Trapped

One-Shot

Author: Lolly4Holly

Pairing: Nick/Greg pre-slash

Summary: Something unexpected happens while the CSI boys are trapped in the morgue during a city wide black out.

Thank you for reading, please review!

"No, I can't stay in here anymore."

Grabbing the jammed door to the morgue, the younger man rattled it in every direction he could, trying to break it open, but it was completely useless. They had been trapped in the morgue for nearly four hours now with no power or way of communicating with the outside world. He cursed the people that installed the stupid magnetic locks to the morgue, trying to keep the dead bodies in. They were great at doing that, but during a power outage, it made it impossible to get in or out.

"Greg, Greg..." Sensing he was going to start freaking out again, the Texan trapped in the room with him grabbed one of the bottles of water they found, trying to get him to sit down and take slow sips. "We'll get out of here as soon as the power comes back on. It can't be much longer."

"You said that an hour ago." Greg held the cold bottle of water to his forehead, reluctantly taking a seat on the cold metal table. He felt a shiver running down his spine as he thought of all the bodies that had been laying on this table or even the bodies that were locked up in the cold vaults just behind them. "I freaking hate you, Nick. If it wasn't for you and your need to be thorough, we wouldn't have even been down here."

"Maybe." Nick wiped the sweat from his forehead, trying to keep himself calm while the younger man was freaking out. He tried the door himself, trying to see through the window into the darkened hallway, but he couldn't see anything. "Somebody has gotta come down here eventually."

"I'm pretty sure you said that an hour ago too." He set the bottle on the table beside him, feeling his t-shirt sticking to him from the heat. "I never thought I'd die in a morgue."

"You're not goin' to die. The air conditionin' just went out with the power. If you try and stay calm, you won't even feel it." Nick stayed by the door, trying to see if there were any lights on in the office down the hall. He couldn't even see the flicker of a flashlight, so there couldn't have been anyone inside. "Isn't there a cargo bay door down here somewhere?"

"Opposite hallway, behind David's office. They wheel all the bodies in there from the truck." Greg answered, holding his head in his hands as he watched the older man searching around for something. He didn't know what he was doing, but he knew it was useless. "What are you doing?" He finally slid off the table, joining Nick to search through the drawers. "A saw? You can't use it, we need power."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." He sarcastically remarked, ditching it on the side. "If we can get one of these doors open, we can go straight out the doors out there." Nick unbuttoned a few buttons to his shirt, starting to feel more than a little claustrophobic now. He slid down the sealed door, taking a seat on the floor. He felt Greg's arm brush against his a moment later, giving the younger man a smile as he took as seat beside him.

"Are you okay?" Greg realised that this couldn't have been easy for him, especially after being trapped six feet under ground in a Plexiglas coffin just a few months ago.

"I'm fine." He forced a smile, placing his hands on his knees. "At least I'm not alone this time."

"Yeah, there's six or seven bodies defrosting in the freezer." The man sarcastically remarked, handing his bottle of water over to Nick. "My first day on the job, I had nightmares about this room. Blood sucking zombies and I was trapped just like this. Doc Robbins was this mad scientist, trying to hack me open to pull out my body parts."

Nick smiled at him, taking a small sip from the water bottle. "I had that same dream. I was on the table and I could see the Doc and my father, along with all my organs he was pullin' out of me. I had it when I was in the coffin, probably the heat gettin' to my brain, but it was slightly less terrifyin' then my reality."

Greg had no idea what it was like to be trapped like that, so he agreed that it would have been slightly less terrifying than the real thing. "I had one sexual dream about this room too. It was boiling, just like this, but the table I was lying on was freezing." He wiped his hand across his sticky forehead, looking up at the ventilation system in the ceiling. He wished that it would just turn on for a second, but it gave him a sudden idea. "Where does that lead?"

"What? The vent. I guess it goes all over." Nick shrugged his shoulders, giving the younger man a curious look as he suddenly sprang to his feet. He kicked the brake off the metal table in the middle of the room, dragging it to where he needed it, before he climbed on top. "You're gonna end up hurtin' yourself, G."

"Powers out. The vents not on." Steadying himself on the table, Greg straightened up, pushing the ceiling up to find a loose panel. He could see all the pipes and electrical wires inside, along with the enclosed tube of the ventilation system that he really didn't want to crawl inside. "Hey, give me a boost." He looked at Nick still sat on the floor, giving out a groan as the man stayed put. "C'mon Nicky, I could get out into the hall. Help me up."

Giving out a sigh, Nick pushed himself to his feet, kicking the brake back into place. He gave the table a wiggle to make sure, before he climbed up beside the younger man. "Why can't I go?" He didn't want to be left alone in the morgue, especially not in the dark and blistering heat.

"You wonna go, be my guest." Greg slid the ceiling tile out of the way, giving him a better view of the very dark, tight crawl space above them. He could see the fear written all over Nick's face, realising he was their only hope. "I didn't think so. C'mon, give me a boost." He ushered him closer, steadying himself as Nick gave him a boost into the small crawl space above them. It was a tight squeeze, but he just about managed to fit, commando crawling beside the pipes and the ventilation system.

"Greg..." Looking up at the ceiling, Nick tried to guess where he was from the wobbling of the tiles above him. He followed him as best he could, curiously asking, "Who was with you in the dream?"

"The sexual fantasy one?" Greg reached a dead end, stopping a moment to try and breathe in the thick dusty air. "Would you be surprised if I told you it was a guy?"

The Texan let a small smile spread across his lips, not at all surprised by the news. "Was this one of your bondage fantasies?"

"You'd think so." He started crawling against the wall beside him, urging himself further, despite the fear beginning to sink in. "But no..." He pulled himself a little further, giving out a heavy sigh as there was another dead end in the darkness. "No bondage whatsoever though. Just my back against the cold slab and a gorgeous golden god on top of me." He winced as he crushed his elbow against a hard metal rod in front of him. "Grissom wasn't watching."

Nick chuckled softly, taking a few steps back until his back hit the door they were trying to get out of. He guessed that it stopped there too as the younger man had given up again. "It was a long shot anyway, G. It shouldn't be much longer until somebody finds us anyway. We're still signed in, so they know we're in the buildin'. And our cars are in the lot."

"But we're still stuck!" He dropped his head to the tiles beneath him, spotting a dead rat against the electrical wires in the ceiling. "We're gonna die in here."

"We're not, Greg. We've only been in here for a few hours. I know what bein' close to death feels like and it's nothin' like this." Nick stood directly beneath where he thought he was, trying to calm him down before he had another freak out, trapped in the small space of the ceiling. "Can you turn around? Is there enough room for you to come back this way?" He soon heard some movement, following the scraping sound back to where he originally climbed up.

Nick climbed back onto the table to give him a hand getting down, noticing the younger man's exposed stomach as he eased himself onto the table with him.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child." He warned the Texan, jumping down onto the cold tiled floor. He lay himself against it to try and cool off a little, feeling Nick picked off the dust bunnies from his clothes. "Are you a control freak about everything?"

"I'm not a control freak." He flicked the clumps of dust away, joining the younger man on the floor. "I'm not. You've had all of these opinions of me since the day we met. You thought I was a player, a ladies man, a dumb jock... you've never even given me a chance to prove to you who I really am."

Rolling over onto his side, Greg propped himself up onto his elbow, looking at the older man beside him. "Who are you then, Nicholas Stokes?"

"Who do you think I am?" He queried, trying to find out exactly what Greg thought of him. "C'mon, honest opinion. Who do you think I am, Greg?"

"I think you're smart. Maybe a little smarter than you let on, but you like to hold back a little bit of mystery. You're super sensitive, even though you try and hide it. You're the kinda guy that wears your heart on your sleeve, seeing the good in people, rather than the horrors that we have to deal with everyday. You're quite guarded though, like you're hiding something. Maybe a broken heart that you're afraid will shatter if you let someone else in. You have a short fuse because you care so much..."

"Okay, stop." Nick smiled at him, feeling a little embarrassed that the younger man actually knew him so well. "You know all that, yet you're always callin' me jock or ladies man?"

"I'm just teasing. We're like a family. We tease each other, because we love each other really. It's how family's manage to tolerate each other for so long."

"I see your point. My sisters were always horrible to each other growin' up, but they'd do anythin' for each other if they needed help."

"See, just like a family."

Nick tilted his head to the side, giving the man a smile. "So in this messed up and slightly dysfunctional family of ours... do you see me as your brother?" He asked, checking his expression as a reaction to the question.

"Not exactly. I've never had a real brother, so I wouldn't know the exact feeling between siblings. But you don't feel like a brother. Warrick maybe. He's got that annoying big brother mode to him. It's kinda why I chose him to be my mentor." Sensing there were some mutual feelings between them, Greg decided to try something to get him to confess. "I used to think that you might have a thing for me. Back in the lab, you'd always take time out of your case to stop by my lab, even if you didn't have any evidence to be processed. You were like the best friend I never had, but I think you got a little overprotective of me when I started out in the field. I thought that you didn't want to work with me at first, like maybe you didn't think I was cut out for it. But you believed in me more than anyone else."

"I just knew you had what it takes."

"How did you know that?" Greg kept his eyes on him.

"Because of the questions you ask and the way you cared about the victims, even though you were only analysin' their DNA under a microscope. The other lab techs only cared about what came into their labs, but you were always curious to know more. You even came in on your days off, just to see a case through to the end. I admired that about you. I still do." He laced his fingers over his chest, realising it was coming up on five and a half hours that they had been trapped now. "Why'd you move to Las Vegas?"

"For the job opportunity. I was working in New York, fancied a change of scenery. I applied to labs all over the country. I got two back. Florida and here. Naturally I chose the city that I've admired since I was a kid. Worked out pretty good, don't you think?"

Nick nodded in response, finally rolling himself over onto his side, copying the younger man's actions. "I still remember the day you started workin' with us. You screwed up my results from my vic, so I had to come back down here and get a whole new set from Doc Robbins. Your way of makin' it up to me was makin' me a coffee. I was ready to tell Grissom that I didn't like you and you didn't work well with the team, but you made the best coffee I ever tasted. I thought you spiked it with somethin' at first. You were a little eccentric."

"You liked me because of my coffee?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't the only reason." The older man smirked, watching a bead of sweat running down his partner's forehead. "I like the fact that you're a little eccentric. You're not like anybody I've ever met before. You're unique, mysterious even. Every moment with you is like an adventure. I never know what you're gonna do next, but I kinda like that unpredictable side of you."

"Are you trying to say that you like me? Not just like me, but like me, like me?"

The Texan couldn't help but chuckle, giving him a slight nod as his cheeks flushed. "I think I've liked you like that since the first sip of that coffee. I didn't see you as the dork that screwed up my case after that. We've had our run ins over the years, but that's to be expected workin' so close together. I've fallen out with Warrick more times than I can count. Sara and I fall out just about every week. But we always make up in the end. Just like you said, we're like a family."

"Do you think we could..." Greg lost his nerve as soon as he started to ask the question. "Is it me or is it getting hotter in here?" He quickly changed the subject.

"It's not you." He rolled over onto his back, wishing he could take a cold shower. "Maybe the backup generators are still workin' in there." He motioned towards the sealed door to the freezer that they hadn't gone anywhere near for fear of the bodies inside. "Might still be nice and cold in there."

"And if it's not, we could unleash rabid decaying zombies in here with us."

Nick immediately smirked, rolling his eyes at the younger man. "You have a wild imagination, G. All the things we've seen on the job and you still believe in that George Romero horror stuff." He pushed himself to a sitting position, popping open another button to his shirt to try and get some air. "Aren't there any windows in here?"

"Don't you think I woulda thought of that earlier? We're in the basement." Greg reached out for the man's hand, entwining their fingers together in an attempt to assure the man that he wasn't back in that coffin. "I don't think anyone's noticed that we're missing yet."

"Sara and Grissom got trapped in the elevator for two hours last time." Nick scared himself with the thought of being stuck in such a confound space like an elevator.

"This is a little bit longer than two hours." Adjusting himself onto his back, Greg gave out a soft sigh, wishing they could watch television or something while they were stuck in here, but they still didn't have any lights. "This is so boring. Do you think Doc Robbins has any liquor hidden away down here?"

"If we were trapped in Brass' office, I'd help you look." He grinned round at him. "I don't think the doc is the kind to drink on the job. I don't even think David would go anywhere near the bottle."

"He does, just not the hard stuff." The younger man enlightened him, keeping hold of his hand at his side. He felt his fingers gripping his hand tightly, along with the warm sweat coming from his palm, but he didn't want to let go. "Sorry I freaked out on you early. Is there a phobia for locked doors?"

"Yeah... it's somethin' like... cleith-ro-phobia. My Grandma had it. She couldn't even lock the door to her bathroom. Why?"

"I think I have it. When I was seven, I got stuck in a disabled toilet on holiday. It was one of those sliding doors with this automatic lock thing. I was really desperate, so I didn't even notice that I slid the door shut on the way in. As soon as I finished, I tried to pull it open like a normal door, but it wouldn't budge. I started panicking that I was gonna die in there and my parents would never be able to find me. I was screaming and crying, making my fingers bloody as I tried to pull the door open. A few minutes later, I heard this woman's voice trying to calm me down. It was this lady in a wheelchair that wanted to use the loo. She talked me through where the button was to unlock the door, then slid the door open for me. I threw myself into her arms the moment it was open. I was just so happy to see another human being again."

Greg shuddered as he remembered the memory as clear as day.

"Anyway, ever since then I've always been afraid of being locked in places and getting stuck. I got stuck in a dressing room once with a faulty lock. My Dad was in there with me, but I was completely freaking out. My Mom called an ambulance from the other side of the door, thinking I was having a heart attack or something. I'm not as bad as I was when I was a kid. I can lock a bathroom door now, but it still creeps up on me."

"I know the feelin'." Nick wondered if the sun had come up yet, hoping the power would come back on soon. "Out in the desert the other day, my case with Warrick, I had this beetle crawlin' up my arm. I instantly froze, feelin' as though I was back in that coffin as it's little legs crawled past my elbow. It took me a moment to snap out of it, but I couldn't go anywhere indoors for the rest of the day. I had this feelin' like the walls were closin' in around me. One little bug set me off for the whole day."

Lifting their entwined hands from his side, Greg rested them over his chest, feeling his heart pounding rapidly in his chest. "This sucks. How can we be trapped in a freaking building where CSI's work and none of them know where we are?"

"Maybe because we didn't tell anyone we were comin' down here. The elevators out too, so there's no way down here, except for the outside door." As soon as he said it, Nick immediately regretted it as he felt the younger man's heart beating quicker against the back of his hand. "You never told me if you felt the same." He tried to change the subject. "About me. Have you ever thought about...?"

"Who do you think was in my fantasy?" He smiled round at him. "I'll give you a hint, it wasn't David or Doc Robbins."

"ME?" Nick sounded surprised, chucking softly as the younger man nodded his head. "So do you often fantasise about me?"

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would actually. If you've been thinkin' about me all this time, I wonna know why you never even told me. You're not the kinda guy to hold somethin' like this back. Your crush on Sara was almost instant, practically everyone knew, except Sara, obviously. So how come I never knew that you like me?"

"How do you know I didn't try to tell you? No offence, Nicky, but you're a little clueless in that department. I've been sending you signals for years. I even came onto you when I was drunk. You passed it off, stuck me in a cab and rode home with me." He reminded him, smiling round at him. "I started to think you weren't interested in me, so I kept my distance. Catherine knows I like you and I think Sara might know too. My Mom knows. She thinks I'm wasting my time. She said a good looking country boy like you doesn't want to waste his time with someone like me."

"Your Mom's wrong."

"Really?"

The Texan nodded, giving the younger man a smile. "You're not wastin' your time."

"I'd love it if you told her that to her face. She thinks she's right about everything." Greg wiped the sweat from his forehead, feeling his clothes sticking to him even more. "I seriously hate summers in Las Vegas. What is it like a hundred degrees or something?"

"In here... a hundred and three." He showed him the temperature on his fancy watch, receiving a giggle in response. "It's probably cooler outside. Sun's just comin' up."

"Should be going home to sleep right about now."

"You can sleep now if you want. I'll wake you up when someone finds us."

"Nah, I'm good. I don't have my pillow, memory foam mattress. Air conditioning." Greg felt another bead of sweat running down his forehead, leaving an itchy streak in its path. "I can't wait to go home and shower. Maybe one of those ice baths that athletes have."

"Bit too painful for me. Be better to just go for a swim or somethin'."

"I don't know anyone that has a pool, besides my folks. They're away in France until the end of the week. My Dad's treat for my Mom for their anniversary."

"Which one?"

"Thirtieth, I think." He tried to remember, struggling to sit up as he felt a cramp in his back. "Do you think we should try screaming for help or something?"

"Screamin' for help isn't really my thing." Nick smiled at him, pushing himself to a sitting position beside him. "They won't hear us anyway, we're in the basement. Shift change is in an hour. They're bound to notice when we don't sign out of our shift and it's gonna be day time soon. They should be able to get the power back on with the sun out."

"You're forgetting that it's Sunday." Climbing to his feet, Greg took a moment to stretch out his arms and legs, before he made his way over to the door. He gave it a gentle tug just to make sure, giving out a sigh as he turned back to Nick. "Do you have your gun on you?"

"No, I don't carry it around the lab. What were you plannin' on doing with it?"

Greg made a playful gesture with his fingers, putting an imaginary gun to his head. He took a seat on the metal table in the middle of the room, watching Nick pushing himself to his feet, stretching out the same as soon as he was off the floor.

"So, what should we do once we get out of here, Nicky?"

"I thought you were gonna shower."

"I meant about us." Leaning back on his palms on the table, Greg watched the older man fanning his sticky shirt away from his chest, feeling his own body responding as he could see his toned muscles through the see through fabric of his shirt. "Do we go on a date? We've been out to dinner and breakfast more times than I can count over the years. Bowling, go-carting, concerts... if you think about it, we've practically been dating all along."

"You mean without the perks?" Taking a step closer to the table Greg was sat on, Nick bravely placed his hands either side of the younger man's thighs, giving him a smile as he looked into his eyes. "Would you like to go on a date? Somethin' we've never done before. Just the two of us, no one else." He took another step closer, pushing Greg's knees apart, so he could lean closer. "You can pick where we go if you want."

"Really? You mean that, it's not just the heat getting to your brain?"

Nick smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "I think without the heat, I wouldn't have the nerve to ask you."

Greg slid forwards a little, feeling Nick's breath on his face now that they were close enough. He relaxed his thighs against Nick's hips a moment later, watching a bead of sweat running down the gorgeous man's face. "Are you asking me because you think we're gonna die in here, so you won't have to go through with it?"

"No, because we're not goin' to die in here." He chuckled softly. "I'm askin' you, because I like you and I'd really like to be your boyfriend."

It was official, Nick wanted exactly the same as he did out of their relationship.

"Then I accept your proposal and I think you should hurry up and kiss me, before someone rescues us and spoils the moment." He wiggled his eyebrows, tempting Nick closer by moistening his lips. He didn't have to wait long for the older man to take the bait, capturing his lips between his own for the first time.

He felt as though he was going to melt into the man's arms the second their lips merged.

He felt the breath from Nick's nose brushing against his cheek. The slight stubble from his chin gently scratching his chin and his warm tongue trying to part his lips, attempting to deepen their first kiss. He felt his teeth gently grazing his lips. His hands on his sides, slowly travelling to the small of his back, so he could pull him closer to the edge of the table.

"It's even better then I imagined." The Texan whispered, brushing a fingertip down a streak of sweat on the younger man's face. "Your kisses are amazin'."

"Yours aren't too bad either." Greg giggled softly, feeling a little embarrassed as that one kiss had made him hard. He tried to slide himself back a little to avoid detection, but he sensed that Nick already knew as he was holding him in place with his hands on his back. He closed his eyes as Nick started kissing him again, trying to picture more romantic surroundings.

"W-wait..." Pushing the older man away from him for a second, Greg listened out for the strange noise he had heard. He glanced up at the ceiling, hoping it wasn't his nightmare of zombies coming to life. The air conditioning suddenly started up after a few more ticks, then the lights kicked in a few seconds later, flickering a few times, before they lit up the whole room. He climbed off the table as Nick took a step back, going straight for the door that had been keeping them locked in.

Nick placed his hand on the door handle the same time as him, inhaling a deep breath, before the two of them pulled it open without any resistance. "Eh Greg," He grabbed his arm, stopping him from heading towards the elevators. He wasn't sure the power would stay on, so he really didn't want to get trapped in a lift on top of the six hours they had just spent in the morgue. "Let's go out the back. We can take the stairs up to the lab."

"Okay." Greg immediately led the way, letting out a huge sigh of relief once they were outside in the fresh air with the sun shining on his face. "Freedom!" He shouted, throwing his arms in the air. It still felt hot thanks to the boiling hot summer they were currently experiencing, but he felt as though he could breathe for the first time in hours.

He finally turned back to look at his partner, giving him a smile as he looked even sexier in broad daylight. He wouldn't want to go through the nightmare of being trapped again, but he realised that without it, he would never have known that Nick felt the same way or experienced such an amazing first kiss with him.

Less than a week later, he was experiencing another first with the man, making the ordeal completely worth it as he now had the full attention of the man he had been after for six years. Six hours trapped in a morgue together seemed like nothing compared to the wait to finally be with him.

THE END