Fic: An Alien Virus
Author: Dee
Pairing: Gil Grissom/Nick Stokes
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Fluff
Disclaimer:Not mine, not now, not ever!

Gil was sitting in his office at work, taking a little respite from the daily grind ... actually a mound of paperwork. He'd done about three hours and had just fetched himself a mug of coffee. He was leaning back in his chair thinking, no; 'pondering' was a better word, he thought, or 'ruminating' on a matter that he'd been, well, 'ruminating' on for a week or so.

He and Nick had gone on their first real vacation since they'd been together ... four years now - and this vacation had been an anniversary gift from Gil to them both. Nick had been so excited ... it transpired he was a bit of a 'home boy' and apart from a few forays into Mexico he'd never been out of the States.

So, on the advice of a friend, Greg actually, who'd extolled the virtues of this place, they'd gone ahead and spent two absolutely fabulous weeks on the Greek island of Mykonos.

Greg had said that this particular island was 'gay' friendly and that gay men converged on it each summer to spend their vacation in a relaxed environment where their sexual orientation garnered no ill feeling or embarrassment. Gil had been perplexed at this statement ... he did realise that gay relationships could indeed bring out the worst in some sections of society and that gay bashing was a very real problem for some people ... but Gil and Nick had been lucky enough never to have encountered such bigotry.

It was this aspect that had Gil pondering now. Most, if not all, of the LVPD knew about Gil and Nick's relationship and they had never had to deal with any repercussions from it in their working environment. Gil wasn't naive enough to imagine that there wouldn't be gossip and speculation behind their backs ... but neither of them had had to deal with any confrontation because of their relationship. Gil was unendingly proud of LVPD for their stance in respect of same sex relationships and diversity as a whole. He knew it wasn't always the case; no matter how many laws or regulations were in place.

Outside of work, the vast majority of their admittedly fairly small numbers of friends were their co-workers anyway ... so they were used to them as a couple. Their other friends ... okay, Nick's friends, all seemed to take it in their stride ... so there was no problem or strain, or anything at all, to worry their status quo.

And that's how it had been ... until Mykonos.

Their first couple of days had been spent relaxing and recuperating from the arduous journey. They'd stayed close to their rooms and the beach to eat and drink and gradually let the atmosphere relax their weary bodies. When they decided to do a little exploring in Mykonos town it was the beginning of, what Gil labelled, another phase in their relationship.

They wandered the small streets and alleyways looking in the myriad boutiques at the goods, arty stuff, beautiful stuff, tacky stuff - the whole gamut! They were looking for a restaurant, no, 'taverna', to eat their evening meal. The choices were overwhelming but their stomachs were insisting on a speedy resolution. They both liked the look of the next one they saw and their predicament was solved. Pretty easy really because they tended to agree on most things!

They were seated at the front of the taverna looking out onto the busy thoroughfare between them and the beach and the Aegean Sea. They ordered a typically Greek meal and drank Mythos beers. They then settled back to people watch, Gil particularly loved to look at the evidence around him and see just what he could deduce from it. Nick's favourite people watching exercise was watching Gil, of course. He hadn't specifically told Gil this piece of information, but Gil had surmised that was the case since he himself spent a LOT of time watching Nick.

This was how their evening started, but it didn't take Gil long to notice something he wasn't used to seeing ... if fact their tzatziki hadn't even arrived! Gil noticed that the men strolling along the waterfront, specifically the men that formed couples, were strolling, some holding hands, others with arms around each other's waists and shoulders and a fair number of these couples would stop to exchange a kiss or caress before meandering on their way.

Gil wasn't exactly surprised at the behaviour, nor was he repulsed by it; actually he was JEALOUS! Not of the other men, he had Nick for goodness sake; no it was because they were partners or perhaps just dates for the evening and yet they felt quite happy and relaxed enough to display this affection toward each other in public..

He loved Nick, an understatement really, and he would touch and caress and kiss and cuddle and make love to Nick all day long, or whenever he could, but not in public, never in public. He was certain that he had never kissed Nick in front of anyone ... except when Nick had been in the hospital - and that was in desperation really and Catherine and Warrick had left the room immediately. In fact it was hugging and crying more than kissing, if he remembered rightly ... and unfortunately it was something he couldn't forget ... as much as he tried.

But the scenes before him were having a fairly profound effect on Gil ... so much so that he missed Nick trying to get his attention ... but he soon rectified that. In fact they had a wonderful meal, finishing with complimentary brandies. They chatted as they always did ... he marvelled at himself, for someone who had been the least vocal of men he'd suddenly found that he could chat to his heart's content about anything and everything with Nick. Nick paid their bill and they left the taverna to amble back to their rooms ... they weren't interested in the club scene and truth be told were still somewhat tired from the journey ... and they were very happy with their own company.

But, Gil was about to make a slight change in their relationship. As they walked from the taverna Gil slipped an arm around Nick's shoulder and pulled him closer. Nick stopped and looked enquiringly at Gil, with a delicious smirk on his handsome face, and said "So you noticed too?"

"It's difficult not to notice Nick, but when in Rome....." Gil smiled and his lips twitched at his response to Nick. Nick LOVED his little twitches.

So Nick put his arm around Gil's waist and snuggled closer and they sauntered back towards their rooms, but not without frequent pauses for a kiss or even a nibble at an ear lobe.

"Rome?"

Gil became suddenly aware that he was in his office and that his coffee was rapidly cooling. He took a gulp of said coffee and berated himself for daydreaming at work, he was quickly turning into a sap and he knew it. He didn't actually care though, and he chuckled as he thought of the life he had with Nick. He also promised himself to give this matter some more 'rumination'.

Work consumed them for a couple of shifts, killing sprees depressing them all at man's inhumanity towards his fellow man.

But, once it had quietened down Gil was again trying to contain his paperwork at a reasonable level. He didn't know why he bothered ... he always failed. And once again he was 'ruminating' on their recent vacation. Their unexpected closeness had continued for the rest of their vacation. They did trips to neighbouring islands and modified their behaviour accordingly but, on Mykonos' soil they could barely keep their hands to themselves.

The touching and closeness had abruptly ended the moment they flew from Mykonos to Athens, and then home. It wasn't that they weren't close, they were, and always had been, but the public touching stopped - dead. And now it was actually this little fact that Gil was pondering upon. He wasn't, hell, they weren't, ashamed of their relationship and they had very easily slipped into the more demonstrative mode ... but what if he decided to touch Nick a little more provocatively than just a hand glancing on his shoulder? Here at home. How would Nick react, how would everyone else react - he didn't know, but he felt sufficiently mischievous to find out and the sooner the better.

Without telling Nick, Gil was going to up the ante, and he was going to do it now, tonight, well as soon as he spied a suitable chance. He thought Nick would be very surprised but would forgive him his little experiment ... when he explained it to him ... because Nick always did forgive him his little experiments!

Gil buckled down to some serious file clearance, but the pile of paperwork was fixed, it would never dissipate. Whatever law governed paperwork and the perpetuating nature of the files on his desk was beyond the comprehension of the normally (extremely) intelligent criminalist!

So, when Gil's stomach made its demand for food known he made his way to the break room and his lunch stored in the refrigerator. Including Nick there were five people in the room and a spare seat at the top of the table next to Nick. With a glance at Nick, Gil took the seat and started to eat his food and mentally prepare his assault!

They'd mostly finished their food and were swapping anecdotes about odd ball scenes. Nick's left arm was rested on the table at right angles to Gil and he was using his right arm to animate his tale of muddy woe he'd endured a few days earlier. Gil slid his right hand onto the table and covered Nick's left hand with his and started to stroke the back of Nick's hand with his thumb.

The next seconds appeared to move in slow motion. It took about one second for Nick to notice the contact and swivel his head round so that his eyes met Gil's. His right arm stopped in mid animation, his eyes opened wide, his eyebrows shot up to his hair line and his mouth stopped its speech. As this happened all the other eyes followed Nick's to Gil's face and then followed Nick's eyes to the joined hands on the table.

Nick's eyes swivelled up to meet Gil's eyes again with an unasked question.

Gil replied with a smile and his endearing twitches. His eyes sparkled with merriment.

"Back to work then" Gil said and gave Nick's hand a tight squeeze and released it, stood up, tossed his trash and sauntered out of the break room.

Maybe ten seconds had elapsed but everyone in the room felt as if they had experienced a 'Kodak Moment', most especially Nick.

Hodges broke the spell almost immediately by pronouncing that "All this sitting around isn't getting the work done." And he exited the room.

It spurred them all into activity and Catherine into a fit of what sounded like evil chuckles, to Nick.

"Catherine don't, he may have suffered some sort of trauma, you don't know." Nick whined this and it only made Catherine laugh out loud.

"Now you know I'm not a betting man...." began Warrick and caught their attention, "....but I'm willing to lay a twenty on the fact that Grissom has been abducted by aliens and replaced by a pod person!"

They were all laughing, including Nick, who then held his hand up to quiet them, "I have a crime scene to investigate and a possible victim to question, so I'll grab my kit and make my way to the alien's office and process the evidence."

They renewed their laughter, having all thought that Nick was talking, initially, about a 'real' crime scene!

With all of them in good spirits they went about their business. Nick made his way to Gil's office. Naturally, Gil was expecting him, "Hey." He said.

"Hey right back; so, spill the beans, just what's your game man, this is a Mykonos experiment isn't it? Nick half asked, half stated.

"Very perceptive Nicky, I just got to thinking that after our vacation I may never touch you again publicly until our next vacation ... whenever that might be ... and I found that to be unacceptable. If we were a heterosexual couple working together no-one would question an affectionate hand squeeze over the table during a break......so I thought I'd give it a try." Gil leaned back in his chair as he spoke these words, addressing Nick in a semi-serious manner.

"Okayyyyy....but for you Gil there's some serious flaws in that argument. When you're on vacation, when anyone's on vacation they let their masks slip, they relax and very often do things out of the norm, but they belong in that context, the vacation context Gil, not in work mode. Then there's the fact that we ain't nowhere near being heterosexual Gil, we're gay and as acceptin' as everyone is with us it doesn't change the fact that we are gay and we should always......well....be aware.....is what I guess I'm saying. And last, but not least, a little forewarning would have been in order." Nick was assuming a lecture mode that was more appropriate to Gil and both of them knew it.

Gil looked up at his lover, and Nick knew the look well, it was of love and admiration and ownership. "Just when did you become the responsible one, Nicky?"

"I think it was 'bout the time the aliens siphoned off your brain and replaced it with sentimental slush. But, I ain't complainin'.....much. I think we should work on this and providin' you ain't gonna clear your desk, bend me over and...."

"Please do not put images like that in my newly acquired alien grey matter Nicky, it'll overload and explode ... ugh.....all that sentimental slush...it'll get everywhere!"

"Man, you're cruisin' for a bruisin', I've got work to do, Supervisor Sir, and I'll see you later ... share my truck home?" Nick blew an extravagant kiss in Gil's direction as he left the office.

And for the millionth time, at least, since they'd been together Gil was astounded at his good fortune to be so loved by this young(ish) man!

When they left the lab later that morning they walked across the lot to Nick's truck, Nick put his arm around Gil's waist and wriggled his fingers, tickling Gil and causing him to laugh out loud and squirm even closer to Nick.

Warrick looking over at this scene thought, 'I reckon I could make a killing on that bet, hell if they ain't both suffering from some sort of alien virus!"

The end