Title: Only an Ocean Away
Author: saebuffyboy
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Something has got to give.

***

"What is this?" Greg asked as he stood in the middle of his living room, his back to the entryway.

"Umm, your apartment." Nick replied baffled as he closed the door and turned the lock.

"No, What. Is. This." Greg punctuated each word, as he turned towards his companion. Tears welling in his eyes.

"What's what?" Nick half laughed and flashed his stop-messing-around-Sanders grin, that drove Greg wild.

"Let's start but not limit the discussion to this morning." Gregs eyes had begun to clear up.

"Our date? It was just a CSI version of dinner and a movie nothing to get emotional about." Nick started walking towards Greg. Greg began to back away shaking his head.

"No, today was not a date. ‘Dinner'" Greg said though gritted teeth. "Was the two of us in some crappy dive on the other side of town where no one would recognize us. And that movie would have barley held Lindsays interest. Which at first I thought was the point. But then you barley noticed I was there."

"Not true. I was..." Nick retorted shaking his head.

"Way true," Greg interrupted him. "When we sat down, you set the popcorn in it's own seat."

"What's wrong with that? I didn't want to get our pants greasy."

"You set it down on the seat between us. When I tried to cuddle, across the popcorn's seat, you asked if I was tired, and then when I tried to jack you off, you handed me a box of milk duds. Finally when I tried to blow you, again over the popcorn's seat, You told me you'd take me home if I was really that tired." Greg shook his head in disbelief. "Oh and just one more question, since when have you been so concerned about clothes, last week you ripped an eighty-five dollar shirt to shreds, because the zipper stuck."

Nick stood there with that look on his face he reserved for particularly difficult interrogations. Greg couldn't help but laugh at the thought of this all just being another day at the office, but as soon as he realized what was happening, he sharpened up.

"So again I'll ask, What is this."

Greg stood very still for a long time before replying.

"This is what this is. You knew from the start that what happens in here and at my place is separate from what happens out there. You knew this is all it would ever be." Nicks was nearly shouting at the man standing a few feet across the tiny living room. " I can't give you anything else you know that."

"That was four months ago, and I do remember the conversation, maybe a little better than you. Of course I was a little more sober than you." Greg had begun to pick his way across to Nick while he picked his favorite passages from their conversation months ago. If memory serves me correct, it went something like this. You: I think I feel something for you. Me: knock it off your wasted. You: No, I mean I've felt stuff for guys before but never anything like this. Me: Nick seriously knock it off your hammered, you don't know what you're saying. You: C'mon I know you feel something for me, I feel something for you, lets see how it goes. Me: fine, but we keep this quiet at least until we know what's going on."

The two men were now standing inches apart, close enough to feel the breath between them. They stood there for a minuet before Greg spoke again.

"And guess what Nicky, something is going on, something more than this."

Nick just shook his head is disbelief. "Why do you have to be such a fag about this. We were having fun, why does it have to be some big emotional thing for you?"

Greg sneered, "You've been a lot of things to me Nick, but I never thought an Asshole would be one of them. If you really wanted to hurt me, you did. Congrats, there's the door, please God let it hit your ass on the way out."

Greg was shaking from head to toe and crossed to the kitchen, waiting to hear the door unlatch as Nick left. But he knew Nick to well to think he'd actually leave any discussion where he was the bad guy.

Greg grabbed a beer from his fridge and took a long swig before addressing Nick again.

"So...." was as far as he got.

"We really need to talk. I had no clue things had gotten so .. out of control." Nick spoke from the kitchen door way his voice soft and dark like velvet.

"What relationship have you been in?" Greg joked as he finished his beer. Nick motioned towards Gregs bottle. Greg stepped aside and let Nick have access to the fridge. He came out with two bottles and handed one to Greg.

"So told your mom about me yet?" Greg asked while opening his beer.

Nick nearly chocked on the bitter liquid in his moth. "Trying to hurt me back a little?"

"Tick for Tack."

"No, I haven't." Nick said more to his beer than to Greg. He couldn't stand to make eye contact with the other man who had been hounding Nick on his coming out for quite some time now. "You know I can't, my mom is nothing like yours. She would never get it."

"Do you know what my mom said the last time we talked?" Greg leaned against the fridge and sized up the other man. He looked more like a little kid when they discussed this topic and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty, although he know that until Nick came out about himself, he would never come out about him and Greg. " She said ‘Greg, next time Nick has a problem with his mom, you give him a big kiss from me and tell him not to worry, as long as he's with my Greggie, he'll always have a mom who loves him and accepts him for the person he is, and who will be there for him anytime. And even after he's not with you, I'll still love him, and be there, because that's what moms do. His mom loves him but until he tells her, she'll never be able to love for who he is. And that's just not fair to anyone, especially not him.'"

This time it was Nick who had tears forming in his eyes. "I...I" he stammered. "I want that, I want us, but I just, I don't know how to....." He trailed off as a single tear fell from his eye and rolled down his cheek. Greg crossed the kitchen and kissed the tear that was sliding down Nicks cheek.

"Nick, you have a boyfriend who loves you and accepts you for the person he knows your are. And who be there for you anytime. And even when you're not with me, I'll still love you and be there for you because that's what friends do. And remember when you finally accept yourself for who you are, I'll still love you." Greg pushed him self away from the other man and walked back to the living room where he collapsed on the couch.

He expect to hear the latch again, now that Nick was no longer the bad guy he could walk away, and never look back. Instead he heard the sofa next to him creak and the sound of Nicks broken breathing.

"So are we...." Nick began but couldn't bring himself to finish the question.

"Do you want to be?" Greg asked looking straight ahead.

"No." Nick replied with out a moment's pause.

"Well, then this has got to change hasn't it?" Greg said as he allowed Nick to scoot up next to him until their legs touched and Nick was able to thread his fingers in Gregs. The two men sat there touching until they fell asleep, the distance between them immeasurable.

***

It had been a particularly long night for the team. Not that any of the cases were all that difficult, but the night had none the less seemed longer than most. When the suggestion was made to go to breakfast, even Grissom jumped at the idea. Several eggs and pancakes later, and most of their steam blown off, the team began to retreat to their respective lives. Cath stood up first and pulled her cash from her pocket. "Lindsay." was the only word she uttered as she walked away from the table. Warrick and Grissom stood up seconds later, both said good bye and went on their way. No one was going to bother asking for an explanation it was pretty obvious they had both been interested in Catherines attention. That left just Sara, Nick and Greg.

"So do you think we should call this night a morning?" Sara asked her male compatriots.

"I could go for a drink actually, still all wound up from tonight." Greg responded squirming in his seat.

"You and your iron stomach, any more carbs and I'm going to burst." Sarah slid out of her seat and reached for her money. "Nick?" she asked as she made her way towards the exit.

"Uhh, actually I think a beer could do me some good, thanks though." Nick replied patting his stomach.

"See you boys. Remember you have to work tonight." Sara warned.

"Yes, mommy, we'll be sure to allow plenty of time for our bodies to filter the alcohol, and hydrate." Greg gave Sara his best little boy impression.

"Whatever." Sarah smiled and shook her head as she put on her sun glasses before exiting.

"So beer?" Nick queried after Sara left.

"Defiantly," Greg replied as the two men stood up and placed their money on the table. "A good thing."

"Ok Martha, so where?"

"I know a little place just around the corner."

Nick and Greg made their way from the dinner to a bar which was literally just around the corner. On their way in Nick hesitated when he noticed a small rainbow flag in the corner of the window. Being a CSI and a member of modern society Nick realized instantly what kind of bar this was.

"Greg," Nick hesitate. "What kind of bar is this?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing like that. This place has the best drink specials, and the only people who are in here at this hour are alcoholics and guys blowing their trust funds." Greg explained as he pulled Nick inside.

Inside was similar to most bars. Dark, dank and wreaking of alcohol. Nick pretended to ignore the two men making out in a booth on their way to the bar. Greg couldn't help but notice Nicks interest and bashfulness at the situation. Other than the bartender and the two men in the booth they were alone.

"See anything interesting." Greg ribbed as they sat at the bar.

"How, do you know of this place?" Nick inquired. Happy the lighting was so dark, because he was sure he was blushing.

"Heard around about it." Greg waved his hand absently in the air summoning the bartender.

"What can I get you fellows?" The spiky blond behind the bar interrupted the two men. "Special of the day is dollar seventy-five domestic bottles."

"Two bud lights." Greg ordered. Tossing a few bills on the bar. He turned his attention back to Nick. "I'm going to titrate my pants in a minuet here. I'll be right back.." He said standing up and heading towards the restroom.

As soon as Greg was out of ear shot the bartender returned. As he set down the bottles, Nick grabbed ten bucks out of his pocket and threw it on the bar. "Two double shots of Jack, there's another ten if I have them and they're gone before the blond gets back." Nick threw another ten on the bar. Before he knew what was happening, the bartender was pouring him two triples, "because he was so damn cute" Nick took the two shots and had just chased them with his beer as Greg was returning.

"So what'd I miss?" Greg grabbed his seat and his beer.

"A toast" Nick held up his bottle.

"To what?" Greg held up his bottle as well.

"To us." Nick offered, more of a hope then an answer.

"To us." Greg confirmed.

They were never sure how many drinks they had, but soon they were sitting knee to knee and laughing like old friends. When Greg got up to piss again. Nick repeated his earlier interaction with the bartender with the same results. When Greg got back he noticed that Nick was far drunker than he should have been. They were about the same size, Nick a little more muscular, and Greg wasn't that drunk. When he sat down, he turned to Nick.

"You know that I'm not a CSI, but that doesn't mean I don't notice things. Like the fact that when we came in that bottle of Jack Daniels had the front label facing out." He pointed to the bottle sitting nearest to them behind the bar. "And was on the other side of the bar. And a third fuller. What's up Nick. Is there something you need to talk about or what?"

Nick leaned in towards Greg and motioned the other man closer. When Greg leaned in Nick grabbed him on the shoulder and pulled him closer. Gregs breath caught in his throat. PDAs were not Nicks thing. Sure, they had been this close at work several times while looking through the microscopes and they touched all the time, but this was the first time it had ever occurred in public. Nick wet his lips and leaned in closer to Greg.

"I like you." Nick said barley loud enough for Greg to hear.

"I like you too." Greg rolled his eyes. "Now what's up?"

"No, No," Nick shook his head and in turn forced Greg to do the same. "I like you like I did Rian Harrison."

"Whose, Rian Harrison." The words could barley form on his lips. Scared of what the answer might be.

"Rian was my old fraternity brother and roommate." Nick was slurring his words pretty hard at this point and Greg had to defer his excitement to make sure he was hearing Nick correctly. "And my old boyfriend."

"You had a boyfriend in college?" Greg could hardly contain the surprise in his voice.

"Well, we used to get drunk and fuck, but other times we were inseparable." He pulled back from Greg enough to look the other man in the eyes. "But I never felt for him what I feel for you."

Before Greg knew what was happening, Nick had pressed his lips against Gregs and was trying to slip his tongue inside the other mans mouth. As quickly has the kiss had begun Greg felt himself unexpectedly pulling away.

"Nick you're wasted." Greg shook his head and looked away.

"I'm not drunk." Nick retorted slurring some more.

"I can barley understand you you're slurring so bad."

"I'm not drunk or slurring. I'm Texan, it's just my southern charm."

"You're southern charm smells like Gentleman Jack." Greg couldn't help but laugh at his own joke. They both sat in silence for a minuet before Greg spoke again.

"Nick, where's this going?" Greg asked unsure how to proceed.

"My place or yours."

"Are you sure."

"Please Greg, I want to fuck you." Nick said has he began to rub his hand on Gregs thigh. "I want to feel you beneath me when I slide in and out of you. I want to hear you scream my name, and I want to scream yours when I come in your ass." His hand moved to the growing heat under Gregs jeans he leaned forward again and brushed his lips against Gregs ear as he whispered. "From the feel of things I think you want me to do it too."

"Mine's closer." Greg moaned as he threw down some more bills and collected Nick and made his way towards the exit. He didn't remember how they got back to his place nor how they made it inside, with their clothes still on.

As soon as they were inside and the door was locked, Nick pushed Greg against the wall began kissing him. This time Greg opened his moth to accept the mans tongue. Soon Nicks hands were pushing up along Gregs stomach trying to free him from the cotton separating their bodies. Again Greg broke apart the kiss.

"Not here," He panted as he grabbed Nicks hand and led him shakily to the bedroom.

When they were reached their final destination they sat down on the bed and began to kiss again. Nick's hands were all over Gregs body, and when Nick tried to pull off Gregs shirt, this time he allowed it. Greg reciprocated taking his time trying to unbutton Nicks shirt, which didn't fly with Nick. He pushed away from Greg and in one swift motion ripped the rest of the buttons off his shirt.
Greg sat there his breath quaking in his chest. He'd dreamed of this moment, fantasized about it more times than he could count. Now that it was here, he was like a fifteen year old in the back of his dads car. Trying to take in as much as he could, but needing to get off as quick as possible. Something in his face must have registered with Nick, because as soon as his shirt was off Nick focused on removing Greg's pants. When those were off, Nick took a moment to absorb the image in front of him. Although Greg was thin, all his nervous energy had made him a bundle of tight muscles that were driving Nick crazy, and there was one he wanted to see more than the rest. He tugged at the wait band of the yellow boxers covered with blue daises covering the rest of Greg. Greg lifted his hips to assist Nick in freeing Gregs throbbing dick from cotton prison.

Nick sat there for a second watching it pulse with anticipation. Nick started kissing his way down Gregs chest and slid to the floor to give him better access. Nick kissed along Gregs hip joints and along the inside of his thighs. Two feet about Nicks head Gregs breath was ragged and he began to utter soft whimpers at the pain of having Nick so close yet refusing to give him the release he needed. On his knees Nick took a deep breath and released it slowly blowing a stream of warm moist air on the head of Gregs dick, Nick repeated his "blow job" several more times, before pulling himself up on the bed again and sitting behind Greg planting soft kisses on his ears and neck.

Greg stiffened self-consciously, he always got nervous when anyone saw his back after the accident, and why had Nick refused to suck his dick? Just as Greg was about to ask what was wrong, Nick fanned his hands out over Gregs shoulders and began to kiss down along his spine forcing Greg to lean forward. The rough hands on his shoulders, treating the skin under them like they would any other skin and not on the scars that marred his skin, was possible the greatest feeling Greg had ever hand. Soon Nick was kissing the hard muscles of Gregs ass, while Greg lead forward as far as he could in hopes that Nick would get the hint. By this point Gregs dick was throbbing almost painfully and the only friction he could get at this angle was against his own stomach. Usually Greg was very vocal in the bedroom, but had toned it down for Nick, reducing his usual howls to mere whispers.

When a finger slid inside Greg followed shortly by another, Greg realized that if Nick had to beg to get here, he was going to make Greg beg for the rest. Reaching to his side he was able to access his night stand drawer and pulled out some condoms and lube. He suddenly sat up forcing Nick to do the same.

"God damn it, Stokes, Fuck me already. Please god , fuck me." Greg moaned thrusting the condoms and lube at Nicks still half dressed body.

"Gosh, Sanders, All you had to do was ask if you wanted it that bad." Nick put on his best little boy face and shit eating grin.

Greg rolled over on the bed as Nick stood up to remove the rest of his clothes. After he slid off his green plaid boxers, he climbed back into bed and on top of Greg kissing all along his neck. Both of them enjoying the electric shocks that came from their dicks rubbing together between their stomachs.

"Oh, and one more thing G, no more of this whimpering bull shit. I want to hear you fuckin' screaming." Nick ordered as he reached down and slipped a condom over his pulsing cock and rubbing the lube over the smooth surface, and rubbing some of the lube on Gregs tight little hole as he slid his fingers inside again.

Greg arched his back up, threw his head back and shouted "Fuck me. Please." as loud as his shallow breathing would allow. And with that Nick slipped into Greg. Although they both tried to keep the pace slow, it built to fever pitch before either of them noticed. Nick ramming Gregs prostate with each thrust. Causing Greg to howl and utter cries of please and no and more and harder, all mixed over and over with Nicks name through closed eyes and clenched teeth. When Greg forced his eyes open to watch Nick he realized the other man had been watching him the entire time.

Greg locked eyes with Nick, and between moans managed to choke out "Please Nick, I need to come. Please." With that Nick reached a hand between them and for the first time made direct contact with Gregs dick, barley. Nick ghosted his fingers up and down Gregs shaft.

"Tease." Greg mumbled his head thrown back and eyes closed.

With that Nick gripped Gregs cock as tight as he thought the other man could handle, and began to jack him off in time to his own thrusts. The sudden grasp forced Gregs eyes open again, and he vowed to keep them locked on Nick for the rest of the time. It was only a matter of minutes before Greg was calling out Nicks name as he splatter their abdomens with his hot love. Seconds later, as he promised, Nick thrust one final time, moaning Gregs name, before he came in Gregs ass. When he finished he remained inside Greg, but before resting his weight on Greg reached between them and wiped up some of the mess. He then brought his fingers to his mouth and licked them clean. When he collapsed on Gregs chest he could feel the man beneath him still shaking. He raised his head and kissed him deeply allowing Greg to taste himself on Nick. He then rested his head in the crook of Gregs shoulder, and called his name over and over while Greg continued to shake.

It took Greg a few seconds to realize his body was shaking and someone was calling his name. He jerked his head away from the microscope and glanced on the at the clock on the wall. It had been fifteen minutes since he'd begun studying the sample under the microscope. He hadn't planned to flash back to the day months ago when he and Nick started whatever it was they were doing, or weren't doing. He still hadn't decided, but there were things that needed his attention, like whoever it was that had been calling him for god knows how long. Greg spun around to come face to face with Nick.

"Hey." Greg said trying not to sound as shocked as he was. "Sorry I was just caught up with this sample."

Nick leaned over Greg resting a hand on his shoulder sending electric jolts through Gregs body.

"Looks like cat hair." Nick surmised.

"Yeah, well, thanks for clearing that up." Greg was felling unusually awkward. "What can I do for you? If it's about your samples. I may have mastered the machine, but I am not master of the machine." Greg waved his hand in the general direction of his machinery as he explained himself to Nick.

"Actually, I was kinda wondering about something else." Now it was Nicks turn to feel awkward. Although that was pretty usual when they were at work. "I haven't seen you around much lately."

"I'm here every night, same as you." Greg said busying himself around his lab.

"I mean when we're not at work. Did I manage to piss you off some way that I don't know."Greg was going to let him know how pissed he was that Nick hadn't made mention of their fight the other night. Except when he looked at Nick he saw that lost and lonely little boy that made his heart melt every time.

"I just need some time to work things out. This whole you and me thing. It's confusing?" Greg took his eyes off Nick and studied the non existent pattern on the floor. " I think we need to sit down and talk some time, no bullshit."

"I'm trying." Nick was busy staring at the world beyond the glass walls of Gregs lab, and the world beyond that. "I just..."

"Shhh...." Greg soothed him. "Not here, not now. What are you doing the rest of the week?"

"Actually that's another reason I needed to talk to you." Nick refocused on the man in front of him. "I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow." Greg didn't even need to say a word, because the confused look on his face said it all. "I'm presenting at a convention there this weekend, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, I just forgot it was this weekend, I thought you were going there like forever or something." Greg mused.

"Why would I do something like that?"

"To escape me." Greg said, and forced a laugh to cover the truth.

The confused look on Nicks face made Greg wish he had just let the whole thing slide. "So why do you need to talk to me about Chicago?"

"I was wondering if you could look after my place while I'm gone, since I'm taking some personal time after the conference I'll be gone for about a week." Nick was starting to blush as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a key. "Here's a copy of my key." He said as he handed the key to Greg, who handled it like some delicate sample he needed to analyze for a high profile case.

"It's not like I have any plants to take care of or anything," Nick forced a laugh to lighten the moment. "I just don't want to come home and find some one living in my attic or anything."

"Yeah, sure no strangers in the attic, no orgies in the living room. Got it." Greg couldn't hide his smile. At seeing Gregs smile Nicks face lit up like the neon on the stip.

"Thanks G." Nick said resting his hand on Gregs shoulder again. "For everything, I promise, when I get back..." he trailed off.

"We'll deal with that then." Greg said sliding over to a machine spitting out a paper. "For now I think you have to deal with this." He handed the results to Nick.

As Nick was leaving he turned back at the door way. "Can I call you.... Just to check up while I'm gone?" Nick pondered blush creeping up his neck.

"Anytime, Babe." Greg said as the door shut. He had meant to return to the microscope so he could process the sample that had been there for close to half an hour now, but he couldn't take his eyes off the key in his hand. Thinking of all the things it could mean, and all the things it couldn't mean, and how after a week, he was still no closer to Nick than they had been on his couch. And to make it worse, he wouldn't even have Nick there to be distant, for a week they were going to be distant from a distance, and that scared and worried and upset Greg more than the key in his hand.

***

It had been two hours since he had gotten off but Greg was just making his way to the apartment door. Nick's apartment door. Greg began fishing for his keys as approached the door. Which proved to be a more difficult task than he'd thought. For some reason it had seemed like a good idea to get the supplies to make his favourite pasta dinner, including the big loaf of Italian bread in paper bags, it seemed cliche but something about it just seemed so right. However, that was before he considered the flowers he bought and the house plant, and the little over night bag he packed. Somehow he manage to make his way through the door, and to make it even more cliche to him the phone was ringing.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Greg called out. Giggling a little as he remembered the last time he'd said those words in that apartment.

Before he could juggle the bags and reach the portable in the entry way the machine had clicked on. Greg sighed and moved to the kitchen to begin putting away the groceries. He heard Nick's voice call out over the machine before the beep of the machine. Greg listened intently to hear the incoming message, but none was left.

"Probably a wrong number." Greg said as he began to set about cooking dinner. He knew it was either too late or way to early to be cooking such a big meal, but the kitchen in his apartment was nothing like Nick's. To top it off Nick had asked him to keep an eye on the place and what better way to do that than to stay there a couple days, just to make sure the place didn't look deserted.


"Damn." Nick mumbled as he snapped his cell phone shut. He had just stepped out of his first lecture of the morning and was bored silly. And it took a lot to make Nick both bored and silly. He'd figured that Greg would be home by now, Nick couldn't reach him at either of their apartments. As soon as Nick slid the phone into his pocket it started ringing. With out checking the caller id, he flipped it open, and purred his best nonchalant "Stokes" into it.

"Wow, that's a sexy salutation." Mused the voice on the other end.

"Who is this?" Nick replied suddenly unsure of who the voice on the other end belonged to.

"Slick Nick, never forgets a name, never forgets a face has to ask who is this?" The voice was enjoying teasing Nick now.

"Well, I don't exactly have a face to go on right now, so any help would be useful." Nick was beginning to have a little fun in return.

"Well lets just say that when I heard dream boat Nick Stokes was going to be in Chicago, I just had to look him up. His mom was more than happy to give me his number, said it'd been a long time since Nick had been in contact with a nice ole southern girl even it she was a transplant.." The other voice broke into a fit of giggles.

"Carol Hathaway." Nick reminisced, "Don't tell me you got drug back up to this half frozen tundra they call a city."

"Could be worse." Carol offered. "I could be having dinner at Banderas tonight alone at seven, six if you want cocktails."

With out another word the line went dead, and Nick was stuck looking at his phone in disbelief. Carol was one of his oldest friends from an older part of his life. He mulled the decision to meet her for about two seconds before he set about clearing his evening schedule. He had a little experiment he was hoping to test while in Chicago, and Carol would be the perfect subject.

Greg was moving about Nick's kitchen with the speed and grace he moved about his lab. The only thing missing in his opinion was some really good music to cook by. As he set the flowers on the dining room table and moved the house plant to the living room, he stopped by the stereo to see what Nick had that appealed to him. Before he even sifted through the stacks of discs, he noticed several burned disks sitting on top on the stereo. On each of the five disks was a small G written in black sharpie. He slipped the disks into the cd player and grabbed the remote . The fist song that played happened to be one on Greg's favourites "One Man Guy" by Rufus Wainright. Greg had to admit to himself that he was surprised to find a gem like this in Nick's collection.

He was heavily concentrating on dinner and had almost forgot about the music when something occurred to him. Every song so far had been by Rufus, Ryan Adams, and a group out of LA Greg loved. Four Star Mary, popular among fans of the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and California club goers, but few others. And Greg was almost sure Nick didn't fall into either of those categories. The fluid motions around the kitchen and the music unlocked a memory Greg had completely forgot about. About two days after their initial "night' together, Greg had been listening to these albums in his lab. The next day they were missing. He'd just figured that some one had gotten tired of his selections and hid them. He never suspected that Nick would have been interested in them.

After dining on his pasta, and thoughts of why Nick had stolen his CD's when Greg would have let Nick borrow them if he had asked, Greg retired to the couch with a glass of wine when Rufus's "Hallelujah" came on. Greg sat there imaging Nick with him. Nick's warmth on Greg's side as Nick's fingers danced lazily in his hair. Heavy with thought and food and wine, Greg's eyelids began to fall and he fell asleep. Lost in one of his greatest fantasies, a relationship with Nick beyond sex.

Nick skipped out of the final lecture of the day as soon as he could. Blew past the people gathering in the lobby for a cocktail mixer that he normally would have blown off to watch some rare tv. But tonight he had a mission. After a quick shower and a half hour of primping and trying to piece together a decent outfit from the convention clothes he'd packed. He managed to make himself look decent and made his way back through the lobby and the looks form the female convention goers. It drove him insane earlier in the day after he'd presented and he was met with a flock of women afterwards telling him how great his presentation on the importance of keeping time and date tags in photographic evidence and not just on it was in an attempt to get into his pants. When he made it out onto Michigan Av. He breather a sigh of relief and headed for the first cab he saw.

"Banderas" Nick said as he closed the car door. The cabbie raised an eyebrow, than proceeded to start the meter and pull out into traffic. Nick had just settled into his seat a block later when the cabbie pulled over and announced their destination. Nick looked out he window in surprise to see the entry to the restaurant so soon. He threw a ten at the cabbie and told him to keep the change. Nick stepped out into the throng of late afternoon shoppers and people heading to various restaurants and evening engagements, and made his way through the outside door and up a flight of stairs to the restaurant entrance.

Nick entered the ambient lit room and drank in the dark bar in front of him and the tables beyond that to the windows looking out over Michigan Ave. However, after living in Vegas so long, it seemed odd not to hear the sound of slots in the background and the shouts of excited winners. And there sitting in the middle his thought and the middle of the bar surrounded by her dark curls in a dress showing too much skin for the cool spring evening sat Carol. He made his way over and set down next to her. Sitting at the seat was a Jack on the rocks.

"Howdy" Carol greeted her cowboy.

"I've lived in Vegas for five years. I can talk like a normal person, and I don't drink this any more." He corrected her and pushed the Jack away from him.

"I'm sorry. I'm supposed to be meeting someone here that I spoke with this morning." Carol let her obvious hurt and anger seep into her voice.

"Let's back up." Nick said trying to remember why he was here. "Hi Carol, you look beautiful."

Carol fidgeted with the swizzle stick in her martini for a moment while Nick began flipping his cell phone open and closed on the bar.

"Why Nick, when did you get here." Carol replied as she stopped and turned to him for the first time. "This asshole would not leave me alone, I almost left."

"I'm glad you didn't, it'd have broken my heart. And you already broke my heart once." Nick said cutting to business straight away he discarded his open cell phone on the bar.

Greg had no clue where he was or where the wet spot on his pants had come from, all he could concentrate on was that obnoxious noise. He tried to focus thought the haze the wine had left in his brain. He was in Nick's place, he was watching Nicks place, and had made dinner and fallen asleep on couch. Ok, one mystery solved. But that noise was continuing Greg sat up and the haze turned into a throb when he realized what the noise was. The portable was ringing off the hook. Greg stood up and took a few shaky steps towards the phone when his foot caught on the strap of his overnight bag and nearly sent him to the floor. Finally he made it to the machine as Nick's voice was calling out the familiar message. Greg paused for a second the hear what would happen after the beep. At first he thought it was another wrong number because he didn't hear anyone on the other end. But then he began to make out the din in the background. It sounded like a bar or restaurant or some kind. He could hear the soft music in the back ground, the sound of conversations, and the soft clink of dishes and glasses. Greg was about to click the machine off convinced that this was just an accidental dial when he heard something that made his heatr soar and fall simultaneously. There above the other noises he heard Nicks voice.

"You know I always loved you." Nick said a thousand miles away.

"I know." Said a female voice that Greg didn't recognize.

"I want you to make it up to me for all the bullshit you put me thought, leaving me the way you did." Nick propositioned the woman Greg assumed he was talking to.

"Why Nicky what could I do to make it up to you?" The faint voice flirted.

"The one thing we never managed to fuck up when we were together." Nick blatantly stated.

"Your place or mine."

"Mine's closer."

That was the last thing Greg heard. For a brief second Greg was happy he was in Nicks apartment and not his own. Nick kept a wastebasket next to his phone and the only trash can in Greg's place was in the kitchen and he knew there was no way he'd make it that far. Before he had time to take another step all the pasta and bread and wine made their way out of Greg's system so violently that when it was over, the man lay on the floor for longer than he could process shaking as he watched the red light on the machine flash over and over and over.

Nick picked up his cell phone and flipped it closed and slid it into his pocket before collecting Carol and making the track up Michigan back to his hotel. Inside the room hands began to fly everywhere. Although Nicks motions could only be described as awkward, even though he and Carol were familiar territory to each other. With his shirt off and belt unbuckled Nick laid back on the bed as Carol straddled his hips, the straps of her dress pushed down off her shoulders leaving her in her bra and a skirt. She began to make her way down Nicks body when he suddenly sat up.

"No." he nearly screamed. Bucking up and nearly throwing Carol from the bed.

"What, did I knee you our something?" Carol asked trying to gain her balance.

"I can't do this." Nick replied standing up and trying to dress himself.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Carol began to feel self conscious and was trying to slip the straps back on her shoulders.

"Nothing." Nick turned his back to her as he began to button his shirt.

"Nothing???" Carol shouted. "First you mom calls me begging me to give you one more shot after all this time. That you can't make a relationship work in Vegas, and she's worried about the people you spend you time with, especially some Greg kid. Then you nearly beg me to fuck you in the middle of the restaurant."

"My mother called you???" The disbelief and anger shaking Nick's voice. "That bitch, that fucking bitch. She doesn't know shit about my life or my friends, and she tries to manipulate you into getting with me."

"Yeah, well from the feel of things, there wasn't going to be much getting tonight." Carol had regained her clothes and her ability to cut Nick to pieces after all this time. "You know they make pills for that right?"

"Trust me sweetheart I don't need a pill, I get it up more than even I'd like." Nick had redirected his anger on the only person present.

"Oh, so what I'm the first girl this has happened with? Bullshit, Stokes." Carol was standing now and shouting near the top of her voice. "Are you just going to blame me for this too, like you did our whole relationship, because if memory serves me correct, you tired of me way before I tired of you."

"Don't flatter yourself darlin'. It's not just you it's every girl anymore." Nick confessed in the middle of his anger.

"But you just said you had no problem getting..." Carol trailed off as she did the mental math and came up with a big... "Oh." Was all she could muster.

"How long have you... I mean, we did it like all the time.....Is that why you...." The dam had broken and the questions were spilling out of her. Nick sat down on the bed and patted the area next to him inviting her to sit down.

"I didn't really know, not until now. I mean I know everyone says that some where deep down you always know, but I just had to be sure and if you couldn't get me going no woman could." Nick tried to explain something he was just beginning to understand.

"You bastard." Carol slapped him across the face. "You brought me here as some sort of sick test to see if you were a total fag, or if you could still get it up for girl???? You sick fuck." Carol had stood up and moved across the room. "Get out."

"But this is my room." Nick began to argue. Carol picked up his jacket and flung it at him.

"Get out." she screamed. Nick had seen the results of enough domestics to know it would be better to go and wonder around the city for a while than argue who should leave and who shouldn't. He checked the pockets of his coat for his wallet, room key and phone, to make sure they were all there. He turned to Carol one last time but by the shaking of her shoulders he decided to just leave with out trying to make things better. For once he was going to be the bad guy. And somewhere deep down inside, Nick was sure he was going to be able to live with that, because his experiment had been a success and he knew now what he needed to do.

***

Greg pulled himself off the floor. Judging by the light creeping in around the edge of the curtains, he was running late for work. Greg couldn't manage to bring himself to go anywhere near Nick's bedroom so using Nick's bathroom was out of the question. In fact, he could barley stand to be in the apartment at all. He brushed his teeth in the kitchen sink and somehow managed to change his T-shirt with out getting sick again. Greg took one last disgusted look around the apartment, grabbed his over night bag and cd's out of the stereo. Before he stepped out into the late afternoon, Greg reached out and pressed the delete button on the answering machine erasing the only evidence of Nick's infidelity and wishing he could erase it from his mind just as easily.

Nick pushed his way through the lobby for the third time that night, and emerged on the street as darkness was settling in on the city. Nick meandered his way up Michigan Ave., he figured a walk along Navy Pier might clear his head. He made it as far as Millennium Park. When he saw the giant fountain, he was filled with an sudden sense of longing for Greg. Something about the giant faces spitting water at each other seemed like it would appeal to Greg. Nick made a mental note to bring Greg here one day, maybe when they could weasel some time off together out of Grissom. All the thought about time off reminded Nick that he still had a few days off, and a second phase of his plan after the experiment. He pulled out his cell phone and began to flip through his recently called numbers. The first number, a call to his own place was no surprise. The time the call was made however was. His phone said he called around seven Chicago time and talked for three minutes.

"Impossible," Nick thought aloud. "At seven I was in the middle of asking Carol to...." Now it was time for his mind to do the mental math. "Oh shit." Was all Nick could muster as he began to call his own number again. His only hope was to erase the message before Greg could hear it. Nick calculated the difference in time and figured that it might be possible that Greg probably hadn't stopped by Nick's place before heading into work. Actually it was Nick's only hope. When the phone started ringing Nick entered the pass code to access his messages from a remote location. An automated voice clicked on and told Nick he had no new messages.

"No, No, No." Nick said over and over again. Breath catching in his chest. If he hadn't been outside already he would have stepped out for some fresh air. He started to walk to Navy Pier figuring the wind off the lake, might make him feel better as he ran the possibilities of what could have happened. He figured that either Greg had been there when the call came in and heard everything Nick had said, or played the message and heard everything Nick had said. There was also the option that Greg had just hung up or deleted the message before he'd heard anything too incriminating, but Nick could not bring himself to be that optimistic.

Nick first called Greg's apartment in hopes that he might catch him if he was running late. All he got was Greg's machine. Next Nick tried reaching him at work. He called eight times in ten minuets and was finally told by the receptionist that Greg wasn't expected for another fifteen minuets and not to call back until then. Nick, the hero, had never felt so in distress in his life. He looked around the pier at all the people and when he saw the two men walking towards him, one blond and one brunette, arms wrapped each other oblivious to the world around them that Nick's stomach thrust in on itself and if Nick had eaten anything all day he was sure it would be on the sidewalk right then.

When Greg got to work, he was in a world all of his own. His normally meticulously groomed hair was sticking out around his head at odd angels. Well, odder angels than usual. The receptionist thrust a stack of messages at him and was giving him some lecture about not having people crowd the phone lines. Greg looked at the first message and saw it was from Nick. He tossed the messages on the counter and told the receptionist he was only taking calls from people who were on shift tonight, period. He blew past the locker room and headed straight to his lab ready to loose himself in his work and some Marilyn Manson. He had barley began processing the samples , when Catherine came in and turned the music down. She gave him one quick look over before saying what everyone that had seen Greg had been thinking.

"Rough night?" Catherine asked rasing her eyebrows at Greg's disheveled state.

"I guess." Was all Greg could say as a response. For the first time all day he noticed his appearance in the reflection of the glass lab walls. He noticed the wine stain on his pants, the tired look on his face, and to top it all off, his hair looked like shit. He had to fight to keep his hands from going up to it in an attempt to try and salvage it. "Got something for me already?"

"Um, not actually." Cath suddenly lost her usual confidence. "Nick just called me from Chicago. Wanted to know how you were doing. He said you hadn't returned any of his calls and he was kinda worried."

"Yeah, well, I have a ton of work to get done tonight, so unless it has to do with someone's samples, I just don't have time." Greg's icy attitude matching the desert heat in intensity. Greg attempted to end the conversation there, by turning back on his music and back to his work.

Catherine stood there for a minute mouth opening an closing like a fish out of water. Greg had been pretty cold to her once or twice after the accident, and she didn't mind. In fact it was almost comforting when he did. But his reaction was different this time, she'd never seen him lash out like this. All Cath could get out in her shock, was a simple, "It's you business." before she turned and walked out.

Nick figured he'd given Carol enough time and headed back to his room. Plus the battery on his phone was running low and he had to call Cath to see how her conversation with Greg had gone. He found his room empty, not a shred of evidence that anyone else had been there. Nick knew better than that he thought, as he plugged in his phone and dialed Catherine again, there was always some evidence left behind. Although he was sure the majority of it would be on his conscious.

Catherine had barley shut the lab door when her phone started ringing. She glanced at the caller id and sighed when she was it was Nick again. Before she could give a greeting Nick was already speaking.

"What did he say?" Nick asked frantically.

"Nothing." Cath replied as she flagged down Sara who was on her way to the lab to see Greg, cell phone in hand.

"Nothing?" Nick repeated.

"He said he was busy and didn't have time to take outside calls tonight." Catherine explained as Sara moved over towards the red head.

"Well how did he say it." Nick's inquisition of the brief exchange between Catherine and Greg had started.

"Nick, I don't know what's going on, but believe it or not, I still have a job to do here. Whatever it is. Work it out on your time, not mine." Catherine cut him off and shut her phone.

"Stokes?" Sara asked as she stepped up besides Catherine and began to walk towards the exit to start on their assignment.

"Yeah, he called you too?" Catherine asked sliding on her sunglasses to protect against the fading rays of the sun as they got ready to exit the building.

"He wanted me to see how Greg was doing and to try and get him to call Nick whenever he could. I was just on my way to talk to Greg when I saw you." Sara explained.

"Well, whatever it is, it must be bad. I've never seen Greg look that bad, and I saw him in the hospital after....." Catherine trailed off.

"Hey, we'll figure it out." Sara attempted to comfort Cath. "After all it's what we're paid to do."

Nick threw down the phone in disgust. He'd tried to call Catherine and Sara two more times each but wound up with their voice mail each time. The receptionist refused to take any more calls from him, and told him she would file a harassment charge if he called again. Nick had called Warrick once but remembered it was his day off and hung up. He'd even dialed Grissom's number but hung up as soon as he pushed send and realized that meant explaining to his boss why he needed to talk to Greg so bad, and to be honest Nick had no clue what he'd say if he actually got through to Greg. Nick decided to make one more call that evening. Within a few minuets a bottle of Jack Daniels and a bucket of ice were being delivered to Nick's room.

A couple hours later Catherine and Sara returned to the lab with the samples from their crime scene to be processed. When they entered Greg's lab little had changed from when they left. The music was loud and Greg was still pissed. On their way to the break room they overheard some lab techs talking, about how Greg had actually thrown a box of microscope slides at someone who tried to deliver his phone messages from the front desk. Catherine and Sara exchanged a look that said something needed to be done. Just then a crash from the direction of Greg's lab. The girls turned in time to see a scared lab tech nearly running out the door of Greg's lab, and Greg picking up a stack of manuals he had obviously thrown at the tech.

"Ouch, someone's having lady problems." Said a voice behind Sara and Cath. The two women turned to give their most scathing look to whoever was behind them.

"Hey I just meant, it looks like he's having problems with a lady." Warrick tried to cover his ass.

"What are you doing here, I though I was the only one who came in on my nights off." Sara questioned him.

"Don't worry, I just forgot my wallet," Warrick held up his wallet in explanation.

"Well, while you here do you have a few minuets there's something I want to talk to the two of you about." Catherine took charge leading her colleagues into the first empty room she could find.

"Ok, something is going on with Greg and Nick here, and if we don't figure it out soon, we may not have a lab left for Nick to come back to." Catherine laid out what she wanted to discuss as another scared tech ran past their door.

"Well, based on Warrick's observation, we're looking at some lady trouble." Sara teased her co-worker. "So what are the options. One of their respective girlfriends is cheating on one with the other?" Sara offered. "Or Nick and Greg are getting two timed by the same chick, Greg flips out, Nick want's to save their friendship. And here we are"

"What kinda girl would be interested in both of those guys." Warrick observed moments before Sara socked him. "I just meant that they're night and day different."

"That still doesn't explain why Greg is so pissed at Nick." Catherine tried to restore order to their discussion.

"Unless he thinks Nick stole her from him." Warrick offered.

"Hummm," Sara pondered. "That makes sense Greg could easily feel inferior to Nick. I mean Nick as a much higher profile job, A job Greg wants to have. Plus a record with the ladies, when's the last time anyone even saw Greg with a girl?"

"Maybe we should go have a little talk with Greg, explain how it's not Nick he should be mad at how every woman makes choices that can hurt sometimes." Cath looked back and forth between Sara and Warrick before observing. "Maybe one of you'd better do the talking."

The three coworkers made their way to Greg's lab to find the young man digging through his drawers looking for something.

"Damn it." Greg slammed one drawer shut and opened another. "Where the hell is that cd."

"Hey Greg." Sara had apparently decided to lead the discussion.

"If you're here for you results, I told you I'd beep you when they were done." He said without looking up.

"Actually," this time Warrick stepped up. "It's not about that. It's about the girl that ran off with Nick."

"What?" Greg could not help the surprise in his voice. His heart beat faster thinking of all the things Nick could have told them. "Has he been talking to you? What'd he say? Whatever it was is probably lie, that son of a bitch."

"Hey, he didn't say anything to us," Catherine decided it was her turn even though she'd wanted to stay out of the discussion. "Just that he was worried about you and wanted you to call him."

"So what, you all just sat around discussing what could possibly upset me so much, and concluded that it must be that what.... Some girl I liked ran off with Nick?" Greg said bitterly, in disbelief that the people who saw them every day could be so blind. Especially when it was their job to see what was going on, no matter how well people tried to hide it.

"Basically, yeah." Sara confirmed his summary of their discussion. Greg went ballistic.

"How dare you come in here treat me like some suspect in one of your cases." Greg's voice was growing louder and the three CSI's in front of him were beginning to wish they had never started this conversation. "You don't know shit about what goes on in my life outside of this lab, or what goes on in Nick's." Greg was now yelling at the top of his lungs. Drawing looks from the people passing by his lab. "What would you say if you knew your precious Nicky....." Was as far as he got, when Grissom opened the lab door and called for Greg to come with him in a tone far louder than anyone could remember him ever using before. Without another word, Greg followed Grissom out of his lab and into the other man's office.

Greg sat down in one of the seats facing Gil's desk as the door was shut and Grissom moved to his seat. They sat there in silence for a few moments. Finally Greg was about to open his mouth and say he needed to get back to work, when Grissom spoke.

"I don't care." Gil said in his tone that let Greg know he really did care, but was too pissed to deal with it now. "I don't care what happens to you out there on your time." He motioned to the outside world. "But when you bring it in here I do care." Again he motioned this time signaling the crime lab.

"So what we have to check out emotions at the door to process samples now." Sometime between the shouting in his lab, and being drug down to Gil's office, the punk rock rebel in Greg had been awakened.

"No you don't." Gil concurred. A little smirk of triumph began spreading across Greg's lips. "But it is part of working, for me, out there." And just as suddenly as the smile appeared it faded. Grissom, held the one thing that Greg wanted, and was threatening to take it away.

"I'm sorry." Greg muttered in defeat. "Stuff just got out of control."

"You have the night off tomorrow, right?" Grissom asked changing the subject like he always did.

"Yes, sir." Greg had reverted to old way fo being afraid of Grissom again.

"Why don't you take the rest of tonight off and get this in control." Grissom offered. "Two days from now, I'll begin assessing your attitude again and hopefully we can get you out in the field again soon."

"Thank you." Was all Greg could manage to get out. Before the overwhelming urge to hug Grissom filled him, and he knew he had to get out of there before that happened. As Greg was at the door, Grissom offered on last piece of advice.

"Greg, why don't you call Nick already." If there was more Greg never heard it because he had already slammed the door and was thundering down the hall and out of the crime lab. He could take a lot from Nick, but dragging their boss into this was just too much. I f Nick was going to have fun while he was away, than by god, so was Greg.

By the time he got home showered and fixed his hair for the first time all day, it was only eleven. In nothing but his newly styled hair, Greg made his way to his room and began rummaging about looking for something in the piles of clothes in his bedroom. After a few minuets of searching he found what he was looking for. The simple black polo shirt Nick had insisted he wear home after Nick tore the shirt Greg was wearing to pieces a couple weeks ago. Greg had meant to wash and return it, but was glad he had not done so yet. Greg laid the shirt out face down on his bed and went over to his closet were he pulled out an old shoe box and a small travel toiletries bag. He opened the shoe box and pulled out a pair of scissors. Making sure not to cut though the front of the shirt, Greg cut a large V out of the back, including the backs of the sleeves. Next Greg reached into the box and took out a package of safety pins. He began attaching them along the edge he just cut off the shirt. When that was finished he took a spool of thin black satin out and cut two long pieces from it. He than wove it in and out of the safety pins starting at each of the sleeves and crisscrossing it over the back. When he had the desired effect he opened the toiletries bag and removed a bottle of spray glitter, a bag of skin safe self adhesive rhinestones, and a black eyeliner pencil. In the mirror facing his bed he applied the eyeliner in a matter of seconds than took the bottle of spray glitter and gave his hair and back a healthy dose of sparkle. He stood there looking at his naked form for a second before deciding to cover his entire body, minus his face in the glitter. He than proceeded to take his favourite pair of black leather pants out of the dry cleaners bag and slipping them on, remembering how he loved the feel of them on his skin. He wiggled into his new shirt making sure not to disturb his hair. Looking at his back in the mirror, he than pulled the loose ends of the satin tight so the shirt that was once two sizes too big for him, suddenly fit like it was custom made. He tied off the ribbons and secured them with a safety pin. Turning his attention to the mirror one last time he began to attach the rhinestones to his face. Two on the outer corners of his eyes, and the rest covering the spattering of birthmarks on the lower corner of his face and chin. When he finished he took one last look at his reflection. It'd been a long time since he'd dressed this way to go out, but there was one thing he was sure of. Tonight he was going to be the sexual fantasy of every gay boy in Vegas. And for the first time all day, Greg smiled with out even realizing it.

He was grabbing his last few personal effects and checking to make sure he had condoms and lube by his bed when he noticed it. That little red flashing light on his answering machine. He reached out to hit the delete button, but decided he'd rather do it after a few drinks, because he was sure it'd be easier then. And now that he looked at the time, he realized if he was going to get any of the boys he had better get going.

When he got the club a line of people were already standing outside waiting to get in. Greg marched past them and up to the bouncer.

"Hey Georgie." Greg said as he leaned his body against the bouncer and planted a little peck on his cheek.

"Hey man, haven't seen you in a while what's up?" The bouncer was talking to Greg like an old friend.

"I got mixed up in something stupid." Greg explained. "I just want to forget all about it tonight."

"You picked a good night, hottest boys in Vegas are here tonight." Georgie replied stepping aside to let Greg in.

"Well, they are now anyway." Greg said over his shoulder as he walked inside.

Inside was everything the bouncer had promised. The club was full of half naked, half drunk, totally sweaty men all looking to help Greg forget his problems. But first Greg need to catch up to the people on the dance floor. He walked over to the bartender, threw down fifty bucks and began ordering drinks like he had just emerged after days in the dessert.

"Mind fuck me." He ordered and the bartender hopped to it. "Make it a double."

"I would as how's it going Greg, but I think the answer is obvious." The bartender joked as he set the first drink down in front of Greg.

"Red Headed Slut, Tie Me to the Bedpost." Greg placed his next two drink orders before he even picked up his first drink.

"Is that an order, or a request." The red head standing next to Greg asked.

"Woah, down boy." Greg stopped the man before he got any ideas, and set the empty glass from his first drink down. "Freddie, give me a Lion Tamer too."

The red head turned away, and Greg made his way though his drink order. He was feeling a good buzz and decided it was time to hit the dance floor. Remembering to always look available but be unattainable. That was until you wanted to be attained. Several men tried to dance with Greg but he was sure to switch partners as soon as possible. The sweat was beginning to run down Greg's back and he could feel the heat radiating off his body. Just as he was going to get a few more drinks he found what he was looking for standing in the corner by the bar dancing with himself, sipping on a bottle of beer. Greg looked him from the dark hair and darker eyes, to the broad shoulders, to the fit of his jeans.

"Ding, Ding, Ding we have a winner." Greg said to himself as he stepped up to the bar again close to he man who had been watching him dance.

"Misdemeanor, and a bottle of beer." Greg ordered wiping the sweat from his brow. "Make it a double." he called after the bartender. After he finished his shot, he grabbed the bottle of beer and walked over to his dark stallion in the corner.

"Hi" the guy said as Greg stepped in front of him. "I've never seen anyone look so hot out there. My name's...."

"I don't care." Greg replied "you're dancing with me now." Greg grabbed the strangers hand and began to lead the way to the floor.

"What about your drink?" Greg's soon to be new dance partner asked. Greg lifted the bottle to his lips and drank the entire thing without taking a single breath. When the brunette began to open his mouth to say something else Greg thrust his beer bottle at him and stopped him.

"I have no gag reflex and I can hold my breath for a really long time. Now stop talking and do nasty things to my body on the dance floor while everyone watches." Based on the look on the other man's face he had just came in his pants. "Or we can go to my place if you like it a little more private." Greg offered.

"Let me get my jacket." he replied and started wondering through the crowd. Leaving Greg standing dancing with himself and glancing around to make sure he'd made the right decision when someone stepped up next to him.

"Looking for you cowboy?" The spiky blond next to Greg asked.

"Pardon." Greg replied noticing the familiar man next to him.

"You know the dark, gorgeous, Texan with eyes for you only." The blond clarified.

"How do you know..."Greg began to ask, but then remember that this was the bartender from the little gay dive he had taken Nick to on their first "date". "We're not an item anymore. And my new stallion should be back any second."

"Really?" The other blond sounded naturally shocked. "Cowboy came in the other day really messed up. Kept going on and on about how much he loved you and how the only thing standing between the two of you was his family, and how he wished he could either tell them or something, because not being with you was killing him. I'd figure you two would have worked it out by now. I see a lot of couples but none have seemed as into each other as you guys."

"He said he loved me?" Was the only response Greg could get out.

"Yeah, and about a hundred times and a hundred ways." The blond put his arm around Greg's shrinking shoulders. "Go home to him." is all the bartender said before turning away.

As the blond moved away, Greg's brunette made his way back clutching his jacket and looking like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am." Greg replied but put a hand on his new beau's chest to stop him from moving any further. "But you're not coming with me."

"But I thought we were going to..." The stallion trailed off. "Never mind, I was an idiot to think someone as hot as you would want to get with me. What was I a joke with one of your friends?"

"Nothing of the sort." Greg assured him. "In fact you see that blond over there." Greg pointed to the spiky blond bartender. "Go tell him you want to play his cowboy. I promise you'll be railing him in minutes." With out another word Greg tuned and left the club stumbling slightly not only because of the booze in his veins but due mostly to words of his new favourite bartender in Vegas.

"He loves me" Greg muttered to himself as he hailed a cab.

"I love him." Nick whispered into the phone the over half empty bottle of Jack in one hand, his cell phone in the other.

"I know you do, and I know he loves you." replied the voice on the other end.

"So will you call him for me." Nick asked taking a swig of Jack straight from the bottle.

"I'll do what I can Nicky, but the majority of this is going to rest on your shoulders." The voice assured Nick.

"I know." Nick was swaying where he sat in his hotel room.

"It's going to feel like the most difficult thing you've ever had to do, but believe me when you do it and realize that the world didn't come to an end, you'll finally be able to be happy." Nick's phone partner comforted him. "Now I think you need to get some sleep."

"Thanks, Mama S." Nick said happy he'd saved this phone number after Greg had borrowed his cell to call home once.

"Any time Nicky." Mrs. Sanders tightened her robe as she got up from the chair on the back deck of her home a couple thousand miles away. "Remember I love you and so does Greg. Just don't push him too hard, what you did must have really hurt him if he won't even talk to you. You're going to have to earn it if you want him back."

"I love you to Mama S." Nick was almost ready to pass out.

"Please, just call me mom." Mrs. Sanders requested as she walked back inside, shut and locked the door behind her.

"I love you mom." Nick said laying down on his bed.

"Night Nicky." Mrs. Sanders whispered into the phone.

"Night, Night." Nick whispered back before the line went dead. He clicked the phone shut and laid on the bed for a few seconds before getting up and stripping down to his boxers and climbing back into bed. He laid there holding his cell phone for a few minutes before he made one last call for the night. He heard the phone ring four times on the other side before Greg's voice came on leaving his instructions, and though he'd heard it numerous times before there was nothing Nick wanted in the world than to hear the sound of Greg's voice one last time before he passed out.

Greg stumbled into his apartment and made is way to the fridge for a beer. Two beers he managed to get to his bedroom and pushed the play button on his machine as he began to untangle the black satin web on his back. He couldn't bring himself to listen to the first few messages of Nick trying to explain what had happened and deleted them. He managed to wiggle out of the constrictive shirt and focused on removing the rhinestones from his face, when he heard a voice that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Gregory," the voice called into the darkness of Greg's apartment and although his finger was on the delete button his hand instantly recoiled. "Talk to him. He's sorry and he misses you." There was a heavy sigh before the voice took on a softer tone. "Sweetie, don't throw this away on a stupid misunderstanding."

"There's more than that." Greg called at the machine as though it could hear him.

"I know there's more to it than just that." His mother's voice answered his question. "And he's working on it. Remember what I always taught you."

"Love is patient." Greg said at the same time his mother did.

"Just because he doesn't love you the way you want to be loved right now, doesn't mean he doesn't love you with all he has." Mrs. Sanders reminded her son. "Call me tomorrow, we can talk if you'd like" She said before hanging up.

Greg was trying to fight back the tears, that were welling in his eyes. "I will not cry. I will not be reduced to some fucking crying pussy, over Nick Stokes I will not. I will not give that fucking closet case the satisfaction. God damn it, god damn it, god damn it." Greg shouted as he began to throw everything that wasn't nailed down in his room. After a good fit of rage Greg looked about his more than disheveled than usual room. When something caught his attention lying on the middle of the bed. There it was, the shirt that Nick had worn that first night they were together. For the first time since he'd started seeing Nick, he flopped down on his bed clutching the shirt and started to cry. As the tears started to subside Greg noticed a message was still playing on the machine. He hit the repeat button to start it over. It was a faint sound, Greg had to turn the volume on the machine up and listen carefully to make it out. It was someone breathing, shallow uneasy breathing like whoever it was, was crying. Or had been. The longer he listened the more steady and rhythmic the breathing became, interrupted occasionally by soft sobs. Greg took off his pants and crawled under his covers and waited to fall asleep to the sound of his sleeping lover a thousand miles away. Things were far from alright, but Greg knew they were going to get better, they had to. His mom was already attached, and though he tried not to admit it, so was he.

***

At first Nick thought the throb in his head was the effects of the whiskey from the night before. It took him a moment to realize it was his cell phone beeping next to his head. Nick squinted through the beginnings of his hangover to see what was so damn important. The icon on his phone was flashing low batter just before it disconnected and shut itself off. Nick closed his eyes against the early morning light, and the throbbing in his temples. Nick made a decision to be proactive in his fight against feeling like shit. He drug himself to the bathroom, chugged a glass of water, splashed some water on his face and took a wicked piss. Nick grabbed the first two pieces of clothes he came across, slid on his sunglasses, grabbed his personal effects and made his way towards grease. As he walked down Jackson and about two blocks before he hit Greek town. He spotted just what he was looking for in Lou Mitchnas. He grabbed a table on the sidewalk to avoid the wait, and over abundance of smells inside.

"Welcome to Lou Mitchnas" the overly energetic waitress asked. "What can I get for you this morning."

"Well, you can lower you voice about for octaves." Nick said squinting behind his glasses. "How about a Diet Coke, a bottle of Ketchup and anything fried."

"Sweetheart." the waitress lowered her voice removing all traces of the false sweetness there was before. "That's about half the menu."

In response Nick removed his sunglasses revealing his blood shot eyes, and general look of shitieness.

"I'll bring you a cup of coffee too." The waitress smiled at him, before moving off to fetch Nick's hangover remedy.

For the second day in a row Greg was woken by the sound of a ringing phone. For a moment he was giddy with the excitement that it might be Nick calling. That was before the past 24 hours hit him along with that dull ache at the base of his skull. He reached over and grabbed the phone off his night stand and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hello." He grumbled into the handset.

"Gregory, I've been calling you all morning, and got a busy signal until, just now." His mother rattled on. "I was worried about you. Was it Nick? Were the two of you talking?"

"Good morning Mom, don't worry about how I'm doing." Greg sarcastically muttered. "What was it you wanted to talk about."

"Sorry, sweetheart, it's just I barley got any sleep last night, and when I couldn't get a hold of you, I didn't know what to think." Mrs. Sanders apologized.

"Don't worry about it Mom." Greg said sitting up and glancing at his refection in the mirror for a brief second before making his way to the kitchen. "So what's up?"

"Did you get my message?" his mother inquired.
"Yeah," Greg replied as he grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from his fridge.

"And..."

"And what?" Greg took a long swig from the bottle and welcomed the almost instant relief he felt in the back of his brain.

"Don't play games with me Gregory." Mrs. Sanders was one of the few people who could get Greg to skip his usual song and dance and get straight to the heart of the matter.

"I overheard a call, a conversation on his answering machine between him and some girl." Greg shut his eyes again the throbbing returning. "What was I supposed to do mom. We've been sleeping together for four months and week after our first fight, he flies halfway across the country to bang some girl. It's not a situation I've dealt with before."

"Yes it is." Greg's mother corrected.

"Would you like to clarify, crazy woman." Greg teased his mother and retrieved another bottle of Gatorade. "‘Cause unless you've confused me with your other gay son, I have no clue what your talking about." Mrs Sanders sighed heavily before she started.

"Do you remember the first boy you were with?"

"You mean Anderson, the guitarist? The one that you and dad walked in on me with while I was... um... occupied with his talents?"

"Yes, if that's the polite way to say the boy we found fucking your brains out on the kitchen table."Greg's mother corrected him again.

" We were studying and decided to take a little break. Besides, what does he have to do with anything, did he fly to Chicago to screw around too, cause if he did, I really don't see why now's the best time to tell me." Greg suddenly realized he was naked and on the phone with his mother.

"He wasn't the one who screwed around, in fact he was so in love with you he'd sit out in the back yard and sing to you at night." Mrs. Sanders almost wished her son would stop interrupting.

"I don't remember that at all." Greg was now in his room digging around for something to put on while talking to his mom. He held up a t-shirt with a rhinestone penis on it and shook his head before throwing it to the side to continue his search.

"Yes well, he didn't actually know which room was yours and wound up picking your father and my's room." Mrs. Sanders answered and tried to refocus on her story. "After that night, you withdrew from every one. Your father and me, your friends, everyone was worried about you. And then came Susan Henderson's "My parents are on vacation, so lets all get drunk and screw party." We were all so happy when you decided to go. Especially Anderson, he called every day to make sure you knew about it and that he was going."

"I remember him calling but I don't remember any party." Greg informed his mother.

"Well, I don't see how you could. According to what I heard later, you were stoned and drunk before the party even started." Mrs. Sanders tried to fill in the blanks for her son. "Susan had the biggest crush on you and apparently the two of you wound up in her parents bed when Anderson walked in on the two of you. The story goes when he found the two of you Susan was crying and you were sitting there trying to explain to her why you couldn't preform. Anderson flipped out and began screaming that you were a two timing bastard. You chased him through the party, naked, and tried to explain to him that you need to try it once with a girl just to be sure, that it wasn't some freak one time thing that had happened with him, even though the very thought of him got you excited. Which apparently you proved when you finally caught up with him."

"That explains why he would never date me after I came out." Greg began adding it all up. "But how do you know all this if I can't remember it."

"Well, certain parts of it are just hearsay, other parts I pieced to together, but the whole point of this discussion is what happened next." Greg's mom took another deep breath before starting again. "You called me that night from a phone in one of the guest rooms. You were..." She paused. "You were messed up, sobbing I could barley make out what you were saying at first. Finally you calmed down enough to talk. That was the night you officially came out. You told me all about Anderson, and how the night had gone. And how awful you felt, but you kept saying you needed to know, and now you did. And you hated yourself for doing what you did, but the end justified the means."

"My god....I don't remember that at all." Greg stood in the middle of his bedroom in awe. "What a bastard I was, no wonder he never forgave me, and I'm punishing Nick for doing the same thing I did. But how did I get home and how could no one tell me about this."

"Well, it was Anderson, he brought you home. You were wearing nothing but his jacket. He asked us to never tell you about what happened."

"Why?" Greg inquired yet again. "If he was so into me why did he turn away."

"Sweetie," Greg's mother finally reached the point of her whole story. "Nicky called me last night and wanted to know the same thing. He was really messed up. I could barley understand him. He just kept going on and on about how much he loved you. He called you his life and his world. He said that after being with you, he was complete for the first time in his life. When you were in his hands he never wanted to let go, and even when he was touching you, his heart hurt because it was never close enough. Not until he could be the man that you wanted him to be the man you deserved. That's why he was going on this trip." Greg stood in his bedroom still naked and in shock.

"Oh god," Greg was starting to cry again. "How could I fuck this up so bad. He loves me and I treat him like shit. Just like I did Anderson."

"It's not too late, Greggie." His mother tried to calm her son. "Talk to him. Forgive him."

"I don't know if I can." Greg replied though the tears. "He really loves me doesn't he?"

"Don't you?" With that Mrs Sanders hung up. Her work here was done.

"I do." Greg whispered as he clicked off the line. And stared at the phone in his hand, figuring out the time difference between there and Chicago for the millionth time.

"I do." Nick replied when the waitress asked if he wanted another Diet Coke. He'd gone through three of them, half a bottle of ketchup, and a quarter of the fried food on the plate in front of him, when Nick noticed he was no longer alone.

"Stalker." Said the pretty face behind the familiar dark curls.

"For your information I chose the restaurant furthest away from the convention." Nick said plowing some of his fried goodness though the messy pool of ketchup on his plate.

"Which happens to be right across the street from my apartment." Carol pointed to the building 728 W. Jackson across from them.

"Sorry." Nick said for the first time actually focusing his attention to the woman sitting across from him.

"No need." Carol replied as she grabbed the coffee off the table and began to sip it.

"No," Nick clarified. "About last night...." He trailed off.

"Hey last night was not the proudest moment for either of us." Carol shrugged. "Let's just try and put the past in the past, along with the rest of our past."

Nick nodded and went back to the plate of fried goodness.

"So....." Carol asked after several long moments of silence. "Who is he?"

"Who." Nick replied engrossed in his food.

"Who?" Carol mimicked Nick. "The boyfriend who." She stated as she threw a fry from Nicks plate at him.

"Who said anything about a boyfriend?" Nick retorted tossing the fry back at Carol. Carol just stared at Nick, using that look that only an ex could have in their arsenal. "Well, we met at work, and I just knew ya know." Nick and Carol talked long into the late morning. Nick had never been so relieved. After all these months he had finally called Greg his boyfriend, and talked about all the hopes and fears he had for their future. And for once Nick felt better about himself than he had in years.

"Well, I need to get going." Carol stood up from the table, as Nick did the same. "Let's not stay strangers."

"We'll keep in touch." Nick said stepping around the table to hug Carol. "Thanks" he whispered in her ear before she stepped back and began to walk away. Nick was watching her walk away, when she turned around and gave Nick one final piece of advice.

"Go home to him Nicky." She shouted before being swallowed up in the city. Nick sat and smiled to himself. And checked the plane ticket in his pocket before checking his watch and leaving.


The flight had been far longer than Nick and remembered. And if the flight was long, it was nothing compared to the cab ride. When they pulled up in front of the familiar building, Nick took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing." Nick sighed as he collected his bags and paid the driver. Nick walked up to the door and tried the handle.

"Locked." He muttered, frustration growing in his voice. "Of course." Nick began feeling around the door frame for the key he knew had to be there.

"Yatzee." Nick said to himself with a slight smile spreading across his lips. He twisted the key in the lock and moved inside where he discarded his bags in entry way.

"Hello, Hello." He called out to nothing but the late afternoon light. "Anyone home?" Nick turned and shut the door he'd entered through. "Mom, Dad, Anybody." He called when he noticed his mother in the back yard through one of the back windows of his parents house.

"Here we go." Nick said under his breath as he moved towards his mother and towards the man he knew he had to be for Greg.

***

Nick walked out back to see his mother directing some poor girl around, in her hand was a glass filled with ice and a clear liquid he was sure wasn't water.

"Christ." Nick exclaimed, "It's not even five o'clock yet and you've already got a vodka on the rocks." Nick was speaking before he was even thinking.

"Why Nicholas," His mother replied as she turned around and walked over to him. "How nice to have you disapproving of me so unexpectedly." She walked over to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"God, how many have you had?" Nick asked as he moved away, sickened by not only his mothers breath, but how quickly he was falling into his same pattern of behavior with her.

"Yes, well since you seem to be wanting to forgo all small talk, let's bring the discussion to why you're here." His mother's demeanor colder than her drink.

"Well, it's kinda like this." Nick's heart was pounding in his chest and he was sure he'd have been sweating even if he wasn't standing in the Texas sun. "I've met someone." He spat out with every once of courage he could summon. Mrs. Stokes face went from a look of shock to a look of relief which quickly transformed to one of joy.

"My baby boy is getting married." She shouted. "Loupe, go fetch us some champagne." She called to the girl who had been trimming the flowers Mrs. Stokes directed her to. "Where is she is she inside." she asked Nick trying to get by him and into the house.

"She's not inside." Nick replied blocking her path.

"Is she at the hotel.?" Mrs. Stokes inquired

"She's not there either." Nick stood his ground.

"Well, Nicholas, I think it's very rude of you springing something like this on the family and not have the decence to bring her along." Mrs. Stokes turned away from her son and looked in the direction the maid had run off in.

"Rude of me, I mention that I've met someone and suddenly I'm engaged to some girl. How presumptuous can you get." Nick's voice had lowered and was almost a growl.

"Well, than who is this mystery girl who you may or may not be involved with." Nick's mother had returned her attention to her son.

"His name is Greg."

The drink slipped from Mrs. Stokes hand and shattered on the patio brick. And for the first time in his life that Nick could remember his mother had no come back, no disparaging comment on Nick's admission. Nick had always seen his mother as larger than life, large than Texas itself. She took her role in Texan society very seriously and made sure everyone knew how important she was. But Nick would never forget how small she looked at that moment, like a little kid being told there was no Santa Clause. For the first time in his life, Nick actually felt sorry for her. Fortunately for Nick that only lasted until his mother spoke again.

"What? Running off to Vegas to be some want to be cop didn't hurt me enough? You have to come up with something like this? What did I ever do to you to make you treat me like this." After years of being a public defender, Mrs. Stokes had managed to regain her composure in a matter of moments.

"Believe it or not, this isn't about you. For once in my life, this is about me, that's it. Not how people will look at you, if we aren't all "perfect"." Nick was letting loose all the frustration that had been building in him the past few days, and all of it that had been building for years.

"Please, you were never the perfect one, always had to be the one to embarrass your father and me. Not being a lawyer, but being a cop, than running off to Vegas of all places." Tears had begun to build in Mrs. Stokes eyes.

"Don't do that. You do not get to be the victim here." Nick cut loose. "My whole life I did what you wanted me to, and made myself miserable in the process. Now for the first time in my life, I've found someone that makes me happy. Someone that got me to stop hating myself every time I look in the mirror."

"Stop it," Nick's mother shouted. "I don't want to hear about this, you sound like some brooding teenager whose parents are ruining your life. Your father and I gave you everything you wanted and this is how you repay us?"

Nick let out a primal scream. "For almost forty years, I have been the prefect son, I did everything to please you and it killed me on the inside every day. If you can't accept this, you can forget you know me; I'm gay, and noting you can say will every change that."

Nick's mother turned her back on him. "Leave." she said through gritted teeth.

"Fine." Nick said spinning on his heels and moving back the way he came.

"Forever." Was the last word she spoke to him.

"With pleasure." Nick pushed past a stunned Loupe standing in the patio doorway. "Night." He said tilting his head towards the girl who stood there bottle and glasses in hand. Nick made a quick stop by his old room to collect a few things, grabbed his luggage by the door, and called for a taxi as he began walking away from his parents home. His breath was still coming in ragged little gasps and he was shaking from head to toe. He made it to the spot he told the taxi driver he would meet him and waited. Nick sat there on the side of the road looking out over the Texas flat land, when a robin landed near him and began picking through the grass at the side of the road. Nick smiled to himself as he watched the bird go about it's life, and than he looked around him. He'd done it. And much to his surprise the world had not come to an end.

Greg rolled over and looked at the time on the alarm clock. For him it was still pretty early, but he stretched out and contemplated waking up, when he noticed he was quite aroused. He took in a deep breath, and thought he could smell Nick in the room. His excitement continued to grow under the sheets at the thought of Nick. Greg than reached under his head and pulled out shirt of Nick's he had fallen asleep clutching. He took a deep sniff of the fabric and identified the source of Nick's scent, while his erection continued to grow. Greg reached down and began to stroke himself under the sheets, it had been days since he'd hade any sort of release. In his desperate state, Greg reached over and grabbed his phone and dialed Nick's cell number.

Nick realized the number instantly and ran to the first quiet corner he could find to answer it. At first Nick didn't hear anything, but than there it was Greg's soft little moans he uttered while they were engaged in foreplay.

"I wish you were stroking my cock right now and not me." Greg said as soon as he realized Nick had answered. There was going to be no discussion not yet anyway, this call was about one thing and Greg hoped Nick understood.

"You like having my hands on you don't you?" Nick hunkered further into the booth of the dark and smokey little dive he was in understanding what Greg needed right now because as soon as he saw the number on his phone he needed it too.

"I like having your mouth on me more." Greg said in response. "Sucking my nipples, nipping and bitting me and leaving marks to let anyone who sees me know I belong to someone."

"What about when I suck your dick, when I take it deep into my throat. When I nibble on the head, and slid my tongue in your piss hole." Nick said his voice barely above a whisper, looking over to the group of men watching some baseball game on tv, and sliding a hand into his pants to help relieve the pressure that was building in them.

"Umm," Greg moaned. "I love it when you lick my pre cum off it while looking in my eyes. Can you picture my eyes, Nicky? Pleading with you to fuck me."

"I see you, G, god you look so beautiful ready to do anything you can to get me off before you cum." Nick had eased his zipper open so he could get a better grip on his rock hard erection.

"I want you in my ass baby." Greg wedged the phone between his head an shoulder while his now free hand worked it's way down his body. "I'm playing with my ass right now. I'm slipping my fingers into myself now. Got it feels good, Nicky, so good." Greg moaned breathing rapidly into the phone at his neck. "I wish it was your huge cock in me right now, filling me, and pushing further and further into me."

"I love how tight you feel around me. God, G, you're so fucking tight, I wanna shoot my load every time I bury myself in you. It's all I can do, to get you off first. I love playing with you dick while I'm in you. Love seeing your face lost in the feeling of the contact of our bodies, and how you always open you eyes to look into mine when you're ready to come." Nick was pounding his fist up and down as fast and silently as he could, he'd fooled around in public before, but never anything like this.

"Oh, God, I'm gonna cum baby, gonna cum all over us." Greg's words were erratic and his breath ragged. Nick knew he was close and Nick was close too.

"C'mon G, cum for me, shoot a hot load for me to lick up after I shoot in your ass, God Greg, I'm so, close I wanna cum for you." Nick could hear Greg pop on the other end of the phone that was all he needed to bring himself to climax.

"I'm cumming for you Nick, come back to me baby, come back, I need you." Greg said as he orgasm subsided and he ran cum slicked hand over his abs.

"Soon baby, soon." Nick replied as the final shudders of his orgasm passed and he began to look for a surface to wipe his hand off on, and tuck himself away before anyone noticed.

"I'm tasting my cum right now." "Greg said as he licked his fingers. "But I wish I was tasting it in your mouth and not on my fingers." If Nick had not come already he was sure that he would have at that moment.

"I'm coming home baby." Nick said his breath returning to normal.

"Good." Greg replied as he hung up the phone, and thought about getting out of bed for the second time that day.

Nick snapped his cell phone shut just as the waitress came over to his table.

"Get you another one?" She asked.

"What?" Nick responded hoping that she couldn't see his flushed skin or the sweat along is hairline in the dark bar.

"Beer" She drawled. "You wanna ‘nother one?"

"Yeah." Was all Nick could get out. The after effects of his phone call ringing though him. Nick had a few more beers and was ready to call in a night, when a familiar figure slid into the booth across from him. Nick's body went rigid.

"Calm down son." The older gentleman ordered Nick. "So now, how do you let a guy in a gay bar know that you're not interested., no offense, I just feel like going home alone tonight."

"I take it she told you?" Nick inquired.

"No, she was passed out before I got home, she usually is anymore. Loupe told me." The gentleman explained.

"And don't worry about anyone picking you up dad. I may be the first gay man to ever enter Pete's place." Nick felt himself begin to relax. "So you're not angry with me?" Nick always hated disapproval from his father.

"Angry?" Nick's dad asked. "Why the hell would I be angry."

"Well, mom was none to happy." Nick looked like a little boy waiting for his punishment.

"That's your mother, She'll come around in her own time." Mr. Stokes comforted his son for a moment. "If you're looking for me to be upset or disappointed in you Nick, you're looking in the wrong place."

"But..." Was as far as Nick got before his father cut him off again.

"Didn't I always teach you to stand up for what you believe in, and to stand up for yourself?" His father asked.

"Yes sir." Nick replied unsure of where his father was going with this.

"The only way you could disappoint you is if you had been a coward about this Greg fellow and hid it from us forever." Mr. Stokes explained. "What you did took a lot of courage son. I'm proud of you." Nick felt his chest swell, his father was never one to share his feelings very often, but when he did it was always genuine and honest. "Even if you do like it up the ass." His father joked.

Nick nearly spit his beer all over his father and the two of them shared a chuckle. "Sir, could I ask a question."

"Of course son, and you're a man now, you can stop calling me sir," His father began to relax himself across the booth from Nick.

"When did you start to feel this way, I mean as a kid, you used to say the most awful things about... you know... gay men and stuff." Nick was having a little trouble discussing this topic with his typically stoic father.

"Matthew Shepard." Nick's father suddenly looked very tired and very old to Nick. "I know that in the past, I wasn't exactly open minded. Christ Nick, look around you. This place is stuck in 1957. It wasn't until that case came to court, that I ever had to deal with something like that." Mr. Stokes took a deep breath before continuing with his story. "Now I didn't sit on the case, but everyone in Texas knew about it, and I sat in on as many days of it as I could. The things they did to that man Nick would have made your blood run cold. And to see the pictures of it all....Well, lets just say that I've seen a lot of messed up stuff in court, but I just couldn't believe people could do that to each other."

"I know what you mean dad." Nick bonded with his father. "Some of the scenes I process, make me wonder, how people have made it on the Earth for so long with all this evil inside of them."

Nicks father shook his head in agreement. "The part I had the hardest time with was the why of it all. They did this to him, for no other motive, robbery wasn't involved, there was no pre-existing contact between them and Matthew." Nick noticed his fathers hands were shaking. "It was pointless and stupid and the sickest thing I'd ever seen." Mr. Stokes took a breath.


"It's not our job to decide the why." Remembered the words he'd heard so many times. "That's for the psychoanalysts, and philosophers."

"I'd heard the rumors about you for some time." Nick's dad continued his story after a minute. "Mostly I just laughed them off. That boy in college a few others here and there." Nick could feel the blush creep up his face, he had no idea his father knew so much about his life. He thought he'd hidden it so well. "It's nothing to be embarrassed about, I have many connections in this world son, and I keep pretty good tabs on you. So anyways. After the trial was over, I sat down and thought about what I'd have done if that were you. If it had been my son that had been prosecuted, hunted down, like an animal beaten, dragged and left in the middle of nowhere for dead. I made the decision right there and then that if you ever decided to share with me that this was who you were, as I'd suspected for some time, I'd support you, I would not be as irreverent for human life as those monsters were. Especially the life of my own son."

When his father had finished the tears were streaming down Nicks cheeks. "I've been so afraid for so long daddy." Nick managed through the tears. " I thought you'd hate me for this, for being this way, I nearly lost the man I love over it." Nick let the other side of his frustration out now. "Thank you."

"No need" Nick's dad said pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to his son. "Now tell me about his Greg fellow. When do I get to meet him? Does he like football, I have season tickets for the Cowboys. Maybe the two of you could come some weekend and we could go to a game."

"I think he'd like that a lot." Nick wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled. He and his father talked until Pete himself came over and kicked them out around two. As they made their separate ways, Nick's dad turned to him.

"Son if you ever need to talk or anything. I'm here you know that right?"

"Thanks dad." Nick walked over and hugged his father since he couldn't remember when.

"When do you leave do you want to have dinner or something tomorrow." His father asked.

"I fly out late tomorrow night. Dinner sounds great."

"I'll call you and we'll meet up. Alright."

The two men took off in opposite directions. Nick was sure his mother would make sure his father could not attend dinner tomorrow once she found out about it, but part of Nick didn't care. Tomorrow night he was going home, he was going to his Greg. His Greg who was no longer his secret, his burden to carry around. His Greg who Carol had eagerly listened about, and who his father had invited to go to see the Cowboys with him. A smile crossed Nicks face, for the first time in his life, he knew what it was to be not only gay, but happy.

***

"What a slow ass night." Cath said to Sara as they made their way through the crime lab towards Grissom's office after returning from a routine robbery scene.

"Yeah, well, maybe we'll get out of here a little early." Sara suggested and took note of the quizzical look on Catherine's face. "What? I have a life outside of work."

"Ladies." Grissom welcomed them into his office. "How did the robbery go?"

"Peachy." Catherine replied waiting to see if anything interesting had come up in their absence.

"We're dead here tonight." Grissom replied to the un-asked question. "Why don't the two of you take a long lunch, Maybe we can get you out of here early tonight."

"Ok...." Cath responded spinning on heels and heading back the way they had come. Sara in toe. "Lunch?"

"Well, what else do you call a meal in middle of the night." Sara shrugged and glanced over at Cath. In her moment of distraction she didn't see Greg emerge from his lab nose buried in some test results, and slammed into him full force. They barely had time to get out their sorry's before a receptionist came over to tell Greg he had a phone call.

"Gotta go ladies." Greg tipped an imaginary hat to the two CSI's and took off towards the nearest phone.

"Wow, hello old Greg." Sara said as Greg did a little jig around the corner.

"Someone got laid." Cath said in agreement.

"Whose laying who?" Warrick asked having just returned from his suicide case.

"Someone we don't know and Greg." Sara summed up the discussion. Warrick shrugged his shoulders

"Well, at lest he's not throwing things anymore." Just then they heard a distraught grunt coming from the direction Greg had gone, and seconds later saw a phone handset come flying into their line of vision before being snapped back the way it came by it's cord.

"Well at lest he's not throwing things AT anyone." Sara corrected Warrick's earlier statement.

"Anyways, we're off to get something to eat. Wanna come?" Cath asked.

"I'd love to but I have to run a quick favor for a friend, maybe some other time?" Warrick's reply indicated he would be up for anything Catherine suggested.

"Well, looks like it's just the two of us." Catherine turned her attention back to Sara. Who was busy talking into her phone.

"Sure Nick, flight 114 gate 23b. We'll be there in about an hour. No problem." Sara clicked her phone shut and sighed. "Let's hurry with lunch, Nick need's us to pick him up at the airport."

"Well, now we have an explanation for the flying phone." Catherine surmised as they left the crime lab for the second time that night.

"I hope this works." Nick hung up the airplane phone and rubbed his eyes for the millionth time on the flight. He glanced down and studied the papers in front of him. With slightly shaking hands he picked them up and shuffled through studying them further. "God damn, I hope this works." Nick let the words cross his lips, more a prayer than a curse.

Greg smashed his way through the Las Vegas airport, not really caring about the hordes of tourists he was cutting through the middle of. There was only one thing in the entire city of Vegas he cared about at that moment and according to the monitors it had arrived about five minutes ago. When Greg arrived at the gate he began looking for the face he knew so well from having it hover inches above his own for months. He was shocked when he saw two faces he knew almost as well, but not from such intimate research.

"Sara, Catherine?" Greg shouted to the two women who stood on the other side of the waiting area. "What are you doing here?"

"Nick called as asked us to pick him up." Sara answered. "After your, umm, Great Phone Toss, I figured you wouldn't be all that up to picking him up." As Greg was about to answer, another familiar voice and face joined the conversation.

"So, was he really this paranoid about not getting anyone to pick him up?" Warrick asked as he joined his co workers in waiting for Nick. The next few seconds were a jumble of questions and explanations as to what exactly everyone was doing there and why Nick had called all of them to pick him up. Just as they were about to reach fevered pitch, another familiar face showed up.

"I have to say, excellent response time, since I haven't beeped any of you yet, would you mind explaining why you're all here." Grissom asked as he joined the group kit in hand.

"We're here to get Nick" Cath explained.

"All of you?" Gil couldn't help his look of suspicion.

"That's what we were discussing when you showed up." Sara chimed in.

"Speaking of which what are you doing here?" Cath inquired this time getting to eye Grissom suspiciously.

"I received a call from Brass, 419 this gate. Anyone seen a DB?" Gil looked around the room as everyone shook their heads no.

"Sorry, I'm running so late." Brass said as he stepped up next to Gil, slightly out of breath. "There, is no DB Gil, Nick called me and asked me to get you down here, he said he didn't care how, just to make sure you were here. I took a little artistic licence."

"Wonderful." Warrick shot out. "But that still doesn't explain what the hell we're ALL doing here."

"But I think that does." Grissom pointed to Nick who was making his way though the gate strumming an old guitar, he'd retrieved from his bedroom at home ,for all he was worth. The entire group, with Greg in front focused their attention on Nick.

"Sometimes I gets crazy as men are known to do. I'll lose my head in spite of everything I stand to lose. What is it in a man that makes me act like such a fool. You swear you never knew but always needed to, But stubborn pride is just the way of cowboys I suppose. Even love can't change the things I ought to change the most, and it's pride that keeps me standing when I should be on my knees. Makin' apologies but you love me desperately." Nick was singing for all he was worth, and strumming his guitar like his life depended on it.

"That's hot." Sara leaned over to Catherine.

"That's Dolly Parton." Cath replied. Sara flashed her a look that said I don't honestly believe you EVER listened to Dolly Parton. "I used to want her tits." Cath explained and shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh but now and again you wished I'd been a poet so I'd know all the perfect lines to say and have some great romantic way to show it. Be the hero ridin' up to save the day and go ridin' high like a knight in shinin' armor to sweep you up and carry you away. Oh but I don't have no magic ways to charm you. No cause even love can't change a cowboy's ways." Nick was standing right in front of Greg and singing his heart out to the lab tech he loved. By this point a large crowd had gathered and was watching the serenade.

""I love you" and "I'm sorry" are words that just don't come
Cause words like that are no match for the kind that rule my tongue
But my eyes keep tellin' you "you know I love you anyway
No matter what I say or what I never say"." Tears were now welling up in Greg's eyes, and even Catherine had to admit she were getting a little chocked up as well.

"Oh but now and again you wished I'd been a poet so I'd know all those fancy lines to say and have some great romantic way to show it. Be the hero ridin' up to save the day and go ridin' high like a knight in shinin' armor and sweep you up and carry you away. Oh but I don't have no magic ways to charm you. No cause even love can't change a cowboy's ways. My ways seem cold but you know I'm much warmer, but even love can't change a cowboy's ways. I'm just a fool that must defend my honor but even love can't change a cowboy's ways." Tears were spilling from Greg's eyes by this point and there was only one thing Greg could think to do. He walked up to Nick ran his hands through the short brown hair and pulled Nicks face to his own, and kissed him like he'd been dreaming of for days. Much to Greg's surprise, Nick kissed him back. Hard and passionately and trying to devour as much of Greg as possible.

"Now that's hot." Cath corrected Sara's earlier comment. And the brunette could only shake her head in agreement. Finally a need for oxygen forced the two men apart. When they separated a thunder of applause went up from the crowd around them. Both men smiled and felt an embarrassed blush creeping up their necks.

"Did anyone know they were gay?" Warrick asked. The two women and Brass shook their heads "No." At which point everyone's focus turned to Grissom.

"What, it was obvious if you just looked at the evidence." Grissom explained. "What does the city of Vegas pay you for anyway?" Nick and Greg couldn't help but laugh at the reactions of their coworkers.

"So, my place or yours." Nick whispered into Greg's ear as they stood there watching the crowd begin to disperse. The smile drained away from Greg's face along with the color. He moved away from Nick and turned to face him. Everyone's attention was brought back to Nick and Greg as the sound of skin contacting with skin at high speed echoed though the crowd. Before Greg's hand even left Nicks face bright red marks had formed in the shape of his hand.

"You bastard." Greg was trembling as he tried to speak. "You show up with zero notice sing me some song saying you can't apologize and can't say I love you, and trying to telling me how I feel. Do you have any clue what I've gone through this week, and I was willing to put it all behind us, but damn how presumptuous can you get. "My place or yours." Bastard." Greg shouted backing away from Nick who looked more than a little lost. The other CSI's faces were frozen in a state of shock, until Greg moved. They quickly made excuses and began to leave.

"Here," Greg said throwing his keys at Nick. "Drive yourself, to your place or mine or wherever the hell you want. It's not like you'd tell me anything anyway." Greg turned his attention from Nick and began chasing after Sara. "Hey Sara could you give me a ride back to work."

"Sure" His old friend said. "But, don't you think you need to finish up here first." She nodded in the direction that Nick was approaching from.

"Hey, G, we need to talk." Nick said as he spun the slightly smaller man around to face him.

"Not here." Greg said shaking his head to try and clear his mind. "Not now."

"Well when? And Where?" Nick pleaded.

"I don't know, just." Greg sighed and looked at the mark his hand had left. "I'll call you sometime or something. We'll talk then." Looking at the mark made Greg's stomach turn. "I need to go, I need to get back to work."

"I'm sorry." Nick called after Greg, with no response. "I love you."

"I know the bartender, and my mother both told me." Greg cut into the first time Nick had uttered those words.

"I missed you, I need you. I told my parent's." Nick was now shouting after Greg.

"Later Nick, later." Greg shouted over his shoulder.

"I fucked up." Nick said as he kicked a bag sitting near him. Not knowing who it belonged to and not caring. A new plan was flooding into his head. He'd done everything Greg had wanted. Come out to his family and coworkers, and now it was his turn to get Greg to do what needed to be done to gain Greg's trust.

Greg wasn't sure how he made it through the rest of his night at work. He heard the people talking, and saw the looks they gave him as they passed. Sara and Cath had been impossibly supportive of him. Letting him help process some of their evidence after he finished his DNA work for the night. Warrick had even made an attempt to chat with him, but Greg let him off the hook. It had to be quite a shock to find out your best friend at work was gay. Hell, even Grissom had stopped by to see if Greg was interested in doing some field work later on a case he had. By the time he got out of the cab in front of his apartment he'd almost forgot about his fight with Nick in the airport. He hung his head at the memory. He didn't know what it was that pissed him off so much. He had everything he'd wanted from Nick, but just felt so hollow. Like it was all some sad attempt to make him forget what had happened over the past week. Greg knew there was only one way that was going to happen, but that was one thing he'd never ask of Nick.

Greg wretched open his door and let out a heavy sigh as he locked the door and gave his eyes a second to adjust to the darkness. It took him a moment to realize that his apartment wasn't dark. Every room was lit by a few well placed candles. Greg moved into the living room and found Nick sitting on the couch surrounded by soft candle light wearing noting by a pair of very old jeans and his guitar.

"Nick?" Greg asked in shock that Nick could do anything even remotely romantic. "What are you doing here."

"I told you I needed to talk to you." Nick replied not moving from his spot on the couch.

"If it's more Dolly Parton.... I may have to hurt you." Greg half joked.

"Greg, sweetie." Nick cooed. "For once just shut the fuck up and let me talk. Every time I try and say something, you always say ‘later, or not now', well, you know what? I'm tired of it. So you're just going to stand there and listen to me and not say a word, got it?"

"I'm all ears." Greg said as he moved his fingers across his mouth like he was zipping it closed than turned and imaginary key and handed it over to Nick.

"Good." Nick replied slipping the fake key into his pocket. "It's never been easy for me to say what's on my mind. To express how I feel. I... I'm not as good with words as you are. So I...I found these, and I think they come close, well, closer than I could. And don't worry. It's not Dolly. It's Willie Nelson." Nick began strumming the guitar and bringing forth a haunting and passionate sound that matched the slight quiver in his voice left by the intense emotion of the past few days.

"Well I've been a lot of places in my life and time I've sung a lot of songs and I've made some bad rhyme." He looked up and smiled at Greg who he was glad to see was already smiling at him.

"I've acted out my love in stages with ten thousand people watchin' now we're alone and I am singin' my song for you. And I know your image of me is what I hope to be. I've treated you unkindly but darling can't you see. No one more important to me darling can't you please see through me. Cause now we're alone and I am singing my song for you." Nick had started crying at this point knowing what words were coming. His voice caught for a moment, but he found it and pushed past the tears to finish telling Greg what he'd been thinking for so long.


"Well you taught me precious secrets of a truth withholding nothin'. You came out in front but I was hiding. Now I'm so much better and if my words don't come together, listen to the melody cause my love is in there hiding."
Greg had begun crying as well and when Nick noticed the tears slid down his face even faster.

"And I love you in a place where there's no space or time. I love you for my life you are a friend of mine. And when my life is over remember when we were together, we were alone and I was singing my song for you. And we were alone and I was singing my song for you." Nick barely finished the last line before the sobs hit him and he could hold back no longer. "I'm sorry baby. I'm so sorry. I...I fuck up. I don't know how to say it any better."

Greg moved over to Nick, took the guitar from him and set it to the side. He then reached into Nick's pocket to retrieve the "key" so he could talk again. Nick smiled through his tears and marveled at how wonderfully attentive Greg could be.

"Shhh, It's ok baby." Greg soothed Nick running his hands through Nick's hair and peeling off his t-shirt to whip away Nick's tears. "It's all forgiven. I understand, I'm sure my mom told you that I've been there too." Nick shook his head in agreement. "I was just upset I should have waited to talk to you but..." he trailed off. Greg sat down on Nicks lap and began to kiss him. If their kiss at the airport had been a Vegas quickie. This kiss was a summer day in Texas. Hot and long and lazy, and making you not want to move an inch because if you did the heat would catch up with you and drive you mad. At some point Nick finally broke it off, there was something else he had to tell Greg and wanted to do it now before he got so caught up he'd forget about it.

"I want to do it tonight." Nick said breathlessly.

"Don't worry baby, we are most definitely going to do it tonight." Greg smiled at the man below him.

"I mean, I want to, you know....change my perspective." Nick loved teasing Greg when he was excited.

"You mean, you want me to...but I thought you'd never...." Greg's mind was spinning. First that song, than that kiss, now this. It was almost sensory overload.

"I have never, but I want to give you every part of me." Nick explained. "You've given me so much, helped me see so much of myself, but this is what we need. Complete and total openness." Greg giggled at Nick's choice of words, which brought a smile to his face that he was sure only Greg had ever seen.

"Are you sure?" Greg asked afraid to let it be true. In response Nick just shook his head yes. "Ok, why don't you get ready I'll be there in a second. I just want to take care of one thing first."

"Don't take too long. I may change my mind." Nick teased as he moved away, dropping his jeans just before he left Greg's view.

"Tease." Greg called as he walked over to his massive CD collection.

"You love me for it." Nick replied from the bedroom. Greg began searching for the album he knew would be the perfect cd for tonight. He looked at the first row. Not in alphabetical order, by album or artist. He looked over them again. Not by genre, or order purchased. He pick up the first cd, his absolute favorite album.

"That's it, best to worst." He vaguely recalled organizing his albums this way after some countdown on MTV. He began searching through the albums near the end of the collection and there it was 4 disks from the end still in it's original wrapper. It had been a gift from one of his stoner friends in college after Greg had mentioned that he like the album they were listening to one night to be polite.

Greg ripped off the cellophane as he moved towards the bedroom. When he walked in he looked up to tell Nick about what he'd found, but what he found in his room made him forget all about that.

"Holyfuckingshitthatshot." Greg said dropping the disk in his hands. When he saw Nick laying in the middle of his bed on his back. His legs parted in the air, muscles bulging from being stretched as far as the could go. Nick was holding them in place by wrapping his muscular hands around the arches of his feet. Nick's dick already hard a few inches above his tight pucker which was fully exposed due to the position Nick was in. Greg began to giggle after a second.

"What?" Nick asked trying to raise his head but finding it difficult in his current position. "Am I doing it wrong? I thought this was how you bottomed?"

"It is." Greg bent down to pick up the disk and get another view of Nick from a different angel. "When you're a little more experienced. If I were to fuck you like that, I'd tare you in half." Greg moved over to Nick and eased his feet out of his hands, before moving over to the stereo in his room and popping in the album and pressing play.

"Is that Willie Nelson?" Nick asked as Greg began stripping off the rest of his clothes in the candle lit room. Greg nodded as he slid his boxers off. "You never cease to amaze me."

"And I'm not even in bed yet." Greg smirked hovering near the edge of the bed. Nick grabbed him by the wrists and pulled him down on the bed and began covering his neck and should with a barrage of kisses. Greg was giggling like a little kid being tickled.

"Stop, stop." He shrieked. "No fair." Nick looked up at him and smiled, as he began to slid his way with kisses down Greg's torso. Greg grabbed Nick's head and pulled him up to his lips and kissed him.

"So how do we do this?" Nick asked as both men sat up on bed knees touching.

"Like this." Greg replied leaning in to kiss Nick. "Wrap your legs around my waist." He breathed between kisses. Instantly Nick complied and Greg slid his legs so they were sticking out straight in front of him.

"Am I too heave for you?" Nick was kissing Greg's upper body, while the man below him let out little moans of approval.

"I'm much stronger than you give me credit for Nicky." Greg thrust his hips upwards sending Nick momentarily into the air, before landing on Greg's thighs with a soft slap. Greg began working his hands down Nick's back as he pulled himself closer to stay upright, with out resting on his own arms. Greg began massaging Nick's ass to help him loosen up. Greg ran a finger over Nick's virgin hole, sending shudders through the CSI's body.

"Are you ready?" Greg inquired as he brought one hand to Nick's face tracing the lines he knew embarrassed the older man. Nick just nodded as his mouth sought out Greg's fingers and began sucking them. When they were well slicked, Nick released them from his mouth with a slight pop. Greg used his hand already on Nick's back to spread Nick's ass cheeks just a little more before he slipped his first finger in to Nick. He felt Nick shudder and clutch his legs tighter around Greg's waist, and clenched his ass around Greg's finger.

"Woah, boy, relax, I'm not going to hurt you, but if you tense up like that, you might hurt yourself." Greg warned as he waited for Nick to relax.

"Sorry, I just never..." Nick started as Greg began working his finger in and out of Nick.

"Don't worry." Greg planted a kiss along Nick's collar bone. "Neither have I." Nick smiled and shudder as Greg slid a second finger in Nick. "Everything we do together seems like the first time doesn't it?"

"Definitely the first time, I've ever had sex to Willie Nelson." Nick joked and began to thrust in time to Greg's fingers.

"Are you still sure, you want to do this?"

"Yes." Nick moaned as Greg pulled his fingers out and reached it the night stand for their supplies. "Do you want me on my back now?" Nick began to lift his body before Greg's free hand caught him.

"No, we're going to do it like this." Greg sheathed himself and began to apply lube to his dick and a little to Nick's asshole. "You'll have better control in this position. You determine how deep you want me and how fast we go. Just remember to try and stay relaxed." Nick took a deep breath before lifting himself up enough to maneuver Greg inside of him. Nick could feel Greg's hardness press against his slicked up opening. He hovered there for a moment before slowing letting Greg fill him as he slid down the length of Greg's cock with his virgin ass.

"Oh, god, oh fuck." Nick gasped as the fist two of inches of Greg entered him, he could feel himself clenching already.

"Breath Nick, Breath" Greg instructed. Nick took several sharp breaths before sinking the rest of the way onto Greg. When Greg was totally inside him, Nick looked down and smiled at his lover. "You're doing great." Greg smiled back. As soon as Nick hit rock bottom, precum began oozing out of his dick. Way more than he'd ever seen. Nick freaked out.

"Did I just cum?"

"You just found your prostate. Same thing happened to me my first time. You're going to want to get as much stimulation there as you can."

"That much I know." Nick smiled as he began to slowly fuck himself on Greg. The sweat was beginning to run down their bodies, and Greg was clutching Nick and using his abs to rub Nick's throbbing hard dick.

"I.. I" Nick stuttered. "I feel like I have to take a shit." Nick whispered, a worried look spreading over his face. Greg couldn't help but smile at Nick's inexperience in the area.

"It's ok" Greg assured him. "It's a normal feeling your first few times. Don't worry you'll be fine."

"But what if I shit all over us." Nick had begun to clench down in panic.

"Then we have a funny story to share with our coworkers." Greg teased, trying to get Nick to loosen up a little. Nick bust out laughing at the thought of sharing a story like that with Grissom, and in the process relaxed himself and rode Greg with renewed vigor. Greg new Nick was close and wanted to send him over the edge. He reached a hand between their stomachs and began to stoke Nick, while he nibbled on Nick's nipples.

"Fuck, G, I'm gonna cum, you feel so fucking incredible inside me." Nick was lost in the sensations engulfing his body. He came with a series of sounds that Greg could barely identify as human or English. Greg braced himself as Nick clenched tightly around his cock while he came. Through some strategic breathing Greg managed to hold off cuming while Nick came down from his orgasm.

"I want you to fuck me now." Nick said though a could of endorphin's filling his brain. Greg spread his legs before rolling him and Nick forward. So Nick was on his back with his legs wrapped around Greg's waist. Nick's eyes shot open as Greg rested his weight on top Nick and sank further into him. "Fuck me like our fist time."

"I'm not going to stop fucking you till you cum again." Greg began fucking Nick with an enthusiasm Nick thought was reserved for men half their age. Before Nick knew it his dick was hard again. Greg knew just how to stimulate Nick's prostate, and in minutes had the older man screaming obscenities Greg didn't know the Texan even had in his vocabulary. Greg reached between them and stroked Nick to his second orgasm that night. And that was all it took to send Greg over the edge. He came in Nick's ass screaming his name over and over, mixed with dirty little phrases, that made Nick's obscenities almost seem innocent. When he finished, Greg wiped up some of the mess between them and licked it off his fingers before leaning into Nick and kissing him deeply. After he parted their lips, Greg could feel Nick shaking underneath him. Greg called out to his lover over and over before finally pulling out of him. Greg looked at the condom as he took it off and saw the blood on it.

"Oh, shit Nicky, are you alright?" Greg worried as his lover laid beneath him still shuddering. "Nicky, answer me." Greg shook his shoulders.

"I'm fine." Nick replied hazily. "That was amazing."

"You're bleeding."

"It was worth it." Greg disposed of the condom and snuggled up to Nick.

"So did you really tell your parents, or was that my hopeful ear in the airport."

"Don't want to talk about them now."

"Fine, I'll just go and chat with someone else about it." Greg began to move out of the bed when Nick's had caught him.

"My mom flipped, but my dad might be more in love with you than I am." Nick opened his eyes and smiled at the blond next to him. "He want's us to come with him to see the Cowboys."

"He want's us to go to the rodeo with him?" Greg was confused but snuggled closer to Nick.

"Football, sweetie." Nick wrapped his arms around Greg and kissed him gently.

"Like in public football." Greg tested the water of where this was all going.

"Well, yeah, he has season tickets, I figure we could get a few days off during the season. Maybe a Saturday, or a Sunday, or what about a Monday night game. I think the Cowboys play Thanksgiving this year, we could do that instead. My mom will be pissed that she'll have to serve dinner late, or maybe early. Either way she's always pissed about something when it doesn't go her way." The usually silent Nick suddenly found all the words that had been buried inside him for so long and had started spilling his soul to Greg. Greg looked over and his rambling lover and smiled before silencing him with a kiss. For the first time, Greg actually felt the distance between them melt away.

"What was that for?" Nick asked trying regain his train of thought.

"Because I love you." Greg said settling into Nick.

"So anyway, I was thinking we need to visit your mom as soon as we can." Greg drifted off and Nick was close behind him. Dreaming of their future, and even though they drifted to opposite sides of the bed during the night. It was still closer than they had ever been.

***

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