A/N: Wish I owned them, but I don't. Well, here it is, the end of Season 11. Not much Nick and Greg tonight, so hopefully this fills in some. :)
Twisted
Considering he'd been up for twenty-four plus hours, Nick Stokes thought he'd have been able to slip instantly into sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. That wasn't the case. The events of the past day and a half ran through his brain on a continuous loop, and he found himself unable to shut it down, even as his body cried out desperately for rest.
As his husband, Greg Sanders, shifted against him, Nick subconsciously tightened his hold on the younger man.
"Can't sleep?" Greg asked sleepily, making Nick feel guilty for robbing the other man of his own much needed sleep. Neither of them had gotten any sleep in the day and a half since David Hodges had called Greg in a panic because their coworker, Ray Langston, had disappeared.
After spending hours processing the house and the surrounding property where Ray had killed Nate Haskall in self-defense – that Nick suspected was fueled by at least some rage – the two men were overwhelmingly grateful when their babysitter, Mrs. Fitzgerald, had told them she'd keep baby Maria for a few extra hours. Now, neither of them was getting any of the sleep they thought they'd be able to catch up on.
"Everything just keeps replaying in my head. I-" Nick couldn't seem to find the words to articulate what he was feeling.
Propping himself up on an elbow, Greg leaned over Nick, their eyes meeting in the darkness of their room. "Nicky, if Grissom were here, he'd tell us that evidence doesn't lie. All of the evidence in that house pointed to Ray killing Haskall in self-defense. Any of us would have done the same thing."
Gazing up into Greg's eyes, Nick had to wonder at the younger man's naivete. Having processed Ray, and then seeing the condition of Haskall's body, Nick knew Ray had given into his rage. The events of the past few days had left no doubt in Nick's mind that Ray was still in love with his ex-wife. To see her broken and bloodied, and know that it was because of Haskall's twisted need to draw Ray into his mind, had driven Ray over the edge.
If it had been Greg that Haskall had taken, Nick knew that he would have probably done even worse than what Ray had done to Haskall. He supposed what bothered him the most wasn't the fact that he'd happily have torn Haskall apart himself, but the fact that he was nearly positive Ray had, and he had still signed off on the report. He even suspected that Catherine and Brass knew more about what went down in that house than they were saying.
Maybe Greg was right, and it was time to hang up the gun and badge.
"Nicky?" Greg's prompt made Nick realize he'd been quiet for far too long.
"You're right," Nick sighed tiredly.
The need to sere the events of the past hours from his brain had him flipping Greg so their positions were reversed. Nick was now poised over Greg, dipping his head to nip at the skin of Greg's neck.
Even though they were both clearly exhausted, Nick felt Greg stir, not willing to deny Nick what he needed.
Greg's fingers tangled in his hair, and he felt Greg tugging gently, pulling him up for a kiss.
After making slow, gentle love, while laying tangled up in each other, just about to drop off to sleep, Nick said, "I'm going to call UNLV tomorrow."
"Okay," was Greg's quiet response, as he reassuringly squeezed Nick's hip, where his hand rested on it.