Title: Content
By: postnotice
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It doesn’t matter that he has to work in a few hours or that he’s getting more and more tired as time goes on, because Greg’s happy and content just the way they are, and that’s all that matters to him.

Tangling his fingers in the sandy blonde hair of his boyfriend, Nick watches the TV without really watching. Greg had fallen asleep hours ago, but Nick couldn't bring himself to move or to even fall asleep himself. Downtime like this was hard to come by lately – from mid-November until now, they'd been pulling shifts so long they hardly said hello when they got home and goodnight when they fell asleep.

Greg makes a content sigh in his sleep and Nick vaguely wonders what he's dreaming about, if he's even dreaming at all. As far as he knew, Greg either didn't dream at all, or was plagued by nightmares. On the off chance that he ever dreamt good dreams, he kept them to himself.

Massaging Greg's scalp, Nick blinks slowly, tiredly. The paid programming block changes again, marking the end of another half hour, but on Nick time, the clock hasn't changed and will never change. If he could, he'd never leave from this moment – Greg's head in his lap, happily sleeping, completely oblivious to Nick's hand in his hair. He wouldn't change anything about this moment. Even if his legs were falling asleep, he wouldn't move – he guesses that's just what you put up with when you love someone as much as he loves Greg.

Greg stirs and he wonders if the level one is going to wake up, but a few moments go by and he still hasn't said anything, so Nick figures everything's fine.

One night, a few months ago, Greg had woken up after a nightmare, seconds away from crying. After listening to what the blonde had to say, he was sure he was going to shrivel up and die from guilt and self-hate when Greg mentioned that he waited so long for Nick to show up in the hospital after the lab explosion. Nick hadn't even sent him so much as a card

After the Demetrius James incident, Nick had to contain himself and not let the team know. It was one of the hardest things he'd done and at the end of the day, his only release was punching that guy and finally getting to see Greg.

Nick looks down at Greg, smiling when he sees his boyfriend had woken up.

Greg smiles back. "What time is it?"

"Late," Nick answers softly, still playing with Greg's hair. He's not sure what time it is, but he doesn't honestly care either.

"Mmm…" Greg yawns, closing his eyes. "Feels good…"

"I'll have to remember to do it more often."

A few moments of silence pass before Greg speaks again. "I'm sorry you didn't get to see your family over Christmas. I know they like big get-togethers." His eyes are still closed but Nick can hear the emotion in his voice. He just smiles, reaching for the TV remote with his free hand. "They'll just make up for it next year."

"I know, I'm just—,"

"It's not your fault, G," Nick assures, running his fingers through Greg's hair, repeating the process over a few more times. "My family understands."

Greg nods before readjusting his position, pulling his legs closer to his body. Without thinking, Nick pulls the blanket from the back of the couch and drapes it over Greg, unaware of the smile on his own face.

Truthfully, Nick is happy to have gotten away from his family. He loves them, of course, but sometimes he wishes that his family would have rejected him after he came out. Not because he doesn't want them in his life, but because he doesn't particularly like the phone calls that result in his mother almost in tears because he can't make it home for Christmas. If his family didn't like Greg as much as they do, he'd probably think that they blamed everything on Greg.

But they do like Greg, and they do know that they have strange schedules, and they know that they need their alone time whenever they can get it. It's just a little depressing when they don't get to see their youngest son for Christmas.

Greg starts to snore softly, tearing Nick from his thoughts. He's never had this kind of a relationship before. He's never stayed up all night just because someone was asleep on his lap and he didn't want to wake them up to go to the bedroom. He doesn't recall ever being this willing to give up anything, anything, just for someone's happiness.

But Greg means the world to him, in so many ways, that he would do anything just so Greg would never have to feel an ounce of pain.

It even went so far that if Greg asked him to crawl back in the glass box, he'd do it.

Greg jolts in his sleep and Nick smiles as he drags his fingers through Greg's hair once more. He knows that if he were to have tried this when Greg was in the lab, he would have been yelled at. Of course, Greg would have rushed to the bathroom to fix it immediately, but Nick would have been forgiven eventually. Now, Greg leans into the touch. In so many ways, he's changed, but he's still the lab rat Nick fell in love with when he first started at the Las Vegas crime lab.

Nick glances at the clock sitting on top of the TV and realizes with a shock that it's later than he expected it to be. He's normally been in bed for hours, which explains why Greg is asleep on his lap. He looks down at the sleeping figure on his lap and smiles when he sees a smile on Greg's face, still fast asleep.

It doesn't matter that he has to work in a few hours or that he's getting more and more tired as time goes on, because Greg's happy and content just the way they are, and that's all that matters to him.