I don't anything, this is just my version of what went on during and after 'Grave Danger' relating to Nick and Greg's relationship.


Greg Sanders laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling above him. He was unable to sleep because his mind wouldn't stop thinking and analyzing every little thing that had been said or done in the last two months. He knew he was probably over reacting, but that didn't ease his mind. It also wouldn't let him fall asleep, because when he did he only dreamt about what was worrying him. Those nightmares had been some of the worst he has ever had, and he preferred not to have them if it wasn't necessary. Sleep wasn't that important to him anymore.

What was important was his strained relationship with his boyfriend of two years. Ever since Conrad Ecklie decided to split up the graveyard team, Greg's relationship with Nick Stokes had slowly began to fall apart. They barely ever saw each other, and when they did they were both too tired to do anything other than sleep. Being on different shifts was extremely difficult and was just adding to the stress that they were already under before the split. Greg becoming a CSI had been part of the reason because it made Nick extremely worried about him despite how proud he was of him. But other than that, Greg didn't know why all of a sudden it seemed like they were nothing more than roomates.

Greg sighed and rolled over onto his side. He tried to close his eyes and get some rest, but sleep relented to come. There was still that awful thought lingering in his mind that wouldn't go away no matter how hard he tried. And the more he thought about it, the more he believed it could be true.

Greg thought that Nick was cheating on him.

The ex-lab rat's suspicion arose a few weeks after the team had been split up. Nick was acting weird and seemed to be walking on egg shells around Greg. He would came home later from work than he usually did and seemed to be avoiding Greg the few times they were in the lab at the same time. On his days off Nick would either go into the lab 'to do paperwork' or would be too tired to hang out with Greg like they used to do. A few times Nick had come home smelling of smoke and alcohol, which was very uncharacteristic of him. Their sex life seemed to be dwindling away as well. Nick was either not in the mood or too tired all the time.

Then this morning Greg had found the credit card receipt from a hotel room for a one night that Nick had paid for. Greg hadn't gone with him. Nick hadn't even mentioned it to him. The more Greg began to piece things together, the more he began to accept the fact that what he had with Nick was too good to be true. Tears stung his eyes, so he squeezed them shut tightly and tried not to think about his worst fear.

He was so concentrated on thinking about anything other than Nick with some other guy, or even a women, that he hadn't heard the front door open and close or the foot steps padding into the bedroom. Greg wasn't aware of Nick's presence until the other man had climbed into their bed behind him and wrapped his arms around Greg's waist. The younger man kept his eyes shut so that Nick wouldn't see that he was crying. But when the Texan kissed his cheek lightly, he tasted the tears and instantly sat up, rolling Greg onto his back in the process.

"What's wrong?" He asked quietly.

Greg opened his eyes and smiled sadly up at Nick. "Nothing, I'm fine."

"No, you're clearly not." Nick brushed away the stray tears remaining underneath Greg's dark brown eyes. "What's the matter?"

"Do you think I should go back to being a DNA tech?" Greg asked.

The question surprised Nick. "No." He said as he shook his head. "You love being a CSI, and you're really good at it. Why would you want to go back in the lab?"

"So I could see you more." Greg answered.

Nick sighed. "That'd be great...but I can't let you do that because I know that's not really what you want. It'll get easier, and I bet soon enough Grissom will get us all back together. Don't worry, everything will be okay."

Greg took Nick wanting him to stay a CSI as Nick wanting to see less of him so he could keep cheating on him. Greg was extremely tired and not thinking as clearly as he normally did. That's why he spoke out without thinking about it first.

"Are you cheating on me?" He asked suddenly.

Nick visibly flinched at that question. He stared down at Greg blanky, unsure that he had understood him correctly.

"Are you cheating on me?" Greg repeated when he didn't get an answer.

Nick shook his head slowly. "Of course not. Why the hell would you think so?"

"Because I never see you anymore, we haven't had sex in a long time, you come home smelling like smoke and Jack Daniel's and got a hotel room for one night when I thought you were working late. It just makes sense I guess...I wouldn't really blame you. I just wanna know the truth."

Nick was still shaking his head. "I would never, ever do that to you. I...don't even know what to say. That hotel room wasn't for me, it was for Warrick. He got in a fight with Tina and didn't wanna go home and was low on cash so I helped him out. As for everything else, I guess it's just cuz I'm as stressed and pissed as you at this shift change. I would never cheat on you G."

More tears started to fall from Greg's eyes. "I'm sorry...I just wish that we cou-"

Greg was cut off by Nick's lips being pressed to his own. Nick kissed him softly and slowly before pulling back slightly and looking Greg directly in the eyes.

"I know this has been tough. But we can get through it, okay?"

Greg nodded slowly and pulled Nick down for another slow, deep kiss.


Even though Greg believed that Nick wasn't cheating on him, things still weren't getting better. They had started fighting over stupid little things. What should have been play fights turned into full out arguments that they had never had before. Greg became increasingly worried every day, and Nick didn't seem to care or notice at all.

Then one night, they just fell apart.

Nick came home from work on a night that Greg had off. The Texan walked through the door slowly and looked like he had had a rough night. He didn't even ackknowledge Greg sitting on the couch. He just walked by him and into the bedroom. He returned a few minutes later after he had changed into basketball shorts and a t-shirt. He sat down heavily on the couch next to Greg, but looked at the TV instead of his boyfriend.

"Rough night at work?" Greg asked.

Nick merely nodded.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Nick shook his head silently.

"Okay...sorry I asked."

Nick's head snapped over and faced in Greg's direction. "Don't be sorry because you don't understand what's wrong. You would never understand, but it's not your fault. I just don't wanna talk about it."

"I was just trying to help." Greg said, mad at the reaction he had gotten from Nick.

"You can't help. Nothing can help this. I had almost forgotten about it too..."

Greg carefully placed his hand on Nick's arm. "How do you know if you don't give it a shot? Talking about it might help."

Nick jerked his arm away and stood up off the couch. "Talking about it only makes me sick to my stomach. You wouldn't get it, and I don't want you to even have to try. Just drop it, okay?"

But Greg wasn't giving up too easily. He dropped the current subject, but only to start another one. "It's not really about that though, is it." He said more than asked.

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked as he walked around the couch and into the kitchen.

Greg followed. "All we've been doing recently is fighting. You either haven't noticed or don't care...but I bet you realize it now. What's going on with us Nick?"

"I don't know." Nick said as he shook his head.

"Why isn't it like it used to be? It's not even like we're dating anymore."

Nick held up his hands. "I'm doing my best...it's just extremely hard to keep this relationship working Greg."

"But it's worth it, right?"

Nick didn't answer directly. "We need to do something about it."

Greg nodded in agreement. "What should we do?"

"I don't want us to end up hating each other. I love you more than anything...but this is scaring me. We shouldn't be like this. I don't wanna fuck this up like I do with everything else. Maybe we should...take a break."

Greg felt his heart sink at that statement. "O-okay...if that's what you want."

"I think it'd be for the best, don't you?"

Greg shrugged. "I guess." He said weakly.

Nick didn't know what to do next. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Greg, who did the same. They stayed like that for what seemed like only seconds before Nick softly kissed Greg's neck and pulled away. He walked out of the kitchen, then out of the house altogether, leaving Greg standing in the kitchen alone.

His tears returned as soon as he heard the front door close behind Nick.


It had been two weeks since Nick and Greg had somewhat mutually decided to take a break. Nick rented a small apartment not far from the house he had shared with Greg. Even though it had been Nick's house Greg had moved in to a year into their relationship, Nick let Greg stay there and moved some of his stuff out.

The more nights he spent alone, the more Greg wished they had tried to work things out than just taking a break. Spending time away from each other like this could end up in a break up, and Greg definitely didn't want that at all. He was scared about what was going to happen, but pretended to be okay because that's how Nick seemed to be doing.

A couple nights a week Nick would call Greg when he couldn't sleep, and Greg would end up driving over to Nick's new apartment. They'd talk for a little while about anything other than work and their relationship, then they would end up having sex. When Greg would wake up, he'd be alone in the apartment that he wasn't sharing with Nick. So he'd get his stuff and drive himself home.

Even though they weren't together, they still fought just as much as they had before.

This night was no exception.

Greg had been on the phone with Nick for over two hours, but had yet offered to come over. He hated feeling used and promised himself not to let it happen again, but Nick didn't seem to understand that.

"This is working out better than what we were before." Nick tried to reason.

"You just like it because we talk a bit then fuck and then you don't have to see me anymore until you wanna get laid again."

"That's not true and you know it. I'm not trying to hurt you G."

Greg wanted to slam the phone on his nightstand, but refrained from doing so. "But you are. I guess I can't be mad at you for hurting me over and over again because I keep letting you."

"Isn't this better than nothing?"

"It's not better than what we had before. Why can't we go back to how things were before?"

"I don't know." Nick whispered. "I don't know what happened or how to fix it. Maybe this was never meant to work out."

"You're just gonna give up?" Greg asked.

"I'm not saying that. I love you, you know that."

Greg closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto his pillows that still smelled like Nick. "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

They were silent for a long time before Nick spoke again. "What do you want me to do?"

"Fix it. Fix us. I don't care how...just please fix everything."

At the time, Greg didn't know what was in store for Nick. He didn't know what was going to happen to the man he was desperately in love with. He didn't know that it would potentially get him what he wanted, or destory them both altogether.


Next chapter will be up soon. Reviews always welcomed.