Title: Recreational...
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2352
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes and a few familiar faces along the way!
Warnings: AU and fluff!
Spoilers: Some v.mild from all the seasons...
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Unbeta-ed: All mistakes will (definitely) be mine.
A/N: This is a brand new fic following a suggestion from jalola based on these photos... http://peanuts-gil-nic.livejournal.com/122987.html

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It was what Nick referred to as recreational sex and it suited him...and Gil.

The very first time was after he'd had his letter telling him that although he'd been recommended for promotion to Lead CSI the post had been withdrawn due to lack of funds.  Sara had been stunned at being passed over by Grissom and had refused Nick's offer of an after work drink and Warrick was off chasing skirt.

Nick wasn't going to drink alone so had made his way to the LVPD parking lot to get his truck and go home.  He'd met Grissom on the way to his truck.

"Sorry about the outcome.  There's never enough money for the workers but the managers never lose out...I've just heard they've appointed yet another deputy Sheriff."

"I was happy to be nominated.  Thanks for that."

"You're welcome.  You deserved it."  He hesitated and Nick knew he was going to speak again.  He did.  "You going home now?"

"Yeah...Billy no mates...they've all got something else to do."

"We could go for a drink...I need one after the supervisors' meeting I've just attended."

Nick had grinned.  "Yeah, I'd like that."  He was very nearly the Lead CSI so going out drinking with the supervisor seemed like the right thing to do.

"I know a place; follow me."  Gil had gone over to his truck and a few minutes later Nick was following him...to a bar just off Fremont with its own parking.  After an hour of steady drinking they were best buddies and both over the limit to drive.

It was Gil who made the proposition.  "You up for a room together?"

Everyone knew that Nick was gay and inevitably Nick had heard rumours about Gil around the scene.  Now he had absolute proof and there was no way he was going to say no.  They'd ended up in the closest hotel, the Golden Nugget, in a neat little room but they'd both laughed because it was...Murder Central.

Gil had dropped to his knees the moment the door was closed and fellated Nick before they showered.  Gil had then hammered him into the bed.  They'd slept for a couple of hours and Nick was returning the favour when Gil's cell rang.  He left it...he wasn't going to interrupt Nick.

Sometime later when he could breathe again Gil'd picked up his voice mail.  He sat up in bed and listened and then threw the cell onto the bed.

"Shit.  Sara's been picked up for DUI.  I have to go.  Are we going to do this again?  No strings attached?"

"Sure.  Sounds good.  No strings attached."  Nick was happy with that there and then.

And in fact he was still happy with it although there had been a few problems along the way.

The worst problems were after he'd been abducted about a year after they first got together.  Although got together was hardly the right phrase to describe their relationship...and relationship as a descriptor was a bit of a stretch too.  Arrangement was probably the best word to describe it.

They usually met up a couple of times a month...sometimes more, sometimes less.  And they started going to each other's homes since it seemed stupid to spend money on hotels or motels when they had their own beds, (or whatever, depending on how adventurous they were feeling...) they could use. 

While Nick was still missing his Mom and Dad had come to Vegas in a vain attempt to pay the ransom and had stayed when he'd been found and then had taken him back to Texas when he'd been discharged from the hospital.  Gil hadn't visited at all before he left.  But Nick was okay with that since it was a no strings attached arrangement.

But Nick had been staggered to find that the two teams had been reunited under Gil when he'd returned to work a few weeks later.   He wondered what would become of their sex sessions now that they worked the same shift again...there was a rule prohibiting any fraternisation between staff on the same team.  Stupid rule but there is was...

Gil said nothing but a couple of weeks after he'd returned to work they were at a scene together when Nick asked him.

"You know...our arrangement?  Is it over?"

"I hope not.  I was waiting for you to say something when you felt you were ready...I didn't want to push it...given your circumstances."

"What about the rules?"

"What about the rules?  Are you concerned?"

"No.  You?"

"Some rules, Nick, were made to be broken."

And so their meetings had recommenced a couple of days later and went on as usual for several months.  Then Gil's invitations started to wane...Gil, it seemed to Nick, was avoiding him or at least seemed preoccupied.  It was six weeks after their last encounter that Nick had a call from Gil asking if he could to visit.

"Sure, come on round."

When he turned up Nick knew immediately that there was something wrong.  Gil was reticent and appeared almost embarrassed...a very unusual trait for him.

"So what's wrong?"

"Wrong?  Nothing.  No, that's wrong."  Gil stopped speaking and appeared to be searching for his words so Nick waited.

"I have really enjoyed our no strings attached... "

"...but you're putting a stop to them?"

"Well, no, or maybe.  Look, Nick, I have been very foolish...call it a middle aged man's folly...but I let Sara get the better of me.  She's had a shit load of problems all her life and she was so depressed and...well I've slept with her.  She doesn't know about us, obviously.  But what I hoped would just be a no..."

"...strings attached with Sara?  Are you totally out of your mind?  She's attached herself to you like a limpet mine hasn't she?"

"Yes."

"But you said, maybe, about us?  Same rules?"

"I want that.  If you think I'm being presumptuous then I'll walk away now."

Nick laughed.  "I've just had a shower, do you want to stay?"

Gil grinned.  "You're okay with it?"

"I said so, didn't I?"

And so it continued; Sara knew nothing and Nick enjoyed his regular hook-ups with Gil.  And very regular they were too...nearly every week they managed to get together, mostly at Nick's place...just in case.

The next major hurdle was Sara's kidnapping.  Gil was filled with remorse for what he believed, he told Nick, was his own duplicity on the matter.  For the first time in the years they'd had their arrangement Nick was very annoyed with Gil.  His declaration to them all about his love for Sara truly pissed him off...if he loved her that much he should not have been sodomising Nick nearly every week.

Nick felt guilty for letting it continue and he ended it telling Gil if he felt that way about Sara then he should at the very least try and be faithful to her.  Gil was very apologetic to Nick and apologised for his behaviour. 

Nevertheless he was back with Nick four months later and not two weeks after that Sara up and left surprising just about everyone.  Nick thought she'd found out but Gil assured him she had not and it was a coincidence.  Gil seemed relieved that the problem had been removed without him having to do anything about it.  Typical.  That was what Nick had thought.  If Gil did have a problem he would wait it out and most times they just went away...like Sara.  So their arrangement continued unabated.

Gradually their arrangement had become a little more than sex; they would eat together...just take-out and maybe they'd watch a game on the TV.  But no expressions of love or devotion were uttered by either man and it suited Nick.  And it obviously suited Gil.  Their lives just continued very uneventfully...that is until Warrick was murdered.

That was the catalyst.

It was at that time that Nick would have appreciated more of Gil but Gil couldn't give Nick any attention.  Nick wasn't surprised; it was classic Gil Grissom behaviour.  He was wrapped up in his in own misery; in his own mortality.  He left and Nick wasn't in the least surprised about that either, he'd seen it coming.  Mostly Nick was annoyed that his regular sex sessions had dried up and he would be forced out to find some more...maybe a partner this time.  Some kind of proper relationship.  It was probably time for something a little more permanent...

But then Gil came back.

It transpired that he'd gone to Sara but it had all fallen apart.  She wanted a full time lover, a husband, commitment.  Gil was totally unable to commit.  Nick knew that and he knew that he was exactly the same and that that was why they had been able to conduct their arrangement so successfully.  There was no commitment.  There had never been any commitment.

Gil took some assignments with other PD's and undertook some forensic investigative work for governments but he always returned to Vegas and he always returned to Nick's bed...or his own bed...with Nick.  They fell back into their old routine each time.

But then Gil was offered a six month continuous assignment in Uruguay...to train and mentor a team of new crime scene investigators.  The fee he would get was excellent and he could not turn it down.  They made no promises and said their usual unemotional good byes and off he went and as usual there was no contact between them while Gil was out of town. 

But it was the longest time they had ever been apart for any reason and Nick actually had to acknowledge that this time, for the first time, he missed him.  He missed the sex, obviously, because they were very good lovers...familiar and exciting all in one go.  But it was the companionship that Nick also missed.  The meals they had together, the TV they watched.  The cold beers on the deck putting the world to rights...all of a sudden Gil had come to mean something to him.

Was this love?  He didn't know.  Had he ever been in love?  He didn't know.  He was perplexed and he was lonely but with no desire to go out looking for a replacement fuck as he had done on earlier separations.  This was, somehow and for whatever reason, very different.

He was asleep, but on call when he cell buzzed.  He picked it up bleary eyed and saw that he had a text from Gil.  He sat up in bed and squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again to read what the message said.

"˜Back home. Can you come visit with me? G'

Nick grinned.  He could and he would.  He looked at his clock, he'd had six and a half hours sleep and that was what he considered a goods day's sleep so he texted back.

"˜Sure. CU in about1hr. N'

"˜Great'.  Came the reply almost immediately.

Nick showered and shaved and made himself an omelette and toast, had a juice and some coffee and made sandwiches for work; then he drove over to Gil's place.

He parked his truck and rang the bell and Gil opened the door a few moments later and did something he'd never done before.  He gathered Nick up in a bear hug and squeezed him tight.  Nick kind of giggled at the unexpected intensity of the hug but still managed to hug him back.  Something was different, very different he knew immediately.

When Gil let go he stood back and held Nick at arm's length and laughed.  "I have missed you, Nick.  Really missed you."

Nick grinned like a loon back at him.  "I've missed you too."

"I don't think I should go away for that length of time again.  I don't want to leave you."

"You don't?"  Nick sounded incredulous.  "I don't want you to leave me either."

"I have done a great deal of thinking about us...these last few months.  Do you think we've been idiots?"

"Yeah.  But it was only this time while you've been away that I realised."

"Me too."

"What are we saying here?"

"I think you know.  That instead of me chasing around after women...or a woman...and sticking my head up my own ass, I should have realised what I have with you.  What we've had for, what, eight years?"

"We didn't need to rush things."  Nick added.  "When the time was right we both...guessed...I guess."  He smiled.

"I guess you're right.  Eight years of foreplay.  Can you drink?  Are you at work tonight."

"Yeah, I am, but I'm off tomorrow and the next day."

"Then we can start deciding how to go about all this.  But we must be more than half way there, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I do.  Gil?"

"Yes?"

"What have you done to your hair?"

"My hair?"  He ran his fingers through his hair.  "Nothing.  Why?"

"Nothing is the right word now I come to think of it.  I've never seen anything like it."

"I haven't had it cut for months...never got around to it and it's gone white...well ages ago you know that.  I feel very liberated not having to bother having a haircut."

"Liberated?  Man, you look more like a hobo."

"A hobo?  No...more boho I think.  I could tie it back like..."

"...if you're going to say like Steven Seagal then the answer is, no, you're not."

"What?  This is the first day of our new relationship and you're nagging me?"

"You got that right."

"I thought you might like to run your hands through the curls. Slick it back with your fingers with my sweat when I'm balls deep in you..."  Gil growled out his thoughts on the matter and then smirked at Nick

"I suppose there is that."  Nick grinned and Gil knew that they would be okay together.  "I've got time for some recreational sex, so I could test out your theory."

"That, Nicky, my boy, sounds like a good idea."

"It does, doesn't it?  I think I'm full of good ideas."

"There's no denying you're full of something..."  And Gil smirked some more...

The End

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