Never Realised

Summary: Greg wonders why he's never seen it before. HodgesGreg.

A.N.: Thought of this whilst underwater (shower). And you can take that any way you want to, though it's completely innocent.


You stand in front of the trace lab, watching the lab tech inside work away. You wonder why you've never seen how beautiful he is before now. But you can see it now.

His sleeves are pushed up to elbows as he measures out different liquids. A look of concentration, that can be misconstrued as snarkiness, adorns his face...twisting his eyes into a smile when he gets the results he wanted.

Hodges rounds the counter, his back to you, and bends a little to reach something from out of the cupboard. No, you're not going to start thing about that.

Then he stands up...and sees you hovering outside. He calls you in and smiles brightly at you. You don't know when you and he became friends; don't know when the snarky comments Hodges shot you every now and again stopped coming; don't know when the tiniest smile from Hodges sent a thrill of pleasure down your spine.

When he asks you if you can help him with the backlog from last shift, you nod because if you can't speak for fear of whatever you will say coming out high-pitched and squeaky.

You snap on a pair of gloves and sneak a glance at Hodges, who's gone back to the evidence bags on his counter opposite you.

The sterile water you need is on Hodges side of the counter...too far for you to nonchalantly reach over and get it.

"Can you pass me the water, please?" you ask, thankful when it doesn't come out squeaky.

"Sure." Hodges picks the bottle up and reaches it out to you. As you take it from him, your fingers brush against his and you know he couldn't miss the spark that erupted between you as he let go when the bottle was safely in your hand.

Silence descends on both of you when the concentration of the job takes you both deeper into your own world. You're concentrating so much that when Grissom comes into the room and barks the next case information to you, you jump out of your skin. Hodges smirks at you.

"Yeah, sure Grissom. I'll go now." Grissom leaves and you take off the gloves, putting them in the bin before standing awkwardly in front of the counter. "I'd...er...better go."

As you start to leave, Hodges speaks to your retreating back. "You can ask, you know."

You turn around. "Ask what?" Hodges cocks his head to the side and you know he isn't gonna let it go. You sigh slightly before asking the question you both want to hear. "Can we have breakfast together after shift?"

It looks like Hodges is going to turn you down, and then a smile pulls at the corner of his lips, turning into a full blown grin and he nods. "Yes. I'd really like that."

You go back to work, lighter than air.

Yes, Hodges is beautiful.


THE END