Fic: Life Changes 29/29
Jul. 22nd, 2008 11:10 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
jayceepat.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
nickngreg
TITLE: LIFE CHANGES
RATING: PG-13
PAIRINGS: Nick/Greg
WARNINGS: Very 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
I only know what I know
The passing years will show
You've kept my love so young, so new
Time after Time. Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
They closed the door after their last guest. As they had done for so many years, they checked the downstairs windows and doors and set the alarm. Greg started into their living room but Nick reached for his arm to stop him and said, “You need to go to bed now.”
Greg looked at his spouse and asked why he had to go to bed. Nick replied, “Because I’m tired.”
Greg cocked his head to one side and stared at him for a moment. “Ok, explain and defend your position.”
Nick shook his head and said, “It’s so simple. I’m really tired and I need to sleep. I can’t sleep without you beside me in the bed therefore….you have to go to bed.”
Greg laughed out loud. “Damn it Stokes that actually makes sense in a strange sort of Stokesian fashion. Come on old man. I’ll help you get to sleep.”
Nick started back toward their elevator. He had not used the stairs since his heart attack eleven years ago. Greg oddly enough, still could go up and down stairs. Nick said he could too if he had artificial joints and a new heart. He fussed at Greg over his shoulder. “You know Sanders, those eight years you are so proud of really stopped meaning very much when we both passed 75.”
Greg said, “It’s more than eight chronological years baby. I’m still hip and happening. You on the other hand are turning into an old fogy.”
They stepped into the elevator and Nick wrapped his arms around his long time love and kissed him. Greg responded as he had for the last 52 years; with all his heart. When Nick let him go, he said, “OK, maybe not a complete old fogy.”
The two men changed into their sleep pants, brushed teeth and did all the nightly rituals they had done for so long. They settled down together in their big, comfortable bed. Nick let out a big sigh when he finally rested his tired head on his partner’s chest. Greg rubbed his back gently. “You’re really tired aren’t you baby.”
“Hell yes I’m tired. Our 50th anniversary went from a quiet dinner with family and friends to a 3 day affair with hundreds of people.”
They had their quiet dinner but the next day they had an appointment with the dean of UNLV. They had both been retired for years but were still active as consultants to the university and this had been set up for several weeks. After the lunch, the dean asked them if they would go over to the auditorium with him and check out the arrangements for a series of lectures they were presenting.
They strolled across the lovely campus and went in the back doors of the huge building. It was pitch black and the dean told them to stay right there in the open door way while he got the stage lights on. It only took a moment and then they walked out on the stage with him. Greg who had never in all of his 84 years learned to keep his mouth shut said, “You know Dean, this is pretty stark. I don’t see a damn thing on this stage except for a couple of arm chairs.”
The dean looked around and said, “You know Dr. Sanders you’re right. Let’s try this.” Suddenly music started playing and they heard a group of singers they recognized at once as the university choral singers. They were singing ‘I took one look at you, that’s all I had to do and then my heart stood still.’ The lights came up all over the auditorium and as Nick told Greg later, “I swear every single kid we ever taught was there.” The audience all stood while the group finished their song and the dean led the two stunned men over to the arm chairs.
In the first row were their children with their spouses and all the grandchildren. They saw Warrick and Archie who were their only living contemporaries. Behind them were rows of friends, neighbors, adopted kids and it looked as though every officer, plainclothesman and crime technician in the state of Nevada. For the next two hours, they listened to funny, sad, thoughtful, happy and mostly loving stories about how they had affected the people in that audience. They were wrung out by the time it was over. That night there was a huge party at the university. Sunday, there was another party in their neighborhood. Alex Vartann had been dead for 20 years but his successor had been well trained. He knew these two men were special and they had earned their respect the hard way. By doing right and being good men. He had every off duty officer in town working the party. It was the largest block party Las Vegas had ever seen.
*************************************
Monday, had been relatively quiet. They had a steady stream of visitors; mostly those who had come from out of state and wanted to pay their respects personally before they left to go back to the good lives they lived because of Greg and Nick. Both men insisted everyone was giving them too much credit. They knew that all they had done was give them a solid education. They had taken that and built on it. All good things were a result of personal effort and integrity.
Everyone was gone by 6.00 pm and the men had a light supper with Archie and Warrick, their kids and a few close neighbors.
After dinner, everyone left and left the four long time friends alone to talk. They did talk but it was about all those beloved faces that weren’t there with them any longer. Doc Robbins had died long before Greg was shot. Judge Stokes was next followed by Greg’s father and one year later, his mother. Things were quiet until their baby CeLeigh was 5 years old. That’s when Annie Brass fussed at her Jim about getting the planters ready for the autumn season. When he didn’t answer back, Annie turned in time to see Jim look at her and then close his eyes and fall. He’d had a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Charlie told them he was dead before he ever hit the ground. They kept Annie very close to them for a long time after that. She and Greg grieved together. Greg had always respected and honored his father but there was no real love or affection between them. The senior Sanders never knew how to act with his genius, homo-sexual son. The day Jim had put his hands in the gaping, bloody hole in Greg’s side and held his life in his hands and refused to allow that life to leave his body, he had taken Greg and put him in that empty place in his heart he had saved for Ellie for so long. All the love and affection he had wanted to lavish on his daughter went to Greg and Greg took it all and returned it in kind. They mourned Brass from that day on.
Two years later, Greg and Gil were playing their favorite game with their students. One of them would pick a student and tell them to name an element. Then the other picked another student and had them name another. Then Gil and Greg would play “Name that Compound” with the class. Greg had just had his turn and when Gil didn’t respond he looked over. Gil was standing there with a puzzled look on his face. He looked at Greg and said, “I forget the name.” Then he went down. Greg thought for one terrible moment that is was Jim all over but Gil was still alive. He’d had a stroke; a bad one. His left side was involved; he couldn’t walk or talk well. His arm and hand were useless but he was alive and Greg fought for him with all the love he’d invested in Gil when he lost Jim.
Gil regained his speech within 6 weeks to the extent that if he spoke slowly and used simple verbs and nouns he could be understood. They were in his room at the rehab center he’d been sent to after a week in the hospital. They were trying to decide whether they wanted full time home help or specialized nursing care when Gil said very clearly, NO. They all looked at him in surprise.
He said slowly but distinctly, “No help, go to nursing home.” Greg looked at him in horror.
“What do you mean nursing home?”
“Less bother. Take care of basic needs.”
Greg walked over to Gil and got down in his face. “Now you listen to me you stubborn old coot. You are NOT going to a nursing home and you sure as hell are going to have more than your basic needs taken care of. You’re going home with us. We have the room, we still have the hospital bed and all the equipment. Hell we even have the Red Rocket for you to get around. It will be kind of fun to see that one out of moth balls and zipping around again.”
And that’s exactly what happened. Nick and Greg took him home with them, put him in the downstairs suite and lavished love and affection on him. Cath, Annie, LeAnn, Leah, Nancy, Marcie and every single kid who could walk and wanted Paw-Paw Gil to read to them kept his days and evenings full. It was ironic that Gilbert Grissom lived the best two and one-half years of his life after he’d been given a death sentence. When he had his last hard stroke, they of course took him to the hospital and Charlie went over all his tests. He came back to Gils room and asked them to come out in the hall but Gil said his loud firm NO. “Not Dead Yet. Tell Me!”
Charlie walked over to him, sat down on the side of his bed and picked up his hand. He held it tight. This was hard for Charlie. He’d had a rough time after he married Lindsay. Because of the relationships between all of them, he was for sure an outsider who had married into a large family of protective males. Most of them carried guns and the ones who didn’t could not only think of inventative ways to kill him, they could make sure they’d get away with it. He finally figured out that if he treated any male older than him like a father-in-law and any woman older than him like a mother-in-law; he just might get out of it alive. After a while, it wasn’t hard anymore. There was so much love between these people that it was easy to just let it spill over on him. He’d come to love Gil as much as he did Warrick and he’d been heart-broken when he lost Jim.
“Gil, this last stroke has weakened every major artery to the point where there is simply nothing we can do now. You can’t survive surgery and it would take so much medication to try to keep your blood flowing that you’d be an accident waiting to happen. We can give you medication to keep you comfortable and safe here for the weeks you have left.”
Gil was shaking his head NO, NO, NO before Charlie finished. “Not here. Home, go home.”
Greg who was having a really hard time facing the fact that he was losing Gil too almost sobbed out loud at that one. He looked at Nick. He knew he could take strength from him but Nick was a little stunned too. They both realized that Gil thought of their place as ‘home’ and it filled them with happiness even as they got ready to mourn his loss.
They took him home. He had 2 more good weeks. The dogs slept under his bed and only left him to eat and go out doors. The cats, all three of them slept on the foot of his bed. Even the damned rabbit came into the room and tried to get up on the bed. When Greg picked her up and set her on the bed, she went up to the top and settled between Gils chest and his left arm.
Nancy had quit nursing when she and Hodges married, at his request. He told her it was her decision but he would really like her to stay at home and let him take care of her. Nancy was a strong woman who didn’t need taking care of but she was also a twin to Nick. She was one of the most loving people you would ever hope to meet and she realized that David had a deep need to know that he was meeting all her needs and she gave her job up with no regrets at all. Of course, with their circle of friends, someone was always having a baby or some body’s kid had an accident and needed taking care of so it wasn’t as though she stopped nursing.
She had become Gil’s primary caretaker when it came to medical procedures. She was with him constantly those last weeks. And like all really good nurses, she had a 6th sense about when she was going to lose a beloved patient. On his last day, she performed his morning rituals and asked him if he would like some oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. She went to the kitchen to fix his breakfast and called Cath and Annie and told them it was going to be that day or the next. She brought their meals in and got Gil ready to eat. He finished his oatmeal and looked up at her and said, “Today?” She was not able to answer him but simply nodded her head. He nodded back and said, “You called Cath, Annie….both.” She nodded again. He said, “Company, fix me.” She shaved him, trimmed his beard, helped him brush his teeth and changed him into his favorite blue t-shirt. It matched his blue eyes and made him look dashing.
Gil died leaning back against Greg and Nick with their strong arms around him. Cath had her head in his lap and Greg had put his useless left hand on her head so he could feel her silky curls on his fingers. He opened his eyes at the end, looked around the room and said, “So much love. Was always there. Just had to reach out.”
***********************************’
Cath was next and it was double blow because they thought for several weeks they were going to lose Warrick too. Lindsay was expecting her sixth and last child. She had reached the end of her first trimester when Warrick found the lump in Cath’s breast one evening when they had the house to themselves and were fooling around on the couch. He had her in the doctor’s office the next morning. It was malignant and it had spread to the lymph nodes and her pancreas. Cath was determined to see her last grandbaby and fought every step of the way. She refused chemo and radiation. She said she did not want to spend her last months puking her guts out and going bald. It was touch and go but she did live long enough to hold the little red-headed baby girl in her arms. They named her Catherine Willow Lambach. She was a beautiful monument to the woman they all loved so deeply.
Warrick was not the type of man to eat his gun or slit his wrists. He just stopped eating. Nick and Greg were almost frantic with grief and worry. Everyone tried everything they could think of but Warrick just looked at them with those sad, emerald eyes and told them not to worry. He was fine. No one knew he always added in his head, ‘Just as soon as I’m with my baby again, I’ll be fine.”
Lindsay Willows Lambach channeled Catherine’s unique, fighting spirit and walked in one day, walked up to Warrick, got in his face and yelled at him. She told him he was not about to check out and leave her. It was bad enough that she had 6 kids to raise; 6 kids who’d just lost their beloved G-mom. Did he really want them to live without their G-Pop too? Was he so selfish that he would put his needs ahead of his family; his family he had sworn to love and protect for the rest of his life? She told him that the man she called Daddy, the man who had held her close the day he married her mother and told her he would be there for her forever would never do this to her and her babies. Warrick never stood a chance. He pulled himself together, said good-bye to his beloved red-head and devoted himself to not just Lindsay’s kids but every kid in the neighborhood who needed a G-Pop.
**********************************
Greg and Nick thought they had lived through the worst of everything after Catherine but they had one more blow to bear and it brought them to their knees and almost finished them off.
Collin had been right. After the week they spent in Atlanta, it was obvious that the connection between the 5 friends was deep and solid. It was not lust but love that they felt for each other. They spent a long weekend together every two months and twice a year they all got away to spend a week together. As they all grew older, the passion mellowed out and the frenzied love-making calmed down but the passion between the five stayed true and firm.
They were almost expecting it when Steven called and told them that Larry had just passed away. It was a heart attack; so sudden, he’d had no time to call them. They had gone to Switzerland 2 months before and they had all noticed that Larry was having a hard time breathing in the cold, thin mountain air.
Collin was in New Delhi, India. He had gone over to present plans for a multi-million dollar medical project. As health care in the United States worsened more and more Americans were opting for medical treatment overseas; especially for high dollar surgery. A hip replacement that could cost $40,000.00 to $60,000.00 in the US cost $15,000.00 in New Delhi. That included the air fare round-trip, recuperation in a luxurious guest-cottage and even a guided tour to the Taj Mahal. As more and more people were opting for the cheap high class care in foreign cities, the need for larger and better medical facilities was growing. The complex Collin had designed was the most involved, detailed project he’d ever worked on.
He would have been home with Steven when Larry died if he hadn’t been such a damn good architect. The New Delhi Commission had taken one look at his plan’s and his detailed scale model and made their decision at once. They had asked Collin to stay for a few more days and help them create material lists so they could get competitive bids.
When Steven called, Collin left on the first plane out; a plane that was selected by a small terrorist cell to teach the wealthy foreign pigs that they were not safe anywhere. Two of the cell members gave their life but they took out a jumbo jet and 317 souls. One of those souls was Collin Travis, beloved partner of Larry, Steven, Nick and Greg.
Steven had called them as soon as he got Collin’s travel arrangements and the men were making their own travel arrangements to get to Col and Steven as quickly as possible. Nick was on the phone with the travel agent while Greg was arranging for their classes to be taught by their substitutes.
Yes I said their classes. After Greg lost Gil he lost all interest in teaching. He said it wasn’t that he couldn’t teach by himself, he could and had on many occasions. He just didn’t want to. Nick was beginning to tire of the constant political pressure he handled every day as director of the second best lab in the United States. He looked into what it would take to finish his masters and aced the classes in less than two years. When he did he went to talk to the dean who realized at once that he would not only be getting a brilliant professor that would inspire his students to bigger and better things, he would also be getting Greg back full time. Greg had returned when Nick started working on his Master’s but his heart wasn’t in it and he never was able to handle full time. When Nick began to teach with him, he found his love for the work returning. After all, Nick was his very first ‘Name that Compound’ partner.
Greg was on hold and was idly watching the news on TV when a special bulletin came on the air. The announcer was talking about a terrible air tragedy. Greg still didn’t really pay too much attention until the announcer said the plane had taken off from the New Delhi airport that morning heading for JFK in New York. Greg dropped the phone, grabbed the remote and turned up the sound. Nick heard the words New Delhi and ran into the living room. That’s how they found out they had lost Collin as well as Larry. They knew they had to get to Steven as quickly as possible. Nick called Naomi and she said she would stay with him. She gave him a sedative and put him to bed. Later that night she heard water running and went to the main bath door. She tapped on the door and Steven told her he was OK, he just thought maybe a soak in the Jacuzzi would help him relax. Naomi went back to bed. She never ever forgave herself. When she heard Nick and Greg let themselves in the apartment at 4.30am that morning, she got up to greet them. She told them Steven was still asleep. Greg went into the bedroom. Nick and Naomi heard him call Steven’s name and they both turned and ran. They were with Greg when he opened the bathroom door and saw the bright red water in the Jacuzzi. The small, silver knife he’d bought for Larry to peel his apples was lying on the floor beside the tub. There was a letter for Greg and Nick on the vanity. He told them he loved them as much as he loved Col and Larry but his life had been in Atlanta with the two men. He’d loved Larry from the moment he met him when he was just fifteen. Larry had refused to even touch him until he was eighteen. On his eighteenth birthday he’d seduced Larry and they had not been apart for a day since then. Their love had taken in first Collin and then Nick and Greg and had become complete and perfect. He told Nick and Greg they had been the perfect pieces to complete their life and that the three of them would be waiting for them. He added that he hoped they made them wait a long time for them.
After that, they still lost friends and loved ones but nothing ever hurt them that bad again.
*********************
They had gone to sleep almost as soon as the lamp went out. Greg usually slept solidly through the night; especially when he held Nick in his arms or felt him curled around his back. He could not figure out what had woke him out of a sound sleep. He looked over at the digital clock. It was 4.33 am. He listened trying to catch the sound that disturbed him. Nothing seemed to be out of order. Nick had rolled away from him slightly in his sleep and he turned towards his love to see if he had heard anything and then he realized. It wasn’t a noise that woke him; it was the absence of noise. The soft gentle snore he had listened to for 52 years was still. He knew without even touching Nick. He thought about all the calls he would have to make then he decided he would just call CeLeigh and she and Leah would take care of all the calls. Leah had been acting as their sort of housekeeper ever since Nick’s heart attack. She would be there later that morning to bring them their first coffee of the day.
He gently rolled Nick back against him. He worked his knee between Nick’s legs and Nick’s leg fell across his body just the way it had every night for all their long life together. He settled Nick’s head on his chest and rested his cheek against the thick, silver white hair. He knew he should go take care of things but he wanted just a few more private moments. He and Nick had loved each other passionately for so many years. He always said he’d fell for Nick the minute they were introduced. That meant that the man he held in his arms had held his heart in his loving care for 60 long years. Surely that entitled him to some selfish time. He settled Nick closer and as he felt the first stabbing pains in his heart, he forced them down. He would just love Nick right now. The sorrow could come later.
Leah found them later that morning when she brought them coffee. She shut the door and went to call CeLeigh. There would be two more angels in heaven tonight. She wondered if heaven would ever be the same after those two got there.
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Date: 2008-07-22 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-22 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-22 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-23 01:57 am (UTC)I'd say this is one of the BEST Nick and Greg's I've ever read!
bawled over...
Date: 2009-03-07 05:03 pm (UTC)<3