Title: Run
By: Cosmorain
Paring: Nick/David
Rating: R for swearing
Spoilers: That old episode where they all run a marathon.
AN: I took a break from secrets that we keep. This plot bunny would not leave me alone until I wrote it.

Nick exhaled harshly as his feet thumped on the pavement. Just a little further he thought increasing his speed with a last minute burst of energy. Almost …THERE! He thought as he passed the baton over to Warrick. He slowed down to a walk and moved to the side of the road with the other racers. He absently took the bottled water offered to him by one of the race workers and leaned against a large boulder to rest.

He couldn't believe Ecklie talked them all into racing again after what happened a few years ago. He laughed to himself a bit, hopefully this time Grissom and Catherine won't find a dead body. He chugged another swallow of water and watched as two LAPD guys walked over to him.

"Hey." One of the guys said. He was in his late thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a lean build and a friendly smile. Nick nodded to him. The other man was African American, bald and built like a football player. He received his bottle of water and joined his companion.

"Do you mind if we share your boulder man." He asked.

"Knock yourself out." Nick replied. The two leaned back and took big gulps of water.

"Whew! I am so glad our turn is done." The blonde exclaimed. Nick laughed again.

"No kidding." The blonde turned to him and stuck out his hand.

"Hey. I'm Andrew, and this," he said pointing at his companion, "is Cliff." Nick shook his head.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nick Stokes, Las Vegas crime lab." Andrew turned to look at cliff then back to Nick.

"Crime lab huh?" He paused. "Can I ask you a question?" Nick folded his arms in front of his chest.

"Sure." He said cautiously. Andrew paused and looked uncertain how to continue.

"Do you have a lab tech there named Hodges?"

"Hodges?" Nick asked surprised.

"Yeah." Andrew said. "David Hodges. He's tall with dark hair, killer blue eyes." Cliff snorted behind him. Andrew turned to Cliff. "What. Hey I might not swing that way, but you gotta admit he was pretty." Cliff stared at him a moment then shrugged and turned away. Andrew laughed and turned back to Nick. "So… do you know him?"

"Yeah." Nick said smiling. "I know Hodges." Andrew shook his head and smiled.

"Good. I'm glad he ended up in Vegas. I heard your lab was top notch." Nick nodded.

"We try man."

"That's good. So is David running today?" Nick shook his head no.

"We asked everyone. He said he was bad at sports." Cliff snorted again.

"He was shitin' you." He said gruffly.

"Huh?" Nick asked.

"Yeah." Andrew replied. "When he was in LA he used to train with us all the time. How'd you think he got that body." Cliff unfolded his arms and turned to Andrew.

"Are you sure you're not gay man?" Andrew rolled his eyes.

"I am not gay, it would piss off my wife if I was and I do not like to see that woman angry. But" He said holding up his right index finger. "David's the only man that ever made me think about it seriously." Nick was silent for a moment.

"Yeah. I can see that." He said. Andrew's smiled widened.

"Really?" Nick blushed but didn't say anything else. Cliff nudged Andrew and silently asked to let it go.

"You need to get him to try to run next year." Nick nodded.

"Oh don't worry we will be having a long discussion about it." Andrew laughed.

"Hey." Nick started. "Do you know why David transferred. We never got the whole story. They just told us he had an attitude problem."

"Bullshit." Cliff exclaimed. "It was that fucking homophobic supervisor of his."

"You mean he didn't like David because he was gay. That's stupid and unprofessional."

"Well you see." Andrew started. "We're PD, but we would wander into the lab every once in a while me and my partner." He gestured to Cliff. "We met David and he was a nice enough guy, kinda rude and a little dorky but nice. We saw him at the PD gym time to time kinda took him under our wing." Cliff nodded his expression blank. Andrew continued "Well one day we get a call from a neighbor about a domestic dispute. This old lady said she heard the couple next door arguing and it was getting out of hand. Well we get to the call and imagine our surprise when we knock on the door and David answers."

Nick's eyebrows shot up, he didn't like where this was going.

"So we're shocked as hell, and there's David with a black eye and busted lip. His mother fuckin' boyfriend is still ranting and it gets so bad we have take him into custody. But in doing so the whole department finds out David's gay." He pauses. "Now surprisingly all the guys at PD are cool with it. I mean in this job you see lots of bad thing so someone being gay doesn't make us blink. I mean it's LA for crying out loud." Cliff nodded.

"True that. True that." Andrew shifted his position on the rock.

"So we figured that his crime lab pals wouldn't care either." He paused and took a sip of water. "We were wrong. They gave him hell. I mean, the works. There were slurs about him, his locker was trashed, his tires slashed. The whole nine yards. I caught Jenkins slashin' his tires." He looked over at Nick and smiled.

"I kicked his ass. Wimp. He was crying like a baby. Went back and told that stupid supervisor, but since he was caught in the act I got two day suspension. Well it was worth it."

"Well were not like that here in Vegas." Nick stated firmly. Andrew studied him for a minute.

"But David hasn't come out here. I don't think he's seen anyone since he broke up with that shithead we hauled off. Do you think your people would understand if David told him he was gay." Nick shrugged.

"They didn't mind it when I came out." He stated.

"You gay?" Andrew asked. Nick shook his head yes.

"Well Good. He doesn't need anymore crap from anyone." Cliff nudged them again and Andrew noticed the LAPD truck had arrived.

"We gotta go man our rides here, but when you see David tell him we wanna come by to visit."

"I will. It was nice meeting you." Andrew smiled and cliff nodded. As they began to walk away Nick called out to them.

"Hey guys." They turned. Nick smiled. "I'll take care of him." Andrew beamed and cliff smirked and nodded.

"See that you do Stokes." They waved and turned around. Nick saw his own ride round the corner and sighed. He needed a shower and then he needed to talk to David.

~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~NICKDAVID~~

Nick had finished getting dressed and was standing at his locker when David walked in at the end of shift.

"Hey Nick. I heard you guys did good today." Nick shrugged.

"We did alright, though I did meet some interesting people." David looked intrigued and came over to Nick's locker and sat down and watched as Nick slid on his watch on.

"Really. Who were they."

"A couple of LAPD guys." Nick watched out of the corner of his eye as David paled.

"CSI's" He asked. Nick shut his locker.

"Nah, they were cops. The funny thing was." Nick said leaning his shoulder on his locker and crossing his arms. "They asked me if I knew a David Hodges. I told them I did." David was silent for a few minutes.

"You know." He said. Nick looked at him confused.

"Know what?" David stood up angry.

"You know what I'm talking about." He exclaimed. "So what are you gonna do run off and tell everyone else." Nick could tell he was getting worked up. He began mumbling things to himself it wasn't until he caught the word transfer that he tried to calm David down.

"Whoa David. I'm not going to tell anybody anything." But David was in a full blown panic and didn't register that Nick was talking. He took a deep breath and reached out to David and pulled him close.

David was shocked speechless at the feel of Nick's arms around him, and their bodies pressed close together. Nick leaned down and pressed his lips to David's. David gasped and Nick took the opportunity to slip his tongue in David's mouth. David began to respond eagerly and the kiss grew more passionate. They continued kissing until they heard a throat being cleared behind them.

Nick kept his arms around David but pulled back enough to see around him. Catherine walked into the locker room and smiled at the two men.

"Hey Nicky, Hodges. The rest of us are heading out for breakfast. Do you guys want to join us?" Nicky pulled David close again.

"Sure, we will be right behind you guys." She nodded collected her purse from her locker and stepped out the door.

"Hey Cath. Did you find Nick?" They heard Warrick asked.

"Yeah. He's in the locker room making out with Hodges."

"Hodges." Warrick exclaimed. David closed his eyes and braced himself. "Well it's about damn time." David opened his eyes surprised and looked up at Nick.

"Awesome!" He heard Greg say. "Nicky's been trying to get David to notice him forever. I wanna see."

"Greg. Don't you dare!"

"Owwww. Let go of me Sara."

"No. Now let's give them some privacy." David heard there footsteps trail down the hallway. He looked at Nick and raised his eyebrows.

"Trying to get me forever." Nick rolled his eyes and David smirked.

"Don't get to full on yourself." David laughed, and Nick was mesmerized by the sight. "Andrew was right you do have killer eyes." David's face softened. "You also have gorgeously soft lips as well, but he isn't going to find that out."

"No?" David said hoarsely. Nick shook his head no and leaned down to capture David's lips in a slow tender kiss. As they pulled apart David rested his head on Nicky's shoulder.

"So you met Andrew and Cliff I take it."

"Yep. They want to come by and see you." David pulled Nick tighter and sighed.

"Maybe," He started tentatively "we can take them to dinner." Nick smiled.

"Sure, but I get you to myself first." David laughed again.

"You can have me any way you want me." He said.

"I hold you to that. " Nick reluctantly let go. "We better hurry up or they start without us. Okay" David nodded.

"Okay."