Title: Animal Planet, chapter 4
Author: anmani
Pairing: Nick and Greg, involves the entire lab
Genre: AU(Fantasy), humor
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Grissom gets a mysterious letter.
Disclaimer: They belong to the CBS and not us.

Grissom also felt other instincts impose on his mind, the hunger he could deal with, the bitch in heat he could ignore, it was difficult but possible, but the need to go to the bathroom he couldn't ignore. His bladder felt like he'd drunk a gallon of water in one go. The human in him steered for the restrooms, despite the urge just to lift a leg and let go. Grissom was aware that all the animals followed him without question. But he was still too agitated from the fight with Nick to pay them any attention.

The door to the restroom was open and so were all the doors for the separate stalls. Grissom walked into the middle of the room and sat down, wondering how to go about doing his business. The urinals were a bit too high up and balancing on a toilet in a strange body was more than challenging. Once again the panther and the pup beat him to a solution. The duo walked past him and over to the drain at the end of the urinal.

He sighed, stood and moved over to them. Greg's tail was all over the place after he had relieved his bladder and the scent of another male dog was one that Grissom just had to cover. Being a dog had it perks but it was stressing him extremely to keep his alpha position, especially since the pup seemed oblivious to his reign. It was only then that he realized he either had to wait till every one had gone or exercise great control over each separate dose.

Most of the animals seemed happy with the idea even the female ones. Once again that caused a conflict between Catherine and Sara, but both he and Warrick were looking out for it and they intervened. 'If we ever become humans again, those ladies will have some explaining to do!' Grissom was loosing his patience with the pair. He loved them both dearly in their human form, but they were using up their goodwill fast.

Nick had been very cautious when he entered the restroom and joined Greg by the drain. Something in the Borders behavior told him things he had only suspected. Greg was more or less ignoring Nick, quite the opposite of what had happened earlier. Grissom knew that most people considered him socially challenged and that was partially true, but it didn't mean that he was clueless. The first time he noticed their connection was after a bad case for Nick. His young CSI had been extremely upset entering the DNA-lab, but came out as the good old smiling Nick.

The Border whimpered and sunk low on his front paws, with the tail tucked between his legs, but the Cavalier still refused to acknowledge the Border. Nick rolled onto his back and that finally got the pup's attention. Greg launched a playful attack on Nick and the scene changed dramatically in mere seconds.

The pup was all bouncy and the apparent joy in Greg's behavior told him more than he wanted to know. Grissom had long suspected the pair being a couple, but had lacked the evidence. It didn't really matter to him, both men did their jobs just fine and Nick needed someone to take care of him. The thought touched him somewhere deep inside and his own desire for affection reared its ugly head. Grissom shook his head and regretted it when his ears flapped against his skull, he emitted a deep sigh before getting up and going over to the drain to squeeze out the last drops of urine.

The urine from Sofia had affected him and Jim the most. The Doberman had the ears perked and the tongue hanging further out than what could be healthy. The dryness in his own mouth told him that his tongue had suffered the same fate. Grissom studied Nick closer and was more than impressed with the amount of self control that the Border's human part possessed. Grissom was truly looking forward to leaving the restroom behind.

Back out in the hallway all the animals congregated behind him and they continued their search for more colleagues. Suddenly the horse started laughing. That was the only thing the bizarre sound from the stallion really could be described as. The horse had the advantage of height and it must have seen something funny through a glass panel. Grissom looked up at the stallion and followed its gaze.

He eyes landed on Ecklie's office, but he couldn't see anything funny from his point of view. Grissom moved towards the office and suddenly something swooshed through the air. A deep inhale revealed Ecklie's hair rescue product. 'Not that it works.' Grissom couldn't help but smile and he turned to see what kind of bird that Ecklie had become. The vulture hovering above the menagerie was ugly even for a vulture and he understood the horse's mirth. He just didn't get who the horse was.

The vulture gave the horse a menacing stare and the horse answered with an even louder laughing sound. Most people were scared of or at least had a lot of respect for Ecklie, but the horse seemed not to have any restrains towards the man at all. 'Vartann! You damn fool Gil Grissom!' Detective Vartann had always been unimpressed by Conrad Ecklie as one of very few people. Grissom did a mental nose pinch to collect his thoughts and carry on with the task of finding the remainder of his people.

Many of the animals were somewhat intimidated by the vulture, but when both the panther and the horse ignored the antics of the vulture, "people" relaxed. Grissom headed for the morgue, he was eager to see what Doc Robbins had become and he had already begun guessing. It had to be an intelligent animal, such as a pig or a chimpanzee, but he couldn't quite see Doc as either. Dave had also been in the morgue and Grissom wondered what Dave, or SuperDave as Nick would say, had become.

There was a warning hiss coming from behind him and he knew without turning that it was the black cat. Sara had too much temper for her own good and adding feline instincts to that made her even more volatile. Grissom turned to see who was imposing on her personal space. It was to no surprise the Cavalier that had strayed too close to the black cat. Greg was either stupid or provoking, because he invited her to play lowering his shoulders and wagging his tail. The cat lifted one front leg and hissed while clawing the air as a warning.

The pup jumped to one side to avoid the claws and then to the other in a bizarre dance. Grissom shook his head and cursed inwardly when the ears flapped, it was painful and yet he did it all the time. He barked loudly calling the two unruly beasts to order and for a man of normal great self control he used some very colorful words.

The panther and the Border got the message loud and clear however and Nick picked Greg up by the nape. Warrick just revealed his very impressive set of fangs to the black cat and it worked to a certain degree. The black cat stuck her nose in the sky and elegantly made her way past the panther and over to the tabby. Grissom sighed and for once stopped the headshaking in time to prevent his ears from more pain.

Confident that Warrick and Nick would keep the group in order, Grissom continued towards the morgue. The smell of disinfectant and formaldehyde was much too powerful for his sensitive nose and he wasn't anywhere near the morgue yet. Grissom cast a glance at the other animals and most seemed uncomfortable with the smell. Bracing himself he continued round the corner and nearly bumped into a huge dog.

Grissom sat down and took a closer look at the big white and brown animal, trying to recall the breed's name. The image of a barrel came to his mind and the name followed 'Saint Bernard', the rescue dogs in the Alps. It only took a short sniff to verify SuperDave's identity and the absurdity of a coroner being a rescue dog made him wish for the ability to truly laugh. A hoot from an owl broke his train of thoughts. Naturally Doc would have become an owl, Grissom didn't need to do any sniffing to verify that, it was simply too obvious.

The owl swooped past him and landed in front of the whole ensemble. They held each others gaze and Grissom could have sworn that the owl nodded approvingly. The Saint Bernard was clearly at a loss and he knew that he also needed to establish leadership over the much larger dog. Grissom turned his full attention to Dave and gave him a meaningful stare. The Bernard licked his lips and broke the stare tucking his tail between his legs.

Doc hoppled around in front of the group, clearly assessing identities and Grissom was amazed by the many expressions that the owl possessed. Grissom looked at his staff not entirely sure that everybody was accounted for, but not really missing anybody. Jacqui had the night of and Det. Vega was on vacation. It was of course possible for some maintenance personnel to be in the building, but he didn't know them very well, nor where to find them.

Follow this link to its companion by serenity151979:Greg's POV