A/N: This is my first multi-chapter story. I hope it's good! The Rating and Warnings are subject to change. Takes place about season 6... Read, Review and Hopefully Enjoy

Beta'd by Jayceepat, thanks for all the help!

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Day Shift: 8AM-6PM

Swing Shift: 4PM-2AM

Night Shift: 12AM-10AM

Greg ambled slowly towards the lab from the parking lot, taking his time to enjoy the sights and sounds of Vegas. Being almost a half hour early for work, there was no need to rush. He had plenty of time to get inside, make coffee, drink a couple of cups and even catch up on the latest gossip with the lab techs.

He smiled serenely to himself; he was pleased with his life for the first time in a long time. Life was good; he had a job he loved, great friends, his love life was starting to take a turn for the better and, best of all, he had a permanent excuse not to go home for the holidays….The one perk of being a Level 1 CSI.Taking one last deep breath of the cool night air, before stepping into the building, Greg smiled, unaware everything in his life was about to come crumbling down.

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"What have we got tonight Gil?" Catherine asked from her seat on the couch. Her legs were propped up on Warrick's lap. "Nothing to serious I hope."

Grissom looked down his nose at her disapprovingly, "Every case is serious Catherine, although tonight we don't have any homicides."

Catherine rolled her eyes, "What do we have then."

"Well," Gil began, "Since it sounds like you want something easy tonight, why don't you and Warrick take the B&E" He passed her the file.

"This is out in the middle of the desert! It will take us at least an hour and a half to get there!" Catherine exclaimed.

"You better get going then," Gil said, the barest hint of a smile on his face.

Catherine opened her mouth to say something, probably not very nice, but Warrick put his hand over her mouth.

"Lets just go Cath, we can plan our revenge in the car." He suggested hopefully.

Catherine glared at him for a moment before removing his hand, standing up and walking out of the room in the direction of the locker room. Warrick sighed before standing and following her.

Nick, Sara and Greg erupted into laughter at the break room table after watching the weekly showdown between Grissom and Catherine. The two were close friends and worked well together, but they were very different and at least once a week they had a disagreement of some sort.

"She's going to get you back for that one," Sara said still chuckling.

"I know," Grissom answered.

"But it was worth it" Greg said.

"Perhaps," Grissom replied.

"What do we have this evening?" Nick asked.

"Sara, a hit and run in Henderson." Sara nodded, took the paper work and headed out.

"Nick and Greg, catch up on your paperwork. You're both behind." Grissom turned around and headed to his office.

"Looks like we're in for a fun night…" Greg sighed.

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"Ugh I hate reports…" Greg moaned after an hour of paper work.

"How far behind are you?" Nick asked looking up.

"Two cases," Greg responded frowning.

"Tell you what, I'm just about done," Nick said, putting the finishing touches on his report, "I'll help you out."

"Thanks!" Greg said happily.

Nick dragged his chair over and sat next to Greg.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"Uh if you could read over these; that would be great. Thanks." Greg passed him over the first draft of his reports.

"No problem." Nick said starting to read.

They worked in companionable silence for awhile stealing glances at each other every few minutes and catching each others eye occasionally.

"So, uhh I had a really good time the other night," Nick said nervously, breaking the silence.

"Me to," Greg said smiling softly. A few nights ago he and Nick might have had a date. Might being the operative word; Greg still really wasn't sure if it was or wasn't. Until that night Greg had thought Nick to be 100 straight, but now… He wasn't so sure.

The maybe date had happened after a long shift that had first turned into a double and then the beginnings of a triple. In the end, they'd got their perp; a serial rapist who had raped 5 women before they had caught him…13 hours after their shift was supposed to have ended, but they caught him. Grissom had given everyone the night off, which was good considering their normal shift started in one hour.

Greg had been sitting in front of his locker trying to decide what he wanted more; food or sleep. He really needed food, but he doubted he'd be able to stay awake long enough to eat. So he just sat there staring at his locker hoping it would tell him what he should do.

Nick had walked into the locker room and began undressing, distracting Greg from the, 'wisdom locker.' Nick pulled off his shirt revealing his exquisitely toned body.

Greg ogled Nick openly, too tired to even attempt to be subtle. He watched as the muscles on Nick's back bunched and stretched as he put on deodorant. When Nick turned around, Greg's breath had caught in his throat as he soaked up the sight of Nick's sculpted abs and pecs.

Greg had been so engrossed in staring at Nick's body, he didn't notice when Nick's eyes had latched on to him.

"See something you like?" Nick had asked his voice thick with amusement.

Greg jumped and his eyes snapped up to Nick's smiling face.

His face had turned bright red with embarrassment at being caught.

"I'm sorry, I was just… I mean I wasn't… well I was… but I didn't mean…" Greg stammered out, unable to come up with a feasible excuse.

"It's alright G." Nick laughed, "If you're done staring at me…how about dinner, or is it breakfast? I mean I normally eat breakfast this time of night… but I never did eat dinner… or lunch..." Nick had trailed off then realizing he was rambling. For a second Greg thought Nick was nervous, but decided that was impossible. What did Nick have to be nervous about?

"Sure food of any kind sounds good right about now," Greg had answered quickly. Excited at the chance of a meal with Nick, he didn't care if it was breakfast, lunch or dinner. Nick had flashed him a huge grin and after briefly discussing where they should eat, they headed out to their cars planning on meeting at a diner that was half-way between both of their houses.

Dinner had been great; they'd laughed and talked for several hours eating greasy food and drinking cup after cup of cheap coffee. It wasn't until the waitress came and told them they were closing for the night that they'd reluctantly paid their bill and headed out.

As tired as Greg was, he hadn't wanted the meal to end. It had been the most he and Nick had talked in months and being the sole focus of Nick's attention was an amazing feeling.

Nick and Greg often hung out, but rarely was it just the two of them. Often Warrick or Sara and lately, even Catherine hung out with them as well.

It seemed that Nick didn't want the night to end either because as Greg turned to walk to his car, Nick had grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"I don't know about you, but if I go to sleep now my sleep schedule will be all out of whack." Nick had stated his hand still on Greg's shoulder.

"Yeah, me to," Greg had said. Though he knew he could probably sleep for the whole 22 hours they had before having to return to work and still wake up tired.

"So…want to help each other stay awake for a few more hours?" Nick had asked, still not removing his hand from Greg's shoulder.

"Yeah sure, I just got a few new games for x-box. You want to come over and try them out?"

"Sure," Nick drawled before suddenly becoming aware that he was still touching Greg. He had jerked his hand off Greg's shoulder as if it was on fire. "Sounds great," he mumbled looking away, but Greg still noticed the slight blush on his face.

Greg had experienced a momentary feeling of loss when Nick had removed his hand, but he quickly squashed it down and smiled brightly. "Great," he said, "Meet you there?"

"Yeah" Nick replied softly before turning and walking to his car.

They had spent the rest of the night playing video games and slowly moving closer and closer to each other on the couch. After several hours, their shoulders were brushing together occasionally and thighs and hips were touching. Greg loved it and Nick seemed to as well, sending Greg a goofy smile every time their shoulder's brushed.

By sunrise they were both yawning and having a hard time focusing on the game. Greg was trying to pretend he wasn't tired, though he could barely keep his eyes open. He didn't want the night to end, to be more specific he didn't want Nick to move. It was the closest he'd ever been to the man he'd had a slight crush on for years.

Nick didn't seem to want to end it either, though Greg wasn't quite sure of his motivations.

After another 20 minutes of gaming the two were no longer able to deny it. They were exhausted and it was time for sleep.

When Nick had stood up to leave he had wobbled for a second before grabbing onto the back of the couch and steadying himself.

"Nick, you're half-asleep. You can't drive. Sleep in my guest room," Greg had urged.

Nick had resisted at first but agreed in the end. When Greg had gotten up that evening Nick was already gone, but he had left a note.

Greg,

Thanks for letting me stay, you were right the second my head hit the pillow I was out like a light. I had a great time last night and I'd love to do it again soon.

Nick

That had all happened four days ago. Even though a lot of the evening was date-like and Nick's behavior at times was date-like, Greg still wasn't sure if it had been a date. Greg decided not to do or say anything about it either way until Nick did.

And now, Nick was bringing it up. Hopefully he would shed some light on what was going on.

"We should do it again, like maybe tonight?" Nick suggested a hopeful look on his face.

"I'd really like that" Greg said while doing a dance inside.

"Good then it's a date!" Nick quipped. Greg could tell that as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them, but before he could take them back Grissom came in.

"We've got a Priority case, grab your kits and let's go" he ordered turning around and quickly walking back down the hall. Nick and Greg grabbed their kits and hurried after him.

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Grissom filled them in on their way to the scene. "There was a Fire in a VIP suite at the Palm. I'm not sure who the guest is but I know he is a celebrity and that his baby was killed" He was flicking through what information they had.

"So what are we doing, investigating the cause of the fire?" Greg asked from the back seat.

"Among other thing," Grissom replied. "Apparently the baby wasn't killed in the fire"

"Then how'd it die?" Nick questioned turning his eye's momentarily from the road.

"That's what we're there for," Grissom replied." The Sheriff wants this handled quickly, discreetly and with the utmost sensitivity"

Nick snorted, "Then he should have called day shift, they know how to play politics."

Grissom had smiled slightly at that and a few minutes later they pulled into the Palms.

They climbed out of the Denali, grabbed their kits and headed into the casino. An officer escorted them to the correct elevator and informed them the scene was on the 22nd floor.

The second Greg stepped out of the elevator he spotted him sitting on a stretcher. Even after all the years, covered in ash and with an oxygen mask on Greg recognized him immediately. Their eyes locked and Greg couldn't move or speak. His heart started beating franticly; he broke out in a cold sweat, his hands started shaking and his stomach started churning.

The man only held his gaze for a second before looking away, but to Greg it felt like an eternity. Without pausing to explain what was going on to Nick or Grissom, who were looking at him wondering why he'd stopped walking, Greg turned around and walked down the hall.

The farther he got away from the man on the stretcher the faster he moved. When he got to the stairs, he broke into a run. He ran down 22 flights of stairs, vaguely aware of some one calling his name and then later calling his phone. He didn't care, he had to keep moving. He didn't stop until he was a block away from the Palm. He didn't remember passing through the lobby but he must have.

He turned and stared at the Casino he had just fled from. He couldn't begin to grasp what had just happened.

'After all these years…' he thought.

And the night had started so great too.

Little did he know that it was only going to get worse very soon.