Title: Snow Challenged
Author: April May
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: FRAO
Archive: To the Greg Slash Archive, others please ask.
E-mail: jmpedlow@aol.com
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Anthony Zuiker and CBS, and no profit is being made with this story.
Summary: A skiing vacation turns out to be more challenging than Nick expected.
Notes: Written for the "Snow Challenge" on the Greg Sanders Slash list. The story needed to include the following:
1. Being that both Nick and Greg have been from the west and southwest, they decide to go to a snow resort for some first time skiing and fun and frolic.
2. You have to have them doing naked snow angels for each other.
3. Some them time in a hot spring or a Jacuzzi, the hotter the scenario, the better.
4. A rum toddy by a fireplace in the lodge and a kiss.

"This is amazing," Greg said as he looked around the small ski chalet that was going to be their home for the next week. He and Nick were standing in the middle of the high-ceilinged living room, which was bright and open looking with a lot of windows and modern but comfortable looking furniture. To their left, there was a kitchenette, and beyond that, a hallway with a bathroom on the right and a linen closet on the left, ending up at the bedroom, another large, bright-looking room with a skylight in the ceiling and a king sized bed in the middle. Looking out the front window, they could see the back of the ski resort's main lodge, and the ski slopes themselves were visible from the back, looking almost like a postcard picture against the setting sun. "How did you say you found this place again?"

"A guy at the convention told me about it," Nick said. "All the rooms at the lodge were filled up, but the people who were going to rent this canceled at the last minute, so they're charging us the same rate as a single room."

Nick considered himself very lucky to have found any available room at all, since this whole vacation had been a spur of the moment thing. Just a few days before, while he had still been away at a convention, Grissom had sent out a memo to the night shift saying that the new sheriff was complaining that they were working too many overtime hours and not taking enough vacation, so he was asking people to voluntarily agree to take some time off. Since Greg had been working so hard the last few months, he had no problem with being one of the first to volunteer, as long as Nick could be off with him. Surprisingly, Grissom had had no objection to that idea, although he did request that Nick fax him a copy of his notes from the convention first. After a long phone conversation with Greg, they decided that they would go to a ski resort - since Nick had grown up in Texas and Greg in California, neither one of them had spent much time around snow (although Greg did spend two winters in New York while he was going to graduate school), and they thought it might be an interesting change. So, after making some hurried arrangements, they had met up with each other at the Denver airport earlier that day and driven a rental car to the resort that Nick had found.

Greg picked up his suitcase and carry-on bag, taking them into the bedroom and placing them at the end of the bed. He then quipped to Nick, who had followed him, "I was hoping the bed was going to have one of those vibrator things you were telling me about."

Looking through one of the windows, Nick said, with a grin, "We've got something even better. Come look."

When Greg went over to see what he was talking about, he saw a patio with a Jacuzzi tub in the middle, already running, surrounded by a tall wooden fence to assure their privacy. Turning to Nick, his eyes wide with astonishment, he said, "This is *ours*? Come on, let's try this out."

Putting his arms around him, Nick kissed him, and then, gently pulling him back over to the bed, said, "I think I'd rather try this first."

By the time they got into the Jacuzzi, the sun had long since finished going down and the stars had come out, the dark, cloudless sky making them a lot more visible than they were in Las Vegas. Nick had forgotten what it was like to be able to see so many stars, and he leaned against the side of the tub with his head back, staring up at them as Greg, next to him, babbled happily.

"Papa Olaf told me that when he was growing up in Norway, in the winter, the men would go into their saunas in the morning and, when they were done with that, they'd run into the snow to cool off. It was supposed to be good for...I forget what. Their circulation. Or getting rid of toxins. Or something."

With a snort of laughter, Nick said teasingly, "No offense, Greg, but I'm starting to think your Papa Olaf is a few sandwiches short of a smorgasbord."

Rolling his eyes, Greg responded, "Smorgasbords are Swedish, Nick."

"Yeah, well, you know what I..." Nick started, then noticed how intently Greg was staring at the fenced-in patch of snow around him. He was about to ask him what he was looking at when Greg turned around, and, with a grin, asked, "Hey, Nick, have you ever made a naked snow angel?"

"Have I ever *what*?" Nick asked, but instead of getting an answer, he found himself with a view of Greg's bare backside as he quickly exited the Jacuzzi and ran out into the snow, where he flopped onto his back and began moving his arms and legs around.

"This is fun!" he called over to Nick. "You should try it."

Nick really didn't want to leave the comfortable warmth of the tub, but, on the other hand, he couldn't resist a challenge either. So, gathering his courage together, he climbed out of the Jacuzzi and, going over next to where Greg was lying, lay back on the snow himself, imitating the movements he had seen Greg make. He was surprised that, at least at first, the snow didn't seem too uncomfortably cold to him, but, as he lay there, he could feel the coldness gradually seeping in.

Just as he had started to get up to run back inside, Nick found himself being pinned back down to the ground by Greg, who took advantage of his opening his mouth from shock to give him a deep tongue kiss, and, soon after that, he could feel himself getting hard despite the cold. Reaching out for Greg's cock, which was hanging tantalizingly close above him, he took it in his hand and began stroking it until he could feel Greg getting an erection to match his own and hear the soft, throaty moans that indicated his arousal. Then, with another challenging look, Greg asked him, "So have you ever done it in a Jacuzzi?"

Without waiting for an answer, he had leapt off Nick and headed back for the warmth of the hot tub, and, after struggling to his feet, Nick ran after him.

Once in there, they clung together, kissing deeply, their legs wrapped around each other's and their erections rubbing together under the water. Then Nick moved his hand around the slightly rounded curve of Greg's ass, carefully slipping a finger into his opening, and easing it in until he heard him let out a gasp. He looked up at Greg questioningly, and he replied, breathily, "Yes...yes, Nick...do it."

He then got behind Greg, who was bracing himself against the wall of the Jacuzzi, and, wrapping his arms around his waist, began to penetrate him, slowly and carefully because they didn't have any lube. Because Greg was so loose and relaxed, that didn't present much of a problem, though, and soon he was pleading to him, "Go on, Nick...fuck me..."

They moved together until their bodies shuddered with a near-simultaneous climax, then continued to cling to each other until their wobbly legs felt strong enough for them to get out of the Jacuzzi and back inside the chalet. After washing up and getting into their night clothes, they slipped into bed, both soon falling into the deepest sleep either of them had had in quite some time.

Then, what seemed like only a couple of hours later, Nick heard Greg's voice calling, "Nick! Nick! Come on, wake up."

Cracking his eyes open, he saw Greg standing impatiently at the end of the bed, already dressed in a sweater and ski pants, his parka lying on the chair next to him. He turned his head to look at the clock, and saw that it said 8:00, which was usually the time when they got into bed instead of getting out of it.

"I thought the skiing classes didn't start until ten," Nick protested in a still-groggy voice.

"They don't. But we've got to get going now so we can have breakfast and get to the rental shop before all the good skis are gone. Come on - you'll feel better once you get in the shower."

Nick, staring at him blearily, wondered what had happened to the Greg Sanders who had to be dragged out of bed every evening so he could get to work on time.

Some time after that, Nick found himself standing off to the side at the top of the bunny slope, watching the other skiers discouragedly and asking himself how he had ever managed to let Greg talk him in to trying this in the first place. When they had first gotten there, they had joined a class for first-time skiers, which was mainly made up of children and teenagers, and, as the instructor was demonstrating the proper technique to them, Nick was sure he'd have no problems mastering it. After all, he *had* learned how to paraglide, and this couldn't be that much more difficult - could it?

It turned out it could, and Nick found himself humiliatingly stumbling down the slope, constantly having to pick himself up, brush off the snow, readjust his skis, and try to get started again, while young children, some of them around twenty-five years younger than him, were speeding down the hill with no problems. Even Greg, who wasn't exactly noted for being a jock, was doing better than him, although he'd keep falling periodically every time he started to pick up some speed. But it didn't seem to faze him - he just picked himself up, got his skis back in place, and went off again. Eventually, Nick decided to just give up and trudged back up to the top, hoping Greg would soon decide he'd had enough. But that had been some time ago, and Nick could feel himself getting colder and colder, especially his fingers, his toes, and his face, and he was starting to wonder how long it would take before he got frostbite.

As he was standing there worrying about this, Greg, who was about to start another run, went over to him. Even in his misery, Nick couldn't help noticing how, well, cute he looked. His eyes were glittering with excitement, his face was flushed from the cold air hitting it, and the brown and tan tasseled wool cap that he was wearing underneath the hood of his parka made him look, Nick thought, a bit like an oversized Norwegian elf.

Noticing how uncomfortable Nick looked, Greg asked, with concern, "What's wrong?"

"I think I've about had it with skiing for now," Nick admitted. "Why don't we go to the lodge, get a nice warm rum toddy, and then we can go back to our room and..." He tried to lift his eyebrows suggestively, but his face was a little too frozen for that.

Greg looked tempted by that, but, after taking a longing look down the slope, said, "Just let me finish this run." When Nick didn't answer, he gave him one of his most manipulatively plaintive looks and added, "Please?"

"Oh, all right," Nick agreed reluctantly.

Greg, now appearing smugly pleased, took off again. But he didn't get very far before he took another tumble that left him on the ground. Nick's amusement at that quickly turned into concern when he failed to get up this time and then called out, "Nick?" in an almost panicked voice.

Nick ran over to him as fast as he could manage with his skis. When he got there, Greg looked up at him with a dismayed expression and said, "I can't get up. I think I've hurt my ankle."

A couple hours later, Nick, coming out of the lodge's bar with a drink in each hand, walked over to where Greg was sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace in the main room, holding an ice pack to his leg, which was elevated on a stool. It had turned out that his ankle had only been slightly sprained, although he'd have to take it easy for a few days. While Greg was understandably disappointed about this, he also seemed to be enjoying the idea of being waited on, and Nick had the feeling that when they got back to the lab, he was going to embellish the tale of what happened into something much more interesting than a wipe-out on the bunny slope.

"Here's your toddy," Nick said, handing Greg his drink, which he took with a grateful smile. "Not much rum in it, though, since you're on a pain killer." He sat down on the couch next to him, and for a while they sat comfortably together sipping their drinks and staring into the fire.

Then Greg said, looking hopefully over at Nick, "While you were in the bar, I was talking to this girl who teaches the snowboarding class, and I was thinking...I've always wanted to learn how to do that, so maybe when my ankle gets better..."

Stifling a groan, Nick said, "I'll tell you what, Greg. For the next few days, we'll take it easy with some...umm...*indoor* activities, and then, after that, you can snowboard or whatever else you want to do. As long as I don't have to do it with you."

Greg considered that for a moment, then, with a grin, he said, "Deal."

And then they sealed it with a kiss.