DISCLAIMER: I don't own CSI or anything else you recognise.
His coffee should be ready by now. Greg Sanders frowned at the coffee machine which sat stubbornly on the table, filled with lukewarm water refusing to boil. He was just about to start sweet talking the machine, promising to clean it later in exchange for its functioning as it was supposed to, when Nick Stokes entered the break room, carrying a takeaway bag.
"Having trouble with the machine again G?" Nick teased.
"It's out to get me man" Greg groaned. "Something tells me we were enemies in a past life."
Nick laughed and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the T.V. He turned on the news and opened his takeaway bag. An aroma of chinese food filled the room but Greg was too intent on fixing the coffee machine to try and beg some cantonese chicken from Nick. Instead, he carried on pushing buttons on the machine and massaging it lighly in the hope of some coffee-related action.
"You gonna help me out here or are you just gonna sit there on your ass all day?" he challenged Nick
Nick just laughed and went back to his takeaway.
"Come on dude! It's blue hawaiin here! I can't let it go to waste! And I only got ten more minutes before I gotta go get my results from Hodges, then meet Catherine about he D.B. off Henderson THEN talk to Archie about my mysterious 911 call! I'm not gonna get anymore time to make coffee! Help me?"
Nick finally got up and made his way over to the machine. He switched it off, then back on again, keyed in the right settings for Greg's precious coffee and pressed start. Even though this was what Greg had been doing for 20 minutes, the machine now decided to start bubbling away, boiling water and mixing it with the coffee beans. It never failed to amaze Greg how everything seemed to go right for Nick Stokes. He grinned mockingly at Greg and took another spring roll out of his bag.
"Are you okay to pour it into the cup yourself?" he teased.
Greg tried and failed to think of something witty to say, so he satisfied himself by sticking his tongue out at Nick. The Texan laughed again. There was something about Greg's childish attitude to everything, even crime, that made him feel at ease. Greg took his coffee and tottered off to find Hodges, muttering something about pirates. Nick couldn't help but smile.
Greg had been right. His D.B. really was a pirate. Catherine had laughed at him and reminded him that look can be decietfull but this one time, Greg had been correct. The eyepatch was the first giveaway of course, and the stripy t-shirt, but the bottle of rum in his rucksack was what drove him to this conclusion. He laughed at the computer screen, which displayed the criminal records of Harrold Langford, his dead pirate. Arrested 16 times for piracy! This guy wore hidden state-of-the-art cameras when he went to the movie theatre and then uploaded all his videos onto one of those illegal websites. Somewhat suspicous that his body was "found" at a movie theatre, Greg thought. He grinned. Greg couldn't wait to go talk to Catherine now. He had pretty much crakced this case. Unfortunately, on his way to his assistant supervisors office, Grissom called him.
"How's your case going?" he asked him.
"Pretty good Gris, I think I've pretty much solved it." Greg failed to hide the sense of accomplishment in his voice.
"Great" Grissom answered. "So you can leave Catherine to finish that. I've got a new assignment for you and Sara."
"Sure thing Griss-o" Greg replied, taking the case file from him.
Grissom flinched at the unfamiliar nickname but chose to ignore it.
"Brass will meet you there." He said, as Greg strode out of the room.
"And Greg?" he called at the retreating figure, "Do something about your hair."
Greg just chuckled at Grissom, before leaving to find Catherine. He loved his hair.