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Paper Hearts People looked for each other on every street, everyone searching for something.
Valentine's day was a frivolous commercial holiday Nick Stokes never went around celebrating; okay, that is until Greg Sanders came into his life and the CSI's outlook towards the whole thing changed completely… sort of,… not really.
It was enough that in these sort of events and whatnot he was either working on a case during a shift or too tired afterwards to actually be in the mood of things, and his lack of enthusiasm towards the whole thing didn't help either, only fueled his resentment for the former.
But Greg was, well… Greg and he liked celebrating these sorts of occasion, and Nick felt more than knew that things were going to be a little different this year with the spiky haired blond to bring some sunshine into his apathy.
It wasn't that Nick really hated the idea of sappy love letters and balloons, that or boxes of chocolate or bouquets of roses—it was just that ever since he'd gotten into this job, he'd long gotten used to not having a date on the day especially since the women he usually went out with didn't last long enough to stick for the occasion.
Nick credited his short-term relationships to his grueling schedule, also not forgetting his crap luck at romance.
The frequent lack of such though—preferably a date—made the CSI a touch sulky, ignorant of said holiday because even if the whole world had been bitten by the love bug everything else was pretty much the same to him; except that all around him flippant, giddy couples held hands and showed their affection publicly. Whatever they did though did not change the fact that he was still and would always be dateless Nick Stokes.
But this is the real thing though; this thing with Greg. For the first time since his being a CSI, he actually had someone to hang around and be sappy with, something, which Nick knew if he'd admit out loud would just make Greg tease him about it relentlessly.
Valentine's Day with Greg called for some degree of being exceptional and maybe a little frivolity as Nick would like to say, because he really wanted the guy to feel important, wanted even.
Which lead to the problem at hand. Nick Stokes was a hapless, nonromantic. Truth be told, he really didn't know where the hell his ladies' man image came from but he didn't mind either way. He was exceptionally nice with the ladies, hell maybe even a little smooth but romantic? You can cross that one out. Except that now things have gotten so out of hand, the image stuck and Nick had to live with it—at least to show Greg he was a gentleman anyway.
He knew trying to buy one of those Valentine's Day greeting cards would just be silly, and it still made him feel a little strange in a way, as he was unaccustomed to doing so. He'd always thought of them as clichéd anyway, then again now that he thought about it the whole affair was a cliché per se. Anyway what bothered the Texan wasn't the triviality of he given celebration—and he didn't even question his lack of endearment towards the whole event either— but why everybody else was so pressed, intent on celebrating it.
Nick didn't want to bother explaining all of this to Greg though, in fear of disappointing the younger man. Whatever pathetic Valentine's Day gimmick he'd have up his sleeve or lack thereof might even add to Greg's unhappiness. Greg unhappy made Nick feel a lot guilty.
Anyway, so it was Valentine's day the next day, and pretty soon the Texan would have to find some pathetic excuse to miss it, or either celebrate it for Greg's sake and one way or the other he needed to do something—fast.
So that was how he found himself in the break room — moments after handing Greg some stuff to process and the blond made a comment about the day that it shall be the next day— alone but glad for some privacy (well scant anyway); the noise of people dissipating into fine blurs of sound and clatter as he tapped his pain impatiently against the table. He sat silent, and every now and then he drew out bouts of air.
That had been the state in which Grissom had found him in, and Nick had to disguise the embarrassment he felt as the older man eyed him curiously. Grissom poured himself a cup of coffee, and in one fluid movement strode towards the door.
Nick let out a sigh of relief but not too long had passed till Grissom thought the better and returned before he'd fully left the confines of the break room.
"Valentine's Day problems?" He asked, poking his head into the doorway. Nick grinned thoughtlessly at the blush creeping into the back of his neck.
He hid the medium sized piece of red paper under his arm, as well as the blue pair of scissors he'd gotten from the apartment.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"What're you talking about?" Nick tried to sound innocent but failed miserably. Grissom gave him one of those looks and he succumbed anyway because he was all out of ideas, though he kicked himself mentally for that.
"I'll be working double shifts."
"And?" Grissom raised a brow as he brought the cup to his lips. Nick thought it unnerved him a little bit how his boss knew everything. Though he'd been working with the guy for years, it still felt a little… creepy.
"You see this girl," Nick began uneasily. "I'd be uhm… meeting up with… her for … for breakfast tomorrow and I wanted to surprise her with something. And usually I don't celebrate this whole Valentine's Day thing but this girl's special, you know? But the only draw back is that she's the type to indulge in these sort of things so really, I gotta give the little lady something. Don't want to let her down and all that."
Grissom noted how Nick stumbled on the word 'girl' but made no move to point that out. Instead he sighed and pulled a chair across Nick. He was quiet for a moment and Nick actually thought he'd fall asleep then and there—it was half past eleven, you see— but he stopped his eyelids from fluttering close and blinked.
"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved—for ourselves or rather, in spite of ourselves."
Nick hated the way Grissom tended to be so cryptic at times. "O-okay…"
"This 'girl' of yours," Nick winced audibly. "She believes in Valentine's Day simply because she believes in the passion that specific day can evoke. Chocolates, Bouquets and cards—these things mean a lot to her as to other people. And you think that you're more than sure she's received lots of little gifts and presents that she piles in neat stacks in her closet every year."
Nick nodded.
"You want something less clichéd and commercial, right?"
Nick nodded once more.
"Write."
"Excuse me?"
"Write." Grissom said plainly. "How do you think Robert Browning made his wife Elizabeth swoon?"
"Well, I'm not really sure how," Nick began. "but either way I can't write poetry if that's what you mean. I suck at it!"
"You'll never know, Nicky." Grissom smirked as he let the hot liquid scald his throat. He nodded firmly towards the red paper Nick had forgotten to hide somewhere along the way and left the break room.
"That was some help." Nick said to himself.
"Hey, watcha doin' man?" It was Warrick this time and before the guy could get a word out of him, Nick made his way towards the locker room.
He felt a little silly, but he only had ten minutes tops and his break was over. So he followed Grissom's advice—the guy practically knew the answers to everything. Drama, philosophy, poetry and more importantly, life.
So Nick took a pen, scribbled a few lines onto a piece of paper and prayed to God that Greg wouldn't laugh at him in the face when he'd read it.
***
Greg was staring at the printer, watching in detached fascination as it printed—as was customarily its use— the DNA matches to Nick's current case. He glanced down at the clock that read 12:25. officially, it was February 14, which meant it Valentine's Day.
He'd made a thoughtless comment earlier about getting Nick something and Nick just looked at him long for a moment before disappearing. Greg thought maybe he'd pushed too far. Things with the Texan was just beginning and he'd hate to have it end so soon.
As he swept the desk with his gaze, he eyed something that wasn't supposed to be there at all. A clumsily-cut red card was placed neatly onto a stack of papers, like it belonged there for some reason.
Greg picked it up, flipped it over and red the familiar handwriting in black pen. It was a bit hurried but if he squinted enough he could make out the words:
I need so much
The quiet of your love
After the day's loud strife,
I need your calm
All other things above
after the stress of life.
I crave the haven that
In your dear heart lies,
After the toil is done,
I need the starshine
of your heavenly eyes
After the day's great sun.
Greg could only gape. And when seconds later Nick walked towards the door, clamoring for his evidence, he could only blink up at the man… and then blink mutely some more.
"D'you… did you?" he brought up the heart.
Nick averted his gaze and then nodded. "It was kind of a last minute thing, so sorry if it's crappy."
"Look, Nick about my comment earlier I was just kidding."
But part of Greg knew he wasn't. Nick watched as Greg put down the heart shape card, his hands starting to shake. The Texan almost worried himself there for a second, thinking that maybe the tremors from the explosion started to come back again, but when Greg tiptoed towards him and gave him a long kiss—he stopped the thought there.
"It didn't suck did it?" Nick asked abruptly, clasping Greg's wrist.
Greg shook his head and flushed. "It was nice."
"Well in that case—Happy Valentine's Day then."
Greg smiled a smile that lit up his face. "And same to you."
"Oh just so you'd know," Nick began before Greg closed the space between them and laced his arms around his broad shoulders. "I just followed Grissom's advice."
"I love you." Greg whispered, ignoring what Nick said. " Now kiss me."
"We're at work." Nick and his issues. Greg had to laugh at that.
"Well, we kissed earlier." Greg responded, but at that Nick grinned and shrugged.
"Good point."
fin