Title: Untitled
By: Caroline Crane
Pairing: Nick/Greg

Nick knows Greg's fine. He saw him at the lab after it happened, even managed to steal a few minutes to make sure he wasn't freaking out over finding that poor kid before they both had to get back to their respective cases. But he doesn't like not being there all the time, and he really doesn't like it on the nights Greg gets shot at.

So he's waiting up when Greg gets home, not even trying to pretend that he hasn't been staring at the door and counting the minutes. Greg doesn't look surprised – exhausted and still a little somber, but not really surprised – and when he drops his bag next to the couch and sinks onto the cushions Nick's glad he waited up.

And it's only been a few hours since they were hanging out in the break room, laughing about some dumb joke with Warrick during a lull in the night shift. But obviously the lull didn't last long, because Greg looks like he's ready to pass out. "You get another case?"

"Yeah," Greg answers, reaching up to run a hand over his face. "Double homicide, no leads. More gang-bangers, but at least they weren't kids this time."

More gang-bangers. Which means more opportunities for Greg to get shot at. And Nick knows it's part of the job, knows it wouldn't have made any difference if he'd been working the case with Greg. But he still finds himself resisting the urge to check for damage, to run his hands over every inch of Greg until he can believe that Greg's okay.

He thought working different shifts would be no big deal, because they'd still see each other and it wasn't like Grissom ever let them work the same cases when they were both night shift. In fact, working different shifts was better for their relationship, because Ecklie couldn't complain about fraternization if they weren't on the same team. But that doesn't make it any easier to sit up after a long shift and wait to see if Greg makes it home in one piece, and it doesn't make it any easier to leave for work while Greg's still fast asleep in their bed.

He knows there's no reason to worry, but that doesn't stop him. It doesn't stop him from noticing that Greg's a lot more tired than he used to be, that he smiles less easily and he's always just a little on edge, like he's scared he's going to screw up and this time there won't be a lab job to send him back to. Nick's pretty sure he doesn't realize how nervous he seems, so he doesn't bring it up. Instead he does whatever he can to distract Greg, to get him to let his guard down even for a few minutes.

Like now, when Greg glances over at him like he's just realizing that Nick's sitting here. "What are you doing awake, anyway?"

"Waiting for you," Nick answers without hesitation, reaching over to run a hand through Greg's hair. "Figured we could go to bed together for once."

"But you're working tomorrow."

Nick shrugs and moves a little closer, hand sliding down Greg's back over his shirt, across scars he's had memorized for a year now and he still can't believe it's been that long. "So I'll drink more coffee than usual. Won't be the first time I've worked on no sleep."

That gets him a grin, small but familiar and Nick's heart skips a beat at the sight. "The coffee on swing shift sucks."

"Tell me about it," Nick says, and that's the closest he's getting to admitting how much he misses Greg's coffee. How spoiled he let himself get, because he used to drink just about anything but a year of waking up to Greg's coffee spoiled him for anything the county will pay for.

His hand's resting against the small of Greg's back, thumb moving in slow circles and Greg lets out a low 'hmm' and arches into the sensation. It brings him even closer to Nick, close enough for him to smell hair gel and chemicals and Greg. Nick breathes in deep, leaning forward and sliding his other hand around Greg's neck to pull him forward.

"If you're good I'll tell you where I hide my stash," Greg murmurs against his mouth, laughing wearily when Nick pulls back far enough to glare at him.

"You mean you've been holding out on me?"

"I just wanted to make sure you missed me."

Nick rolls his eyes at that and leans forward, lips pressed against Greg's for a slow kiss before he pulls back again. "Trust me, G, I miss you. Come to bed and I'll show you how much."

That's all it takes to get Greg off the couch, suddenly a lot more awake than he was a few minutes ago, and when he pulls Nick to his feet and shoves him toward the bedroom Nick can almost forget that in a few hours he has to leave Greg all over again.