nickngreg | One Year, Two Mismatched Men and Three Million Dollars 14/?

Title: One Year, Two Mismatched Men and Three Million Dollars
Chapter: 13/? (Previous chapters are found here)
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Alcohol is known to do some pretty dangerous things to men, but when Research Scientist, Greg Sanders and Professional Trainer, Nick Stokes meet one drunken night- neither of them knew that it’d change their lives forever. In this instalment video tape chaos
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, first I had writers block and then Harry Potter kidnapped me... Anyway on with the show

Nick ducked back inside his apartment earlier than normal in the hope that he could destroy the tape. All day he’d been jittery and a little worried as to what the video would show and he’d come to the conclusion that he didn’t want to see it… And he was quite confident that he wasn’t going to now.

He’d taken a shortened lunch because there was no need to eat when his stomach was twisted horribly and Warrick wanted to know what was wrong. How could you tell your friend that you’re afraid to watch your wedding day? So, he’d just excused himself and disappeared back into the building to work straight through the remains so he could get home early. He’d just told Brass of a dental appointment and here he was, alone in his apartment with Greg not due back for another hour.

Perfection.

Nick headed straight for the kitchen table where he’d last seen the video and almost screamed when he saw that it wasn’t there. The wrapping was discarded on the floor but the cassette was no longer there, or actually anywhere within sight.

Maybe Greg has already seen it. Nick thought rather panicked, heading towards the living room in hope to pull it out of the recorder and destroy it before he was forced to watch it. He was almost sprinting by the time he reached the room and he just missed tumbling over the coffee table in his bid to get rid of any evidence of his wedding because to some that would be a beautifully romantic memento but to Nick it was a horror movie in disguise.

He pressed eject on the recorder but nothing happened, just the dull whirring of the video player trying to eject something that isn’t there. Nick screeched in frustration, running his hands through his hair and tugging on it slightly as he realised that Greg was one step ahead of him. Damn him with his genius IQ. He thought bitterly, trying to calculate his next move because he really wasn’t going to be settled until he watched the plastic melt away into a murky black puddle.

If I was to hide a tape away, where would I put it? He asked himself, trying to think back to when he had to stash all sorts of things out of the way of his family- and he immediately realised he’d have to ransack Greg’s room. He felt bad about even considering invading his privacy like that but that thought soon cleared when he realised that Greg would force him to watch the video whether he wanted to or not and he’d go to any extreme to prevent that, including turning his room upside-down and inside-out to get hold of the home movie that should never be shown.

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“Guys, seriously, I just want to go home.” Greg whined as his work colleagues pushed him towards the door of a bar he didn’t want to go to. “I don’t feel in the mood.”

“Married life has taken all the fun out of you Sanders.” Hodges said giving his friend one last shove through the door and into the smoky atmosphere where the stale scent of too much alcohol and smoke clung to every surface and couldn’t be removed despite all the scrubbing. “Just take it easy for once.”

Greg sighed, deciding there was no point fighting against his friends because they weren’t relenting and they weren’t going to leave him get away without drinking anything. Greg just wished they had chosen a bar he’d never been to before because he hated people beginning to view him as a ‘regular’ because that made him sound like he rolled about in a drunken stupor all the time.

“Come on Greg, since when do you pass up a free drink?” Sara said, smiling at him but sending a worried glance in the direction of her partner. “I’m sure Nick’ll be fine by himself.”

Greg believed that, but he wondered whether his room would be safe by itself. He had the bad feeling that he’d go back and find his room turned upside-down and the majority of the apartment in a state of disarray- the joys of cohabitation.

“Fine,” Greg huffed, throwing his hands up in defeat. “One drink and I’m out of here.”

“That’s the spirit!” Wendy clapped her hands together. “Drinks on me!”

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“Where the hell has he hidden it?” Nick growled to an empty room as he fumbled under the bed to try and uncover the missing object. “Why the hell did he hide it in the first place?!”

So you wouldn’t shred it. His subconscious immediately answered, ignoring the fact that Nick didn’t need to hear it, just pretending his motivations were innocent made him feel a little better. He’d already turned out most of the drawers and found nothing except a disarray of unpaired socks and rolled up clothes, but nothing else interesting. He’d also rifled through the numerous DVD and video cases just in case and hadn’t found the wedding video there (although he had found Die Hard 4.0 and had decided that was going to be his nights viewing).

He pulled out another book and threw it aside into the mess that currently was Greg’s room, it had surprised him the amount of things Greg had managed to cram into the room Nick had always considered his box-room. If he didn’t find the video soon, he was beginning to think it’d be his spare room again.

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Greg tapped the tape against the palm of his hand, whilst looking at the clock anxiously. One drink had progressively turned into three and now he was waiting for a cab to take him back home. His work colleagues were scattered about the bar, leaving Greg to mind their coats. After all, Hodges and Wendy had both gone out on the prowl (though Greg wished they’d see the obvious compatibility between them and shack up) whilst Sara and Grissom both made their excuses and had headed off in a ‘cab-share’.

So Greg was left at the table with no one to come and occupy his mind, instead he was running over all the scenarios that could be happening back at his home. It was unfortunate that his mind couldn’t even come up with one depiction that didn’t involve something of his being broken and a pissed off Texan glowering at him.

“Is this seat taken?”

Greg looked up from his study of the cassette and into the smiling face of the waitress from the restaurant, Ronnie, hovering by his booth. He shook his head and tucked the tap back away in his jacket pocket, grateful for the distraction.

“Thanks,” Ronnie said, sliding into the booth and allowing her foot to brush against Greg’s leg. “You looked a little lonely, thought you were in need of some good company.”

Oh shit, she’s flirting. Greg thought, resisting the urge to slap his forehead at his misfortune. Nick had mentioned that she was giving him the eye all night, unfortunately he’d been right and Greg was now wishing he’d just high-tailed it right out of there.

“How come you’re all alone? A guy like you shouldn’t be sat here alone.”

“Just waiting for my cab.” Greg explained sending a desperate plea for it to hurry up. “So I can head on home.”

She nodded, not taking that as a hint of dismissal and remained smiling shyly at him across the table whilst twirling a curl absent-mindedly about her finger. Greg inwardly groaned, his day was just getting progressively worse.

Over the other side of the bar Hodges sighed as another woman stalked away from him after shouting some obscenities his direction. Similarly Wendy’s luck was a little below par as her last target introduced his boyfriend to the ‘delightfully friendly scientist.’

“Do you think we have a sign on our back’s saying ‘desperate nerdy scientists looking for a lay’?”

Wendy scoffed at the idea, knowing that perhaps Hodges had one of those signs on her back but hers would most definitely say ‘single, picky woman looking for a long-term relationship’ which was probably why everyone was turning around and disappearing off into the smoky haze.

“I hate these places.” He decided, gulping down the scant remnants of his drink and frowning as he saw Greg. “And I hate Sanders.”

Wendy looked up and was stunned at the fact that sat across from Greg was a beautiful young woman and Greg hadn’t even had to try to get her.

“Look at him, she’s almost throwing herself at him and Greg’s not doing anything about it! He’s married! He could at least throw her my direction.”

“Go on over and introduce yourself. I’m sure Greg won’t mind.” Wendy suggested, wondering why it was Greg wasn’t sending her away- was he already having second thoughts about his blissful union? “And send Greg over my way.” She added, shoving Hodges in their direction before he could even protest about it.

Hodges cursed under his breath, wondering why it was Wendy had some control over him but shunted that idea to the back of his mind when he heard her laughter ringing out at something Greg had said. If Hodges knew any better he’d actually think that Greg was desperate for an escape- though he doubted it. After all, even a married man could see that she was certainly a good looking woman and turning her away was a sin.

“Greg,” Hodges called, approaching the table whilst flashing his most charming smile at Ronnie. “Wendy would like a word with you.”

“Ronnie, this is Hodg- I mean David. If you’ll excuse me, duty calls.” He said, grabbing the coat off the back of his chair and heading over towards the other side of the room with a spring in his step.

“Hey,” Hodges said, taking over Greg’s place opposite the young woman. “Welcome to the David Hodges experience.”

Wendy observed the interactions and watched as the woman’s eyes glazed over the minute Hodges began talking and how she subtly followed Greg across the room towards her. Wendy scowled at that fact and made sure Greg realised that the scowl was focussing in his general direction, he did seem to notice as the spring dissolved along with his smile.

“Hodges said you want to talk to me,” he scuffed his shoe against the floor, diverting his attention to anything but her.

“Care to explain her?”

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb Greg; you’re always quick enough to tell us you’re a genius.”

“There’s nothing to explain.”

“Oh really? From what I could see you were flirting.” Wendy clarified, “What about your partner?”

“Look, nothing’s going on. End of story.”

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“Where the hell is it?!”

Greg barely had time to make it through the door before Nick had appeared, ranting right in his face. He hadn’t expected much less considering exactly what they were talking about, but he’d held some hope that he’d have been able to check the state of his room- but as Greg glimpsed at the rest of the apartment he knew exactly what his room would be like.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Greg said, side-stepping the red-faced Texan and shrugging his jacket off onto the back of a chair.

“The tape.” Nick answered simply, “You’ve taken the tape and hidden it. I want it back now.”

“It’s not yours.” Greg growled fed up with the verbal abuse he was encountering at every angle that night because he deserved none of it. “I’m keeping it safe.”

“You have no right to do that.” He stalked over to Greg, using his larger frame to try and intimidate the younger. It was rather unfortunate that Greg wasn’t having any of it and puffed out his chest and glared at his partner.

“You have no right to destroy my room, but you still do it.”

“I-”

“So I’m keeping the tape away from you. Now if you don’t mind, I’m not in the mood.” He stalked off, making sure he slammed his door rather loudly as he barricaded himself inside. His sanctum was completely ruined and in a state of disarray from where Nick had just decided to rip it apart in search of the missing video- Greg was rather glad he had it on him otherwise he had little doubt it would have been burnt.

He sighed, slumping down against the door in complete defeat. Things were getting more and more turbulent as the time went on and he really wasn’t sure whether it was worth it anymore especially if he couldn’t even escape at work- it was too demanding a charade.

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Greg didn’t know how long he’d been re-organising his room when Nick had gently tapped on his door and popped his head around. Greg didn’t look up from his spot on the floor where he was trying to salvage his CD collection and in the process putting them all back in the right cases (which he swore they’d never actually been since he first bought them).

“I’m phoning in some pizza, you have any preferences?” He asked softly and received nothing but the cold shoulder in return. Nick sighed and made his way over to some of the destruction and where Greg was sat. “I’m sorry.” He offered weakly, making a move to tidy some of the music away. “You were right, I shouldn’t have done this.”

Greg looked up at this, but didn’t interrupt; he was quite enjoying the way it was going.

“I just really don’t want to see that video, it makes everything so much more real. I thought if I got rid of it that would be that. I suppose I just went a little too far.”

And Greg smiled.