Keep Your Eyes Closed

Sequel to 'Family of Secrets'!

You may want to read the first one before this one so that it makes more sense to you.

Author: Lolly4Holly

Rated: (M – T) NC-17

Pairings: Nick/Greg slash – might be some minor GSR, Hodges/Wendy and Cath/Vartann along the way too.

Summary: After suffering an emotional breakdown, Nick decides it's time to take his new family and get out while he can. Although Greg understands his reasons, he's reluctant to leave his life in Las Vegas

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or any of its characters.

Warnings: Adult content. M/M slash relationship. Set shortly after 'Meat Jekyll' Season 10, episode 23 & 'Shock Waves' Season 11, episode 1. Around about 18 months after 'Family of Secrets'. Spoilers for season ten and the beginning of season eleven.

Thanks for reading, please Review!


Chapter One: Second Chance

"Keep your eyes closed." The Texan's raspy voice ruffled the hairs on the back of the younger man's neck. Covering Greg's eyes with his hands, Nick slowly led the way up the concrete gravel, checking Greg wasn't looking, as he stopped him in front of the large house. He slowly moved his hands away from his face towards the younger man's waist, whispering against his neck, "Okay, open em up, G."

Greg leant back into the older man's warm embrace, slowly fluttering his eyes open to take a look at the surprise. A small gasp escaped his lips as he looked up at the large farm house stood in front of him.

It was a large red bricked house with sloping roofs, tall trees and overgrown shrubs lining the front garden. A stone footpath led the way towards the front door and the windows were lined with dark blue shutters. To the left end of the house was a large conservatory area with clear glass covering the doors, walls and ceiling. To the other end of the house was a large garage door, making the garage look as though it was big enough for two cars.

Taking a moment to look around at it all again, Greg widened his eyes then tilted his head back across Nick's shoulder. "Oh my god Nicky, are you serious? Where are we?"

"New Jersey." Nick answered.

"God I know that." He chuckled. "I meant, where's the busy roads and the tall buildings and the..."

"It's called the country, City Boy." The Texan interrupted him with a smirk. "It could be our house. And it's right in our price range. I know it's really far from Vegas and our lives there... but, I just thought we could take a look, while we were here and all."

"But... there's no way we can afford this, Nick. Look at it, it's huuggge!" He exclaimed, looking around at all the windows on the side of the house. "This is a joke, right? It has to be a joke."

"No, I'm serious." Nick smiled at him, resting his head against the side of Greg's. "It's ours if we want it. It's got four bedrooms, two bathrooms . . . a utility room. A very nice kitchen, with a very fancy dinin' area. A large family room. There's also an old barn out back that the last owners kept their horses in. Our land stretches right down to the lake at the end." Nick pointed off towards the tree line in the distance, which eventually opened up to the lake. "And it's all ours if we want it... for a very reasonable price too."

"But... i-it's so..." Greg looked around at it all again, feeling a tear in his eye as his partner clutched him tightly. "Don't get me wrong, I love it." He murmured softly, sliding his hands across Nick's arms around him. "I really do love it Nicky, but what are we gonna do about our jobs? Or schools. Or my Mom. She'll kill me if we move this far away... or worse, lock me in a dungeon beneath her house."

"She doesn't have a dungeon."

"She might." The younger man muttered.

Chuckling softly, Nick answered, "I'll protect you from your mother, Greg. I can go and get myself a borin' average guy's job, so I can stay in this area and support my family. The cities not that far away if you wanted to try and get a job in a lab or somethin'. There's some good schools in the area. The country side is a much better place for kids to grow up then in the city. How many times do we worry that they're gonna get hit by a car, attacked or worse?"

"I'll agree with you on that one."

"The shops aren't too far away either. There's no neighbours around us for miles, which means we get our own privacy. And your mother will just have to deal with the distance. She can't keep the umbilical cord goin' between you two forever." He smiled against his neck. "We can pretty much have our same old life, just far, far away from Vegas . . . and new." He smirked. "I can finally take the City boy out of the city."

Greg smiled then tilted his head back to press a kiss to his partner's chin. "I love you."

"I love you too." He whispered, stealing a quick kiss from his lips. "So honey, whaddya think? You wonna move in with me?"

"Were you planning on leaving me behind?" The younger man chuckled, turning in Nick's arms to face him completely. "I definitely wonna move in here with you, Nicky." He answered, slowly igniting a passionate kiss to his lover's lips. "But," Pulling back, Greg looked into Nick's eyes as he attempted to explain, "We haven't really discussed this, Nicky. We can't just up and move thousands of miles away from the only home... let's face it, any of us have ever known outside of our..."

"Will you at least think about it? I know you're a city boy... born and raised, but we've been talkin' a while about quittin' the lab. You agreed with me that you don't wonna leave our kids alone in the world. Can we just take a look?" He pleaded, with puppy dog eyes. "If you hate it that much, we'll try and find some place closer. I just thought that while we're here visitin' my sister, Gwen, we might as well look."

"Okay." Greg reluctantly agreed. "I love it already, Nicky. I just think that we should think about this more, before we up and move miles away."

"Agreed." Nick nodded, then lingered a slow wet kiss over his partner's lips.

"Ew, gross!" A small voice suddenly called from behind them.

Followed by another from the younger of the two, "They're always doing that."

Nick and Greg giggled as they pulled back from one another's lips, turning their heads towards the two youngsters, stood against the side of the car with their arms folded across each of their chests. "I told you two to stay in the car." Nick scolded them, with a chuckle.

"We're bored." The oldest complained, as she removed her thumb from her mouth.

"How come you get to decide if we move here, but we have no choice? Shouldn't we get a say in it?" The other asked.

"Yeah." His sibling agreed.

"Well," Nick released his hold on Greg, then signalled for them to join him, so he could talk to them both. Kneeling down in front of his children, Nick began to sell them on the idea, just as he had with Greg, "There's a large family room that should be able to accommodate a much bigger sofa for all of us to sit together. Perfect for all our family movie nights. There's a huuggge garden, and I'm talkin' huge here, guys. Oh and in this place, you'll each have your own room." Nick saw their eyes lighting up to the sound of that, as they were still sharing a room that wasn't big enough for the two of them back home.

His daughter cocked one eyebrow, as she looked down into her father's eyes, giving him a smile. "I'm listening."

Nick smiled at her, then tried to think of something else that would sell them on the idea. "Well, unlike this place, you've got your own back yard. We could even put your own little playground or clubhouse out there somewhere," He suggested, watching each of their smiles steadily increasing. "Oh and did I also mention the old horse stables, and the lake just through the woods?"

"Really?" His little boy's eyes lit up.

"Yeah really, so what do you guys say?" He asked, looking between the two of them curiously, as their little minds ticked away at all the information they had just received.

The siblings looked at one another a moment, then simultaneously nodded their heads, answering, "Okay."

Their father grinned at them, then saw the nerdy little realtor, Jack Reynolds, making his way up the drive towards them. "Hello there!" He waved towards them, adjusting his pocket protector, once he removed his horn rimmed glasses from them. "So, are we all ready to see inside the house?" He asked them, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You haven't been waiting long, I hope. I couldn't find my glasses anywhere. I'm blind as a bat without them."

"But you don't wear them to drive?" One of the children asked.

"Aww, isn't she a little smarty pants. I have a second set for driving. I always leave them in the car." He smiled at her. "So, are we ready?"

"Yep." Nick ushered the children off towards the house, then reached out for Greg's hand to hold, so they could start exploring inside the house they were planning to buy. Or the house that Nick was hoping to buy, while Greg still had his heart set in Vegas.

"So these are your children, Mr Stokes. How old are they?" Mr Reynolds asked, pulling the keys from the pouch on his hip to unlock the front door.

Placing his hands on his daughter's shoulders, Nick introduced her, "This is Amaya-Jayne, she's seven. And this is our son, Cooper. He's six years old. He'll be seven in June." The Texan proudly introduced his family.

"Wow, they could almost be twins." Mr Reynolds admired the two children that were almost the same height and had similar facial features from their eyes to the colour of their hair. Patting the little boy on the head, Mr Reynolds winked, "I'm sure you'll love it out here, Sport."

Cooper glanced over his shoulder at his father, wondering why the strange little man was petting him like a dog.

"Right, in we go." Mr Reynolds finally unlocked the front door of the house, leading the family into the entrance lobby of their new home. Nick immediately noticed how creaky the floorboards were beneath his feet, while Greg and their children were just admiring the grand size of it all. "There's hardwood flooring throughout. The ones in the other rooms have recently been replaced." He pointed out, as he saw Nick checking the creaky floor beneath his feet. "The fire place through there was torn out and concreted over two years ago. I believe the last owners had a trouble with bats." He gave out a snorty chuckle, as he looked round at them.

"Bats?" Cooper shrieked, clutching his younger father's leg, for fear of the bats getting him.

The realtor chuckled again, before he led them through to the kitchen. "The stove runs on gas. There's power outlets beneath the top cupboards." He showed them, then pulled open one of the larger cupboard doors to reveal a fridge. "Hidden fridge, freezer. As you can see... there's plenty of storage space, and these units are new to the house. Can't be more than... six months old." He shrugged, brushing his fingers across the dusty counter top. "Oh, and the utility room is right through there." He pointed towards the door. "There's also a backdoor leading to the garden and the door to the basement."

"We have a basement?" Cooper gulped hard, looking up at his father wide eyed, as he felt goose bumps trembling their way up his arms.

"Did the last owners die?" AJ queried.

"No... I mean, not that I know of." Mr Reynolds shook his head, giving her father a smile. "I'm sure there's one or two ghosts hovering around though, especially in the basement. There's always ghosts in the basement, right?" Chuckling softly, the man led them through to the next room, the large family room, pointing out the varnished door frames and mantle pieces to Nick.

"Cooooper! Cooooper!" AJ tormented her brother with a spooky voice.

"Shut up." Cooper shoved her aside, then hurried after his father.

"Through here we have the dining room that opens out to the conservatory." Mr Reynolds continued the tour. "I believe the last owner was a painter. She used to use this as her studio. It's actually quite a new addition to the house. It's been here about... four years now. So... newish." He remembered, looking around at the spotless glass, overlooking the clear blue sky above them. "You could probably see the stars in the sky at night."

Greg lifted Cooper into his arms for the rest of the tour, as he continued to cling to his legs, being scared of everything new in the old house.

The realtor led the family up the creaky staircase that opened up to an open landing, leading to the bedroom and bathroom doors. "On the right here is the master bathroom. Complete with his and hers... I mean his and his sinks." He corrected himself, smiling round at the two men. "There's a large shower, crocodile foot bathtub... I'm always a sucker for them."

"Crocodile?" Cooper queried in a quiet whisper, clinging to Greg even more, as he looked at the monster feet on the bath tub.

"Not real crocodiles." Mr Reynolds shook his head. "They're so cute when they're that old." He grinned round at his two fathers, watching the two men admiring the bathroom, before he led them further down the hall towards the first bedroom. "Here's the master bedroom overlooking the front of the house. The door there leads through to the master bathroom, and there's also a hatch to the attic up here." He directed their attention to the ceiling to show them the hatch, watching the younger child shivering again.

Greg gently smoothed his palm across his son's back as he felt his small body quivering in his arms.

The realtor led them across the hall to the other three bedrooms. One of which had a large bay window overlooking the garden, complete with a window seat that they could see the lake out of, while the other had a walk in closet, making the room slightly smaller. The last bedroom was about the same size as the master bedroom and even had another bathroom of its own, making it the perfect set up for a guest bedroom.

"And that concludes our tour. If I had a step ladder, I could show you the attic, but the previous owners took theirs with them. It's probably for the best, there's probably millions of gigantic spiders or rats up there." Mr Reynolds smiled at them, before he led them back down the stairs to show them the garden outside.

"Daddy, I don't like it here." Cooper whispered to Greg.

"Baby." AJ muttered.

"Am not, you're the baby." He protested, trying to kick her, but Greg managed to block it with his hand. AJ responded by sticking her tongue out at her brother, before she slid her hand into Nick's, following him through the house.

"The stables are just over there. They need a bit of work, the last owners had one very old horse for a while... I don't know if it died or what. I think they took it with them." He glanced over his shoulder, smiling as he saw the little boy gulping in fear again. "I'm sure they took it with them, don't worry yourself, Sport." He winked at the little boy in the younger man's arms, then started talking to Nick about the plumbing and electrics, leaving Greg with the kids by the door.

"Daddy, he was joking about the horse, right?" AJ asked, as she looked up at him.

"Yeah." Greg nodded to her, then gently bounced Cooper in his arms, assuring him, "He was joking. There's no dead horse in the stable."

"How do you know?" Cooper asked him.

"Well," Greg looked towards the stables, fearing a zombie horse was going to come running out of the stables to get them, due to the recent zombie movie Nick had dragged him to for a supposed romantic date. Nick thought he loved it because he was all over him, but that was just because they were in a dark movie theatre, making Greg even more terrified as anyone in there could have been a flesh eating zombie.

"Greg!" AJ tugged at his t-shirt, trying to get his attention. "How do you know?" She repeated her brother's question.

"Because I'm gonna go check. That's how I'll know." Greg decided, as he set Cooper down on the ground.

He inhaled a deep breath, then slowly made his way off towards the stables, with AJ and Cooper in his footsteps. As Greg approached the outside doors, he glanced around at the scared siblings, before he reached out for the latch of the door and slid it open all the way, allowing some daylight to filter inside the creepy corners of the dank and dark cave inside.

He could see large cobwebs covering the corners of each of the beams and bundles of dried up straw coating the concrete floor, but no sign of any dead horse... yet.

Greg took a few steps inside, slowly searching each of the stalls that were open, until he reached the one at the end that was locked. Hesitantly, Greg reached out for the lock, sliding it open, so he could see inside. He sighed in relief as he saw no mummified horse anywhere, like he had feared, after all the crime scenes he had visited. Instead, he found an old rusty horse shoe and bits of leather littering the floor, relaxing his pounding heart.

Turning back for the door, Greg made his way back through the stables, screeching in fright as his own two little monsters jumped out at him shouting, "Rawr!"

AJ giggled in hysterics, patting her little brother on the back. "You screamed like a girl, Daddy!"

"I... most certainly... did not." Greg placed his hand on his heaving chest, waiting a moment for his heart to slow down again, before he went to chase after the little monsters, trudging through the dead leaves covering the grass to catch up with them.

"Careful!" Greg called out too late, as Cooper stumbled over a tree root, sticking out of the ground. He assumed the child must have been okay, as he sprang to his feet and started to run away again.

As the three of them crashed into the leaves on top of each other, the realtor looked towards them, then smiled towards his potential client. "That husband of yours has quite some spirit, Mr Stokes."

"Oh... we're not married." Nick informed him, looking towards the three of them, as they tumbled to the ground. Nick smiled as he saw their happy faces, then turned back towards the house as he looked over the information the realtor had given him on the house.

"How long have you guys been looking for a house then?" Mr Reynolds inquired, hoping to gain more insight into his client's life.

"Oh, since we adopted Cooper. We've been livin' in Vegas in a small town house for the past two years or so."

"He's adopted?" He looked over at the child, surprised. "Are they from the same mother?"

"No, AJ's mine. Her mother died when she was six and she came to live with me." Nick explained to him, then turned back towards the house. "We adopted Cooper about eight months ago. We met and fell in love with him on the job. Greg and I are CSI's."

"CSI's?" He gave the man a questioning look. "How would you meet a child doing that? That's all about... crime scenes and stuff, right?"

"Yep." Nick nodded, pursing his lips together, to stop himself from saying anything else. Ever since he had been with Greg, he had started to pick up a few of his bad habits, like over talking about things that weren't anyone else's business. "I'll have my house inspector come to check it out before we sign anythin', but I have a good feelin' about this house." He changed the subject.

"Thank you, Mr Stokes." The realtor shook Nick's hands, then popped out a small bottle of sanitizer from his pocket to cover his hands in. "Alright then, let's just go over the rest of the details. Then I'll get you on your way." Nick watched him curiously, then followed after him into the house, to continue discussing the rest of the details, while Greg led the children down to the lake, gasping at the grand size of it. He quickly reached out for Cooper's hand to stop him from running towards it, then noticed the shoddy docks that looked as though they really needed some work or someone might fall in.

"Daddy, how far away are we from home?" AJ queried, skipping on ahead.

"Um... I dunno... I think it's about... three thousand miles or something." He shrugged to her, thankful that they flew over, as they couldn't possibly drive that far with two kids in the car.

"What time is it at home?" AJ asked him next.

Greg raised his watch, trying to estimate the time. "Um... well it's nearly noon here, so it must be around... nine or something in the morning back home." He shrugged again to her, missing the days when she wouldn't talk to him at all, because she was too shy.

"Daddy, look!" AJ shouted, as she pointed towards something. Greg cautiously followed after her through the swampy ground beneath his feet, clutching Cooper's hand tightly at his side, to stop him from wandering off. He stopped where AJ was knelt down beside something, giving it a curious look. "It's a hedgehog!" She excitedly exclaimed.

"Don't touch it, AJ." He warned her, as he watched the hedgehog waddling along in front of her, back towards the woods. "He's probably just out fishing for his family."

"Do head hogs eat people?" Cooper gulped, backing himself up against Greg's legs.

"Yeah, they start with your feet and work their way up, saving your eyeballs for last." AJ teased her little brother, watching Cooper clutching Greg tighter as he looked at the monster that was about to eat him.

"No, hedgehogs don't eat people, Cooper." Greg assured him, lifting him up into his arms. "Hedgehogs are vegetarians... sorta. They're very friendly."

"Uncle Grissom says they eat worms." AJ pointed out to him. "Worms aren't vegetables."

"True, but they don't eat people." He assured the scared little boy in his arms.

"Aunt Sara's a veggie-arian... will they eat her?" Cooper feared, cowering back against Greg's chest.

"No, they don't eat people." He insisted again. "Hedgehogs are scared of people. You're much bigger than a hedgehog, so there's no way he'd ever be able to eat you. It's very scary being surrounded by big monsters your size, that's why he's running away."

Cooper smiled slightly, watching the hedgehog disappearing into the woods ahead of them. "Will he mind us living here?" The young boy inquired, as he looked around at the woods and lake surrounding them in amazement, having only ever lived in cities his whole life.

"I doubt it." Greg shook his head, turning his attention towards the sky as a family of geese flew over their heads. He grinned as AJ quickly jumped back, having seen one of the birds trying to splat her. "Almost." He chuckled.

"You won't get me again!" AJ angrily shouted up to the sky.

"They're not the ones that got her yesterday." Cooper pointed up at them, as the gentle breeze brushed through his short strands of sandy brown hair. Just a few months ago he had it cut to a neat crew cut style, but it had since grown out a little longer to an unruly, textured mess, just like Greg's used to be a few years ago.

AJ had since grown her hair out longer past her shoulders and Nick had learnt how to do a lot more hairstyles via the internet and his sisters. Today he had styled her hair into braided pigtails with check bows tied at the end of each to match her dress.

"Daddy, why couldn't we bring Dallas with us?" AJ skipped over to him, following him back towards the house.

"Because Dallas is pregnant, Munchkin." Greg reminded her, reaching out for her hand to hold, while he carried her brother back towards the house, where Nick was still talking to the realtor. "Nana Jean is looking after her though; you can see her when we get back."

Cooper perked his ears up. "We're going back? Isn't Dallas moving with us?"

"Yeah, she's part of the family, bud." Greg smiled at him. "We're all gonna live here together... soon. It'll be our permanent home if we decide to buy it. Because you know your Daddy really loves it, and he's had a bit of a rough year lately."

"Does Daddy still have nightmares?" Cooper asked, running his curious little fingers across the chain around his father's neck. "Daddy cuddles me when I have nightmares."

"I know buddy, but your Daddy's nightmares keep him from sleeping completely. That's why he's been seeing that special doctor."

AJ turned to look at him, "But Greg, Daddy said the bad man can't get him anymore."

"He can't." He assured her. "But your Daddy's afraid that someone else might want to hurt him, or any of us. That's why he wants to move us all the way over here, so he knows we're all safe. Besides, if we move here, you'll each have your own room, you can start new schools, play with your cousins from Auntie Gwen's, whenever you like. And you won't have to be with a babysitter all the time, because we won't have to work so much."

"Really?" AJ asked, through a wide grin.

"Yep, all of us will be together." He assured her.

"Cool!" She excitedly exclaimed, then released Greg's hand as they got closer to the house. "Hey Cooper; I'll race yah to the house. Winner gets the room with the bay window." She declared, then started running, while Cooper was still in Greg's arms.

"That's not fair. You're way faster than me!" Cooper pouted, struggling to get down from Greg's arms, so he could hurry towards the house, only to lose by a few feet.

Greg hurried after them as they made their way off into the house, to make sure they didn't break anything while they were running around. "Daddy! Daddy!" AJ called out to Nick, as she rushed into the kitchen, where he was stood with the realtor. "You'll never guess what we saw!"

"We saw a head hog!" Cooper answered, before Nick could guess, running in after her.

"A hedgehog?" Nick grinned widely at them both, chuckling softly as he had never seen them this excited before, over anything.

"AJ said they eat veggie-arians."

"Did not." AJ protested. "I said they eat worms. Uncle Grissom told me so. He said they eat lots of other bugs too."

"Do you have any more questions, Mr Stokes? Because I have a one o' clock showing." The realtor impatiently tapped his watch.

"No, I think that's everythin'." Nick nodded to him, collecting up the information he had given him.

"Okay, well any more questions, you let me know." He set down a calling card on the counter in front of Nick, then sanitized his hands again, before he left.

"Hey." Nick greeted Greg. "So, do you like it? Did yah get a look at the lake?"

"Yep, and I love it." The younger man nodded to him. "I just... think we should discuss it a little more. We still have so much to do before we just up and move away."

"I know, I just wanted to take a look, while it was still open." Nick assured him. "I still gotta get it all checked out first anyway."

"When can we move in?" His daughter excitedly asked, standing on her tiptoes against the tall counter.

"Well, if we decide to buy it. We gotta start packin' up our stuff and move everythin' all the way over here... so not right away." Nick explained to her, hiding his own disappointment that Greg wasn't all that excited to move in.

"Daddy, is this a haunted house?" Cooper questioned, watching his sister searching the cupboards.

"No, there's no ghosts or monsters here." He assured the young boy, prone to nightmares.

"Daddy, can we buy this house, pretty please? It's so cool. Can we, please?" AJ pleaded, looking up at her father, with big puppy dog eyes that she knew he couldn't resist.

"I don't know yet, princess. We'll have to wait and see." Nick smiled down at her, then ushered the kids off towards the door, before Mr Reynolds snapped at them for holding him up.

Greg helped him to load the kids into the car again, so they could get back to Nick's sister's house, where they had been originally visiting, when Nick decided to take a look at some of the houses to show his family while they were in town.

"The kids are hungry, you wonna go eat?" Greg suggested, as his lover started the car.

"Yeah... I could eat."

"Of course, what was I thinking. You can always eat." The younger man gave him a cheeky grin, pulling his seatbelt on over his shoulder.

"You're lucky I love you, G." The older man warned him, slowly pulling away from his dream home, hoping he would be able to convince Greg soon, before the house was off the market.


A few hours later, Gwen set her two year old down in her crib for her nap, then rushed towards the front door, as she saw her little brother's car pulling up in the driveway. Nick and Greg decided to take their children out for pizza and ice cream, then tired them out in the arcade and ball pond, so they'd fall right to sleep on the drive home, which seemed to have worked like a charm.

Nick parked in the darkened driveway of his sister's house, then gently shook his partner awake, before he climbed out the car to get the kids. "So, did you like it?" Gwen whispered softly, as she came running towards them, helping Greg to climb out the car as he looked exhausted.

"The house was really good." Greg nodded, lifting AJ from her seat. "The kids liked it too. Nicky just has to get all his inspectors and stuff to check it out, before we can move in."

"Of course, you wonna do everythin' right." Gwen backed Nick up, then closed the doors behind them and locked the car up for Nick, so they could come back into the house, with their two sleeping children in each of their arms. "Gerti's just gone to bed, but you can take AJ in there to sleep. She's a very heavy sleeper. I have to shout to wake her up in the mornin's." She chuckled softly, directing Greg off towards the stairs. "I moved Rebecca into Scarlet's room for now, so you can set Cooper down in there." Gwen smiled towards her baby brother.

"Thanks, sis." Nick smiled back at her, still not used to calling the sisters he grew up with 'auntie' after two years of knowing the truth, as he had yet to tell them all the truth and it just seemed too weird.

"Goodnight." Gwen waved them off, then headed off up the other set of stairs towards her and her husband's room at the end of the hall.

Greg quietly crept into Gwen's eldest daughter's room, carefully setting AJ down on the spare bed. He carefully removed her sneakers, then tucked the covers around her, before he crept back out the room, meeting Nick in the hallway. They quietly made their way down stairs, towards the den where Gwen had set up the pullout couch for them, while they were in town.

After brushing his teeth, Nick joined Greg on the bed, watching him reading through the papers for himself, before he turned his head to look at Nick beside him. "How can we afford such a great house that's in our budget?" He asked.

"We just got lucky." Nick winked at him, gently smoothing his hand across the younger man's smooth stomach. "We've got some time to look at it. No one else has put in any offers yet. We're the second couple to look at it, and the last family didn't like it. The kids seem to like it though..."

"But Dallas can't fly while she's pregnant." Greg reminded him, setting the papers aside. "We still have our jobs and things to think about too."

"I know. It'll be Dallas' last week next week or is it the week after?" He shrugged to himself, as he moved his body closer to Greg's on the bed. "Do you feel weird..."

"Nope, you no longer weird me out by being romantic." Greg teased him.

"Not what I was gonna say." Nick scowled at him, poking him in the stomach as the younger man giggled. "I meant, do you feel weird about doin' all this with me, when we're not married? I told the realtor we weren't married and he suddenly changed his tune, as if we shouldn't be buying a house together."

"Nope. It doesn't feel weird." Greg assured him, draping one arm around Nick's stomach, resting his head on the man's shoulder. "I know you love me. I don't need some document to prove that. Since we can't really get married anyway, why bother with the traditional straight couple's tradition?" Nick smiled down at him, pressing a kiss to his head as he wrapped his arms securely around him. "You do love me doncha?"

Nick chuckled softly, tickling the younger man in his arms. "Of course I love you. I love you more than anythin'."

"Good, I just like to hear it every once in a while, Cowboy." Greg grinned, then crawled up his chest to ignite their lips together. Nick tugged Greg's body closer so he was sat between his legs, continuing to kiss the man he adored. "Mmmm, I love you too, Tex." Greg purred, pulling back from the kiss to speak. "You know before you, I never had this many surprises in my life."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not in the least." Greg shook his head. "Finding AJ was pretty much a miracle. You actually wanting to date me, rather than just wanting me for sex was a miracle in itself." Nick smiled up at him, still feeling guilty over how long he took to realise that he loved him. "Dallas getting pregnant was a miracle."

"That's no miracle. She's a slut." Nick chuckled. "I told you she must have been datin' one of those guys from the park."

Moving his legs to straddle Nick's hips, Greg grinned widely as he arched himself into Nick's warm body. "You surviving that torture was a miracle. Me surviving my own private beating was a miracle..."

"Don't forget the lab explosion."

Greg shook his head. "That wasn't a miracle, that was painful."

"You survivin' it was."

Greg shrugged it off, wishing he could wipe it from his memory, along with a few other things. "Finding Cooper and this amazing house was pretty much a miracle too. You think we're gonna run out of miracles soon?"

"With everythin' the four of us have been through, no way." Nick shook his head, wrapping his arms around his partner's warm body, holding him closer. "I think after years of shit, we're finally gettin' the good end of the deal."

"Is that what you really think?" Greg smiled against his lips, gently tugging Nick's t-shirt up his chest. "See, that's exactly why I don't need you to vow that you love me in a church or anything like that. We should focus more on the positive changes, like moving the kids out of the city."

"We still have to break the news to Catherine." Nick pointed out to him, as he gently smoothed his hands beneath Greg's t-shirt. "You know that's not gonna go down well. Without us, it's not exactly a team anymore."

"She shoulda known that after Cooper we'd be leaving eventually. Especially after you got shot." Greg reminded him, noticing the skin where they extracted the shot gun pellets, was still much softer and redder then the rest of Nick's skin. "I really thought I lost you then, I'm so glad you changed your mind about the move. But I never thought you'd pick somewhere so far away." He whispered, gently brushing his fingertips across the tender skin.

"Do you hate it, because it's this far away?"

"I don't hate it." Greg shook his head, keeping his eyes fixated on the delicate skin beneath his fingertips. "It's gonna take a lot of work to get it the way we want it. The place is pretty old, so the plumbing and stuff is probably terrible."

"Is that the only reason why you don't like it?" Nick lifted Greg's chin with his hand, looking into the younger man's eyes. "Like I told you in the hospital, Greg, I'm not gonna die anytime soon, so you really don't need to worry."

"Yes I do." He spoke softly. "You may be able to survive ants, being buried alive and crazy stalkers, but bullets can kill you. They killed Warrick. They almost killed you."

"That's why I wonna move."

"But out here?"

"Greg, just tell me if you don't like it. Be straight with me."

"I love it, Nick. I just... need more time to decide. I want it, just not at this point in time." He struggled to explain, removing his hands from Nick, as seeing and feeling the old scar always turned him into an emotional wreck. "I just... I don't think moving all the way out here will suddenly solve all our problems. You almost died, now all you wonna do is run away. It's not healthy."

"You know I don't go for that shrink crap. I don't need to deal with my problems; I just need to get away from them."

"But they'll still be in here." Greg gently placed his hand over Nick's heart. "You always fight everything that can help you. You won't even see your mother."

"She's not my mother. She may have given birth to me, but she's still just my sister." Nick answered him, leaning back on his hands against the bed. "Anyway, stop changin' the subject. I understand if you still love your job, G. I won't take you away from that, but I've gotta get out of there. I hate that city."

"I don't. My life came together there." Greg looked down at his hands, wishing he could just accept Nick's offer to move out here, but it was too far away from anything familiar. He feared his whole life would be in ruins again, just like when he decided to move to New York straight out of college. "You know I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, Nicky, but I'm not ready to leave it all behind. Everything I know and love is in Vegas."

"Fine, we'll wait until you're ready." He assured him. "I just know that I can't put you three through... what you've already been through, because of me." Wrapping his arms around Greg's body, Nick closed his eyes as he rested their foreheads together, breathing in one another's musky scent a moment, before Greg felt Nick's chest hitch against him. "A part of me loves the city too, Greg. But I'm terrified. I've been buried alive, stalked, thrown out of a window, framed for murder, shot, had a mental breakdown."

The younger man shook his head. "It wasn't a mental breakdown."

"I've already lost so much, Greg. I nearly lost my life."

"It's okay Nicky, you got a second chance." Gently cupping Nick's chin in his hand, Greg touched their lips together, softly brushing his fingers through Nick's soft short strands hair to comfort him. "You're gonna make it to forty, Nicky. You're gonna watch your kids grow up and grow old with me." He assured him, remembering those were the man's first fears in the hospital, when he woke up after the surgery. "We've both been given a second chance . . . so let's not waste it."


Author's Note:

There's the first chapter to the sequel 'Family of Secrets', if you never read the first story, you probably don't know most of the characters that I'm using in this one, like Greg's wacky family, Nick's daughter AJ, along with his own family, and I've thrown in a few more too, that you'll get to know along the way.

I know you're gonna have lots of questions after this first chapter, especially about the new little boy, Cooper. His full story will come out soon, and I don't want to spoil it for you, so I won't answer any of questions regarding Cooper at the moment :D

I hope you all enjoyed it!

Please let me know what you thought, more on the way soon!

~ Holly