Title: Advent Calender 2007
By: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG

Church had never really been Greg’s thing. It wasn’t that he had anything against God – though he usually found it pretty hard to buy into the concept, considering what they dealt with on the job – but his family had never been church people. Sure, his grandparents were into that kind of thing, but they were still sort of Midwestern even after they moved to California. His parents, on the other hand, were Californian through and through, and church had never really figured into their lifestyle.

So it was a little weird, standing up when everyone else did and then being pulled back into his seat a minute later. Sort of like slow motion calisthenics, and he was sure there was a point, but he wasn’t getting it. All he was getting was a headache from the cloud of incense hanging over the place and a rash where his newly starched shirt collar was strangling him.

Fingers tugged at his elbow, and Greg glanced to his left to find Nick watching him with a bemused sort of smile. “Quit fidgeting, it’s almost over,” Nick said, leaning in close so no one would hear him over the prayer everyone around them was droning.

“I’m not fidgeting,” Greg whispered, but he pulled his fingers away from his shirt collar anyway and turned his attention back to the service. And it was definitely weird, sitting in a pew with Nick’s entire family, listening to a Christmas story everyone knew being read to him from the original for the first time. It was weird singing Christmas songs he’d heard a million times and discovering that they were actually part of the church soundtrack. But he was here with Nick, and his family seemed to think that was perfectly normal, so maybe there was something to this God thing after all.