nickngreg | Fic: Life Changes 14/29 (Reply)

TITLE: LIFE CHANGES
RATING: PG-13 for this chapter
PAIRINGS: Nick/OMC, Nick/canon female, Nick/canon male
WARNINGS: Adult content and language
SUMMARY: A casual remark can change a life
SPOILERS: None
BANNER: Created by Bflyw
DISCLAIMER: If you don’t recognize it, it’s mine. Otherwise, everything belongs to Bruckheimer, CBS and Zuicker.

Previous chapters can be found here

“Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage
Go together like a horse and carriage
This I tell you brother
You can’t have one without the other”

In 1955, Frank Sinatra went to number 5 on Billboards Hits with that little number. Hey, I’m telling you a story about Las Vegas here; you don’t think we can feature Vegas without at least a mention of Ole Blue Eyes do you? That’s not even American! Anyway, things sure have changed Frankie; you wouldn’t recognize ‘The Dating Game’ any more.
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Greg Sanders was pissed. He was so angry he was dead still. Now, if you knew Greg Sanders, you would know he was never still. He was a bundle of nervous energy and if his head wasn’t bopping to some silent (or loudly audible) tune then his fingers were moving or his feet; some part of Greg was always in motion. But now, except for the slow, careful moves he was making as he worked his evidence, he was still. His mind however, was going a mile a minute. And what might you ask was Greggo thinking about? What else? Nicholas Aron Stokes.

Greg had pretty much thought about nothing but Nick Stokes for the last 8 years. He had gone through every single known emotion and probably a few that haven’t been documented as yet. But he had never been so mad at Nick that he just wanted to kill him and worry about hiding the body later.

Ever since Nick had returned from his sudden month-long vacation 10 months ago, he had been driving Greg completely stark, raving insane. It started with the warm hug at the front door. Greg was so glad to see Nick back in Vegas, he’d forgotten that Nick was not too keen on being touched and had thrown his arms around his friend. He realized almost immediately what he had done and was about to let go when he realized that Nick had his arms around him and was hugging him back. Greg was so surprised he even thought he had felt the brief brush of lips against his temple.

Then there was his gift. He was so blown away that Nick had taken the time, not to mention the money to get him the autographed CD of Lordi that he had told him he could kiss him. Nick’s reply had left Greg reeling. Nick had said that as vulnerable as Greg was then, it might not end with a kiss. And then, DAMNIT, Warrick had called and the moment had gone.

Since that time, Nick had tried to fuck the entire staff of the CSI crime lab AND the LVPD AND probably greater Las Vegas. Brass was calling him ‘Love ‘em and leave ‘em Stokes’ and had been heard to say that he was going to have to start importing new detectives from out of state pretty soon to give Nick some fresh meat. To make matters worse, Nick was no longer gender specific in his interests. He had started with Sofia Curtis and then gone on to Jake Mikelson, a detective on the night shift, then to Wendy and then some airline stewardess and then Curt Knowles, another detective and it just went on and on from there.

Even with the well-known ‘cop’ attitude to homosexuals, Nick was still a universal favorite in the department. There were comments and sniping but overall most of the force sort of accepted the situation. Besides, it was Nick Stokes for Gods sake. Most of the cops, both street and detectives figured it was a delayed reaction to the ‘Gordon affair’ and waited for things to go back to normal.

Greg knew for a fact that Nick had even had a very intense affair with Catherine and it had appeared to be pretty serious for a while. He also had a fling with Warrick and Greg wasn’t sure whether that was over or they were still getting together off and on. The only people he had skipped seemed to be Grissom, Sara, Jim Brass and one Greg Sanders. And now you know why Greg was so pissed.

It wasn’t as though Nick ignored him. God Forbid, it would have been easier if he had. No, he had to put his hand on Greg or his arm around his shoulder while he put one hand on Greg’s chest right over his heart and Greg knew he could feel it trying to pound its way out of his body. He would come up behind Greg and lean over him, resting his chin on his shoulder to watch what he was doing. He had even made good on his promise to get Greg the 2nd CD the Lordi group had cut. In short, Nick Stokes was driving Greg completely stark, raving insane. And he wasn’t going to take it any more.

Greg carefully locked up the evidence he was working on, went to the locker room, gathered his things together and prepared to beard the over-sexed lion in his den.
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In Nick Stokes house, he’s back in his kitchen. And, he’s looking at a list of names. A list that has been scratched up, added to and revised so many times he’s not sure what version he’s on right now. Nick had never heard Frank Sinatra’s song. He wasn’t even a twinkle in his dad’s eye when Sinatra recorded it but he would have laughed out loud at the corny lyrics if he knew about it. Or he might have just banged his head on his kitchen table a few times at the irony of the whole thing.

Prior to ‘THE NIGHT’, Nick’s relationships had been few and far between. And he was the first to admit that was his fault solely. He didn’t want any entanglements. He was strictly out for fun and satisfaction but nothing long term. And wouldn’t you know it, almost every female he saw more than 4 or 5 times started getting possessive (at least as far as he was concerned). Now, oh boy was it all different. Now he was actively looking for a life time commitment. He wanted to settle down. He wanted to possess and be possessed and so far, every single person he’d pursued (and there were a lot) turned out to be either not interested in kids or not interested in a long term relationship. The biggest irony? Well, they weren’t interested in anything permanent but oh boy were they interested in Nick. He could have had sex every single night of the week and several times on the weekend if he had the interest or the stamina AND with males or females; after all, he was an equal opportunity sort of guy now.

As Nick reviewed his list, he thought about the very few who had really touched his heart. Sofia was his first and the first to make him think about permanence but she was not ready to settle down and wasn’t even sure she wanted kids when she did settle. They had an intense affair for almost a month and then she had accepted a position in Denver with a lot of chances for advancement. Nick couldn’t blame her. Brass had no intention of retiring and even when he did, there were at least 5 detectives who had the talent and experience to be promoted into his position and they all had seniority on Sofia.

Catherine was the next to make him see stars. He knew he had loved her and she loved him. Heck, he still was a little in love with her but Catherine had been the one to call things off. She had thought long and hard and decided that at almost 50, she did not want to start over with a baby. They both had cried when they parted and Nick knew he would always leave a part of him with her and Lindsay.

Lastly, there was Warrick. God, if Grissom was so crazy about roller coasters, he ought to try having a relationship with Warrick Brown. Talk about your ups and downs. When Warrick divorced Tina, he moved in with Nick for a week while they sorted out belongings and both moved to new apartments. One night when Warrick was down in the dumps, Nick had moved over beside him on the couch and started to rub his back while he tried to get Warrick to admit that you can’t really fail at something that was so wrong from the beginning. The back rub turned into an all out make-out session and it just got hotter from there. The sex was great and Nick had no trouble thinking of his best friend as his lover but Warrick was so conflicted over his sexuality that they finally called it quits. So far, they had called it quits 8 times now. And speak of the devil; the pounding on his door sounded like number 9 might be coming up.

Nick opened the door to a Greg Sanders who was almost breathing fire he was so tense. Nick started to invite him in but Greg brushed by him and stalked into his living room. Nick stood there for a second and then said, “Why Greg, how nice to see you. Hi Nick, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to drop in. That’s great. Why don’t you come on in and visit for a while.”

Greg did not appreciate the sarcastic humor and his disgusted snort warned Nick that he might as well just let him vent his anger. He offered Greg a drink; which was refused and then asked Greg what had his panties in a wad.

Greg had rehearsed what he was going to say to Nick all the way over to his house but the sight of Nick in a pair of navy blue shorts, bare feet and an old t-shirt with no sleeves that was torn off about 4 inches above Nicks waist was enough to make him forget all his carefully planned words and he just winged it.

“Ever since you came back from that damned vacation, you have fucked your way through practically every single male and female between the ages of consent and senility in the city of Las Vegas. I’ve watched you go from one to another and the thing that pisses me off the most is that when you’re through with them; there’s no hard feelings. Every body still loves the wonderful Nick Stokes. So I have just one question for you Nicky…why everyone but me?”

Nick was stunned to put it mildly. He just looked at Greg for a moment and then finally got his voice back enough to say, “This is obviously going to take a while. I’m going to get something to drink. I just made some tea. Do you want some?”

Greg agreed, mostly to keep his mouth occupied and not make a bigger fool of himself than he already had.

Nick got them both glasses of sweetened, iced tea and then got Greg to sit down by walking into the living room and sitting both glasses on the glass coffee table. Greg finally walked in and sat on the couch with Nick but at the far opposite end and immediately grabbed a cushion which he held in his lap for more distance between them. They both just sat there, neither saying a word until finally Greg said, “Well, it’s been a long drive for a glass of iced tea but since that’s all I’m going to get out of you, I guess I’ll be going.”

Nick said, “Greg, just wait a minute. I’m trying to figure out what to say to you, how to tell you what’s been going on with me.”

“Why do you have to rehearse your speech? I’m not interested in you….isn’t that what you want to say? It seems pretty easy to me.”

Nick put his tea down and glared at Greg. “Stop putting words in my mouth. I’m not rehearsing a speech and what makes you think I’m not interested in you. Hell, you’re what started this whole mess!”

Greg almost choked on an ice cube and came up spluttering, “What do you mean I started this mess? I’m not the one who came back after a month away looking and acting like the King Tut of tomcats. Hell, every time you walk into a room at work, people start coming out of the woodwork and it’s like getting a herd of cats in one room and then throwing in a big pile of cat nip. You’ve been completely different for the last 10 months.”

Nick decided that the easiest way was just to start at the beginning and see it through to the end. “Do you remember a month or two after my 40th birthday, I threw a Super Bowl part here? You and Warrick stayed around to help me clean up and you made a cute remark about Warrick and me trying guys because we were excluding half the world’s population.”

Greg thought for a minute and then his eyes got wide and his jaw dropped and he said, “No way. No way that could have started all this.”

Nick said, “Oh yes it did. It made me do some in depth soul searching and I didn’t like what I found. I was my own worst enemy. I caused all my feeble attempts at relationships to fail. I also realized that deep down, I did, maybe, have an interest in guys. The best relationships I’d ever had were with you, Brass, Warrick and some of the cops I played basketball and baseball with. The only women I’d ever kept around me for long periods were my relatives and the women I worked with here. So I worked out a plan for the rest of my life. I knew I had to decide what I really wanted first and it turned out to be a permanent, long-range partnership and there had to be kids. Then I had to decide if the feelings I’d been having were real or just my wanting to have someone in my life.” Nick went on to tell Greg everything. He started with his visit to his home in Texas, went on and talked about Collin and what he had learned from him and was somewhat amused to see Greg break out in a sweat when he told about his first night with Collin. He went through all the people he’d dated since his return. He even broke down and told Greg about the ‘other Nick’ and why he’d been so remote and emotionless and why he wasn’t that way any longer.

When he was through, there was silence in the room. Greg hadn’t moved or spoken for almost an hour and he looked as though he was in a trance now. Finally Nick said, “Please say something, anything.”

Greg drank the last few drops of his tea which had turned to water a long time ago and said exactly the same thing he’d said at the beginning of their conversation, “So I have just one question for you Nicky…why everyone but me?”

“God, I don’t know Greg. I never intended to get involved with you or Warrick or Catherine. You three are my closest friends and I was afraid that if I tried to start something with any of you and it didn’t work, I would lose someone who means so much to me.”

Greg had started to shake his head almost as soon as Nick started talking. “That won’t cut it. I know you had a hot relationship with both of them and I’m pretty sure you and Warrick still get together now and again.”

Nick hung his head a little and replied, “Both Catherine and Warrick were accidents. Not that I’m sorry or ashamed of them. I still love Catherine a little and I feel something strong for Warrick but Catherine ended our affair because she didn’t want any more children at her age and Warrick is too ashamed of wanting me to ever be able to sustain a loving environment to raise kids.”

Greg swallowed his last mouthful of liquid and his heart and his tears and his dreams and said, “So that’s it. After two accidents, I’m pretty sure you won’t make the same mistake again. At least I know where I stand. Thanks for that.”

Nick scooted over and put his hand on Greg’s arm and said, “Greg, after all I’ve told you are you sure you would want to become involved with me?”

Greg just looked at Nick’s hand on his arm until Nick removed it and then said, “Are you asking me or telling me?”

Nick said quietly, “I’m asking you if you would be willing to take a chance with me.”

Greg thought for so long, Nick was afraid he was just trying to find a way to let him down easy. Finally Greg said, “Yeah, I’ll take a chance with you. But I’m telling you right now, I’m still pissed and it’s not going to be easy. I expect to be wooed and courted and I want romance and lots of it.”

Nick let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and let loose one of his blinding smiles. “Oh Greg, I can do romance and wooing and courting. Can I start by taking you out to dinner tonight?”

Greg shook his head slowly and said, “No. I haven’t had a decent nights sleep in months and I’ve got to work tonight.”

Nick said, “OK. Your birthday is next Saturday but I know you have Friday night off. How about I trade with someone and you let me take you out for a special birthday dinner on Friday?”

Greg stood up to go and as he opened the door, he said over his shoulder, “Let me know if you get the night off.” He walked out and closed the door.

Nick stood, smiled at nothing and said out loud, “Oh don’t worry. I’ll get the night off if it costs me a month’s salary and then I promise you a courting like you’ve never seen.”