Hey, guys, starting a new multiple chapter story for you all to enjoy! I hope you'll all like it!
Oh, and I started writing this story already before the last S15 CSI episode, so Nick is still in this chapter.

Chapter 1

Except for the obvious fact that she always liked to watch him, Morgan had been watching Greg for another reason this time. Ever since she had walked into the breakroom he had been staring at a letter in his hands. He had barely greeted her, he hadn't looked up, he hadn't even smiled at her like he always did! At first Morgan had thought it was because the letter contained bad news, but then she had figured it couldn't be that bad or he would have said something or at least shown more emotions.

"That must be one interesting letter," she finally said.

"Huh?" Greg looked up. It seemed like he only realized now she was there. She gave him a quick smile. "Don't tell you didn't notice me coming in!"

"Actually I didn't," he confessed. She pretended to be offended. "You? Not noticing me coming in? Ouch!"

To her relief he grinned at her.

"I'm sorry, I will look at you twice as long the next time I see you!" he promised her with a smile. She grinned back at him. "I'm sure that'll be quite the sacrifice for you! Now, tell me about the letter! Bad news?"

"Well… I guess not, although to me it is," he said, which caused her to give him a confused look. "That is one interesting letter!"

He grinned at her again. "No, don't worry! You see, it's my parents' anniversary next month. They wanna celebrate it by bringing the whole family together: me, my father's brother and his sons, my mother's sister and her husband… Like one big happy family…"

"Sounds like they can easily count you out," Morgan understood with a little smile.

"Oh, yeah!" Greg sighed. "My mother's sister and her husband are okay, but my cousins… One of them is called Jerke, he actually inspired me to solve a case once… Sara called him 'Jerker' then, but that actually describes him and his brothers very well, if you know what I mean!"

Morgan nodded to reassure him. "I know what you mean. And I also kinda get why you don't wanna go…"

Greg shrugged his shoulders. "It may be stupid, but I really don't wanna face them. They always make me feel like… like I'm wasting my life, that I'm not good at anything. And mostly they make me feel bad because I don't even have a girlfriend! Jerke is married and his brothers have one girlfriend after the other! Me, I can't even remember the last time I had a date!"

"What about that time we went out for a beer together?" Morgan softly said. She knew Greg had called it 'Taking a friend out for a beer', but to her it had definitely been a date!

Greg looked at her. After a moment of silence he said: "Okay, so I can remember the last time I went out on a date, but it still doesn't change the situation!"

Morgan tried to hide a happy smile. He had agreed on that morning being a date, that had to mean something! Of course it means something, you silly, you know he likes you, she reminded herself. She quickly shook the thought out of her head and leaned in a little closer. "Look, if you really don't wanna go, why don't you blame Russell? Tell your parents you can't get any time off…"

Greg shook his head. "No, I'll have to go, even if I have to quit my job for it! I'm their only child, they'll never accept me not coming! If I tell them Russell won't give me any days off, they'll probably call him and agree on a new date together with him!"

Morgan leaned back in her chair. Before she could come up with a new idea, Henry appeared in the doorway. "Eh, Greg, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've texted you a couple of times already that I had your results… I thought you wanted them as soon as I had them?"

"Oh, yeah…" Greg obviously had forgotten all about his case after reading the letter. He got up and smiled at Morgan. "Thanks for trying to help me, but I don't think this is one you can help me with…"

He left the breakroom with Henry. Morgan watched the now empty hallway for a while, deeply lost in thoughts. Greg's words echoed in her head: I don't think this is one you can help me with… Why not? There had to be something she could do! The only question was what…

While scanning fingerprints into the computer – a job that didn't require much attention as she didn't need to do any comparing yet – she kept thinking about it. Greg was obviously mostly bothered with the fact that he had to face his cousins without a girlfriend. If they were as bad as Greg had made them sound, they probably wouldn't be impressed by all the cases he had solved.

Finally, by the time shift was nearly over, she had thought of something. She quickly locked away the evidence, logged off from her computer and went to find Greg. He was standing in the hallway talking to Nick, but as soon as he saw her, he smiled at her.

"I'll catch you later, man," Nick immediately took the hint. He went into the locker room, grabbed his things and left. Greg waited till he had disappeared from sight before he looked at Morgan with his eyebrows raised up high. "You look like you've got something on your mind!"

"Oh, yes!" she said with a huge smile on her face. "You remember how you told me that you hated having to face your cousins without a girlfriend? Well, what if I pretend to be your girlfriend when you meet them?"

To her surprise Greg didn't react as enthusiastic as she had hoped he would.

"I'm not sure lying to them is such a good idea," he said a little hesitantly. "They'll have an entire week to ask questions and all, it'll be far too risky!"

"An entire week?" she repeated. "I thought it was just dinner or a day of activities at the most…"

"No, didn't I tell you?" Greg got the letter from his locker and showed it to her. "My parents wanna bring the whole family to Florida for a week. They're going to rent two vacation homes where we'll be staying and they wanna at least go to Walt Disney World one day, also because Jerke's kids will love it. Did I really not tell you about that?"

"No, you forgot to mention that part…" she said with a little, awkward smile.

"Oh… Sorry…" Greg grinned a little. "I must have forgotten because I was thinking about having to face my cousins… Thanks for trying to help me, but I don't wanna solve my problem with lying."

He fell silent for a moment, then he suddenly said: "Unless…"

Morgan's heart immediately jumped up. Unless you actually are my girlfriend… She could already hear him say it. Come on, just say it, she begged him in her head.

"Unless of course you wanna come anyway, as a friend," Greg finished his sentence. Morgan's heart dropped. That was not what she had wanted to hear! Then again, when he had asked her out he had said he wanted to take a friend out for a beer and just hours earlier he had agreed with her on it being a real date…

"What?" Greg said, noticing the disappointed look Morgan had been unable to hide. "You don't wanna come to Florida with me? No, let me rephrase that: you don't wanna come on a free trip to Florida with me? My parents are paying for everything…"

She smiled at him, trying to hide her disappointment about the word friend a little better. "Of course I wanna come to Florida with you. And I don't care about the money. If necessary, I'll be happy to pay for my own flight and stay."

"Great, I'll go call my parents and tell them I'm bringing a date!" he smiled happily at her. "I'll let you know when I know all the details, see you tomorrow!"

"See you tomorrow," she repeated as he had already left the breakroom. Heaving a deep sigh she leaned backwards against the lockers. How was it possible for a guy to confuse her this much? First going to Florida with him as a friend and then telling his parents about bringing a date… Why couldn't he just be honest about his feelings for her? Because she was sure that he had them, but that he was just too shy to admit them. Then again, so are you, she reminded herself. You're not saying anything either, you're just dropping hints that he won't pick up because he's too shy!

"Great," she murmured to herself. Like this, they were never going to get anywhere! Then she realized something else: being away from Las Vegas might be the perfect opportunity to let him know how she felt or to get him to admit his feelings for her… With a smile she closed her locker door. Friend or a date, after Florida there'd be no question about it anymore, she decided. She'd actually be his girlfriend!