in the same room with it.”
Annabelle walked right up to Greg, reached up, she was a very tiny woman just barely 5 feet tall, took his head between her hands and pulled him down so she could press a kiss to his forehead. “Do you trust me, baby boy?”
“Sure I do but trust and asparagus do not belong in the same sentence.”
“I promise, you do not have to eat them. I only ask that you take one very tiny bite and if you still feel the same way, I will never say the dreaded word again.”
Greg was very apprehensive BUT he had come to love Annabelle with a purple passion so he took her shopping. They went to Marvin’s, their favorite butcher and got one and a half inch pork chops so fresh, Greg swore he heard an oink when he picked them up. Annabelle told Marvin to butterfly them and Greg almost popped his neck turning around to look at her with a puzzled WTF expression.
“Butterfly, dear; it means to slice them in half but leave them attached on one side. I used to just have a pocket cut in them but my hands are not as flexible as they once were so this is easier for me now.”
Then they went to the market and got vegetables and fruit. Greg was really surprised when Annabelle picked up a bunch of bright, almost lime green stalks. “I thought you were going to get asparagus.”
“This is asparagus.”
“No it’s not. Asparagus is grey and slimy.”
“Oh my Good Heavens to Betsy. No wonder you shudder at the word, you’ve never had fresh asparagus. Just that canned abomination.” Annabelle was shaken right down to the tips of her three inch red heels.
Did I mention that Annabelle was the girliest female Greg had ever met?
“Come with me dear, we just need a few more things. I think we will have broiled peach halves with the pork chops.” Greg wondered for the thousandth time since he’d met this crazy, wonderful woman if he was her pet or her keeper.
He had stayed with her in the kitchen while the stuffing was prepared, the chops were seared, stuffed and sewn up like a pair of cuffs on trousers and the rest of the meal was prepared. She sent him out to set the table with the good china, silver and linens. They always dined in style when they practiced their cooking.
Thanks to Annabelle, Greg’s credit card was almost maxed out and he had the express joy of trying to explain to the Discover people, in the lab where everyone could hear, that yes, he really had charged $680.00 for china and a damask table cloth with matching napkins. When he hung up, he looked up to see a roomful of stunned expressions staring at him.
“What, what are you all staring at? Haven’t you ever heard of setting a nice table?”
Catherine regained her voice first and said slowly and with a great deal of confusion in her voice, “Yeah but somehow the subject just doesn’t seem to connect to you.”
“Well I’ll have you know, I enjoy the finer things in life as much as the next person.”
Warrick finally found his voice and joined in the conversation. “Let me get this straight. You are trying to tell us that you actually plan on putting a damask table cloth on that Salvation Army reject table you have in the kitchen in your pad.”
“No, that’s not what I’m planning to do.”
“I didn’t think so.” Warrick was about to settle back in his chair feeling that he’d won that round until Greg added that he’d bought a new table.
Everyone in the room started talking at the same time and before Grissom could call his unruly bunch to order, Greg yelled at them, “Fine, you all seem to doubt my word. I don’t know why. I may exaggerate a little but I don’t lie. Why don’t you all come over to my place for dinner before shift Friday night and I will show you my new china AND my new tablecloth AND my new table.” He didn’t add, he would show them his newly decorated apartment. He thought he’d just keep that for a surprise.
No I haven’t forgotten about the asparagus. I just went off on a tangent for a moment. I’m coming back to Greg and Annabelle but then I’m going back to Greg’s dinner because it was a blast.
Annabelle called Greg into the kitchen to help her bring the food out. He took everything but he didn’t see the asparagus. Annabelle told him to pour the wine and she would be right there. He did and looked up in time to see her bring in a bowl of beautiful, bright green spears. She set them down on the table and then stood by her chair. Greg just stood there. Finally, she let out a small ‘ahem’. Greg came to and stammered ‘Sorry’ as he went to hold her chair for her. After he had seated his lady, he went to his chair and sat down. She looked at him and asked him what was wrong. He said, “I thought the grey, slimy things were bad but I don’t know if I can eat even one little bite raw.”
“Oh you silly boy. Come on, you promised one bite for me so let’s get it over so we can enjoy this excellent dinner.” Annabelle carefully cut just the tip off one of the spears, stabbed it with her fork and held it up to Greg’s mouth.
He sort of backed off a little and then when he saw her patiently waiting with the fork still in front of his mouth, he thought to himself, “I have waded in sewers up to my armpits, been in garbage dumpsters over my head and had human soup splash in my face….I can do this.”
He closed his eyes, leaned forward and opened his mouth. He felt something very warm land on his tongue. He opened his eyes in surprise; it couldn’t be raw if it was warm. He sort of rolled the tip around on his tongue and when the flavors finally got to his taste buds he moaned in surprise and pleasure. OH MY GOD, that was good. He looked at Annabelle in complete astonishment. “What the hell did you do? Did you cast some sort of spell on those green sticks?”
Annabelle smiled at him. “Language, baby boy. No, I cooked them the way they are supposed to be cooked. Steamed with sea salt, freshly ground pepper and real butter that has been infused with garlic. What do you think?”
Greg was too busy loading some of the delectable, green spears on his plate to answer her immediately. When he did, he just grinned and said, “Annabelle you are truly a goddess. I will never doubt you again. You might even get me to eat liver and onions.”
* * * * *
The reason I spent so much time on the whole asparagus bit was because that was the menu for the dinner Greg prepared for his friends.
Greg had wanted Annabelle to come to dinner with his co-workers but she refused telling him that if she was there, they might think she had prepared the meal and she didn’t want to spoil his fun. She did tell him he was to remember every single remark and expression so he could tell her all about it.
Everyone had accepted his invitation so he had Grissom, Catherine, Brass, Warrick, Sara, Mandy, Wendy, Archie, Bobby, Steve and Hodges all at his place at the same time. That made twelve at the table but he knew he could handle it. He had picked his new table for it’s wood and beautifully carved legs. He didn’t realize until after it was delivered that it had two extra large insert leaves and it would easily seat 12 when fully extended. The chairs were a problem, he only had 6 but Annabelle came through for him again. She found a place in Vegas where he could rent 6 extra chairs that pretty much matched his. His new china was plain white with a gold rim and she had plain white with a green Celtic knot design AND she had 12 gold chargers. By alternating place settings, the table was a thing of beauty and Greg knew between the dining room, the food and his surprise redecoration, his team mates were going to get the surprise of their lives. He was caught off guard by the pain he felt when he realized it would be perfect if only Nick were there too.
* * * * *
The dinner party was over and everyone was back going about their regular activities. It had been a success beyond even Greg’s imaginings and believe me when I say that Greg had a very active imagination.
Except for Bobby and Steve who had not only seen his apartment but had helped him with some of the changes, every single person had done exactly the same thing. He’d opened the door, told them to come on in and they had stopped dead inside the door. He’d gotten ‘Wows”, “Holy Shit’s”, a heart-felt ‘Damn’ from Brass and even a “Well, I’m certainly surprised” from Hodges. Every one wanted to see everything and he was so glad he’d cleaned the whole place and not just his dining room and living room. His friends had examined every single square inch of his home and Catherine had actually groaned out loud when she’d opened his closet doors and saw the shelves, compartments and various hanging rods. “My good lord, I would kill for something like this. I swear, I could get everything I own in here and have room left over. Sanders…who are you and what the hell have you done with my messy, un-organized friend?”
Greg told Catherine that he was not that messy, if she would remember, his lab was always in complete order at all times. He relented though when he saw the complete honesty on her face and heard it in her voice when she told him everything was just beautiful. He offered to come over and help her design a closet to fit her needs. She not only took him at his word, she made him set a date and time. They both agreed the date was subject to change because of their current gang situation.
Everyone was seated and the food was on the table when Warrick tapped his glass for attention and stood up. “Does everyone have a glass of wine ‘cause I want to propose a little toast?” He waited until he was sure everyone was ready and then he said, “There are very few things in life that are perfect, but this comes as close as I’ve been in a long, long time. Great food, great friends and a beautiful place to enjoy them. There is only one thing missing to make this moment perfection.”
Greg knew what was coming. He looked at Bobby. He and Steve were both looking straight back at him.
Warrick raised his glass and said, “To Nick, the only thing we need to make this moment perfect. Let’s do it again when he’s back home with us.”
Greg managed to raise his glass with everyone else, but he couldn’t get the words, ‘To Nick’ past the lump in his throat, nor could he swallow. He just wet his lips and put his glass back down. He knew Bobby and Steve felt the same way he did because their eyes were a little brighter than usual. He was so glad when Jim Brass spoke up and said, “Well if Nick’s not here in body, I’m going to eat his portion and mine.” Everyone laughed a little more than the remark deserved just because the emotion was pretty thick right then and it was a release. Food started passing around the table and everyone started sampling the meal Greg had prepared.
Warrick and Jim both took a bite of the stuffed pork at the same time and both of them moaned. Warrick looked over at Greg and said, “Greg if you actually made this yourself, I’m just going to have to switch sides and marry you.”
Jim spoke up and said, “I’ll arm wrestle you for him.”
Catherine said, “Okay, you guys can just get all hot and sweaty. Us girls will work out a schedule and share him between us.”
Greg spoke up indignantly, “Hey, still in the room here. Don’t I have a say in who gets me?”
The resounding NO from everyone pretty much settled that.
* * * * *
The dinner was the last peaceful time they had. When they got to work that night all hell broke loose. A new shipment of guns had gotten past the ATF agents who’d been assisting and warfare broke out again. Nineteen bodies arrived at the morgue when it was over with. Al and Super Dave called in help from the Day and Swing shifts and finally asked the Medical College if they could send some of their seniors over to assist with the grunt work. Bobby was moving around the ballistics lab very carefully because he had guns stacked everywhere and was afraid a sudden movement would bring some of them down on his head. The CSI’s, not just from Graveyard but every shift were working themselves to death even with the young interns who were on the scene. They weren’t allowed to touch anything but they were invaluable for placing markers at every single piece of evidence, every spent shell, every blood spot, every single thing that seemed the least out of place. Each intern had different colored markers but there were so many, a lot of them were using the same colors so they had to put their initials on their markers as they placed them. Vartann said the street looked like a ticker tape parade with extra large confetti had passed through.
Greg didn’t have a moment to think about Nick or anything else. After they went into their third straight 24 hour shift, Ecklie set up a schedule and forced them to go home in rotation. He finally was sent home after 62 straight hours. He was sure he would never wake up and in fact, when they were sent home, Ecklie told them they were to sleep until they woke without an alarm before they came back again. Greg was sure everyone but Grissom and maybe Sara would do just that. He certainly was.
* * * * *
He was at Lake Mead with Nick. He was off and Nick was on call so they packed a lunch and went out there to spend the afternoon. They found a secluded cove, put down some blankets and just relaxed. They scarfed down most of the food and were enjoying a cold beer when Nick told him to come over there to him. Nick was resting back into a corner formed by two big rocks. He’d padded the rocks with some of the extra blankets they’d brought. Greg moved over and started to sit down beside Nick but Nick stopped him and told him to turn around. He looked at his boy-friend and raised one eyebrow and said slowly, ‘O-k-a-y’. He’d sat down facing Nick who reached out and sort of pulled him across his lap so he was lying against his chest. It was a strange position and not one Greg would have thought about trying to get into but after he got settled and Nick pulled one of the large beach towels they’d brought with them into another pad between his arm and the rocks, it was really very comfortable. He was literally lying in Nick’s arms, they were face to face and it was so easy to exchange slow lazy kisses.
Most people don’t think about gay men and kissing. The truth is, a lot of gay men love to kiss. They don’t do it much during a casual encounter but in a relationship, kissing is a plus. With Greg, it was a huge plus. When he discovered that Nick loved to kiss as much as he did, he was sure he had died and gone to heaven. The fact that Nick was a world class kisser was just frosting on the cake.
There were many times during their time together when they would just go to bed, hold each other and kiss until they fell into a sound sleep, waking later to take it to the next level. Kissing for both of them was comfort and closeness and almost more intimacy than sex itself. For Greg it was love on the deepest level.
Greg knew he was more vocal than Nick about his feelings and that sometimes he embarrassed his new boy-friend so he tried to keep his more extreme outbursts to himself but this was just so close to perfection he didn't even realize he'd said out loud, "You have got to be the worlds best kisser."
Nick pulled back a little and looked down at the man in his arms. Greg opened his eyes and looked up into Nick's amused face. He said, "I said that out loud didn't I?"
"Yep, you sure did. It's funny 'cause I was just thinking the same thing about you."
"You were? Really?" Greg was very surprised. He knew he wasn't horrible but he'd never thought of himself as a great kisser.
"Yeah, your lips are so soft and they just seem to fit against mine perfectly."
Greg smiled and said, "You never get too toothy or bump my nose."
Nick smiled back and said, "You never get too sloppy unless the occasion calls for a really hot, wet one."
Greg moved in until his lips were right against Nick's and said softly, "What do you say we practice what we're preaching?"
He could taste Nick and the cold beer and the ham sandwiches they’d eaten. It was a taste that he knew he could live on forever. He moved closer to this man he cared for so deeply but Nick was moving away from him. He opened his eyes and saw Nick looking at him with cold, dark eyes. He tried to pull him back into his arms but Nick pulled away from him and told him to turn over. He said, ‘You’re only good for fucking. That’s the only reason I keep you around.”
Greg tried to tell Nick he was wrong. He couldn’t say things like that to him; not when he’d just been holding him and kissing him like they were the only two people left on the face of the earth. He couldn’t mean it. Nick held him down and he couldn’t breathe and he was fighting for air and Nick was jerking him up on his knees and he knew Nick was going to force himself inside him with no preparation and he fought even harder and……
Greg woke up with a loud, strangled scream. He had his pillow pressed against his face and he jerked it away and took deep gulps of air into his burning lungs. He remembered his dream, he remembered the rape. He knew it wasn’t a dream. It happened and he lived again the pain, the fear, the horror of watching the man he loved turn into a monster who held him down and tore him open. He barely made it to the bathroom in time to puke up what little was left in his stomach.
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Date: 2007-11-18 11:14 pm (UTC)The dream was so horrible, going from perfect to hell... i really want to read how this will end.
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Date: 2007-11-19 04:50 pm (UTC)It's nice to know the dream sequence worked. I was trying to use it to move the story along but also to mimic the two sides of Nick.
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Date: 2007-11-19 02:27 am (UTC)Poor Greg ... still beautifully written ... more more more ... Please? *grins sheepishly*
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Date: 2007-11-19 03:11 am (UTC)I can't tell you how much your support means. I'm Irish also and there is a tradition of story telling in my family (no I don't mean lying) so it's nice to know I can spin a yarn as well as my Grammies did.
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Date: 2007-11-19 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-19 03:15 am (UTC)Rest up and enjoy your holidays. I may be poking you with a writing stick after the first of the year. You need to follow up on Disintegration. Maybe not a sequel but another story? Hmmmmm!
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Date: 2007-11-19 04:26 am (UTC)Enjoy your holidays as well, I look foreward to your next chapter ;)
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Date: 2007-11-19 05:20 am (UTC)I hope everything works out.
:/
GET BETTER NICKY!
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Date: 2007-11-19 08:46 am (UTC)I like the narrator voice.... :-)
Oh, I want asparagus! My parents like the canned thing, and that is just nasty! I hate it! But oh do I love fresh asparagus! yummi!
I can just see the two manly men Jim and Warrick fight for Greg... hehe
And than the end of this chapter. My poor Greg. I know it's a lot of work to write a story, and I need to give you TIME to write the next chapter... but I really would like to read it NOW! *sigh*
You are just too good!
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Date: 2007-11-20 10:28 pm (UTC)