I don't own the song! Just borrowed it for a chapter or so!


They rode together to the lab, Greg clad in a pair of jeans and a blue polo shirt that seemed to have been washed in his brunette friend's cologne. It made concentration hard when Greg felt as if he were wrapped in Nick Stokes. But they arrived at the lab and he managed to make it to his office before anyone saw him and noticed he was still limping. Nick had, on the car ride over, invited Greg to stay at his home until he could find himself a new place, empty of memories of Victor. Thinking about it made him jittery, and he spaced out a lot that day. It didn't affect his work, everyone got their evidence back with full, even in depth answers, but they noticed that he squirmed a lot more than usual.

Nick, however, was having a rough day. The crime scene he was sent to process had three dead bodies, and in his mind, every one of them was Greg, beaten and bloody on the floor. He was anxious to get back to the lab to check that the blonde was, indeed, OK. He was so out of rhythm that Catherine noticed and began asking questions, but he brushed her off. When they were driving back to the lab at noon, Catherine couldn't drive fast enough for him, so he began writing his report to pass the time. So jacked up was he that it was finished by the time they got there, meaning they could spare time to eat lunch with the rest of the crew instead of just dropped off their evidence and eating while they worked. Catherine flashed him a grateful, if confused, smile as they logged the evidence and headed towards the break room. Hodges, Sara, and Grissom were all seated at the table, Warrick standing against the wall as he chatted to Mia, sitting off to the side. Nick strolled in and headed for Warrick, Catherine making a beeline for Sara. He was there maybe five minutes when the door opened and Greg limped in, trying not to draw attention to himself. Warrick began eyeing him with the look of someone trying to figure out a puzzle as soon as he entered the room. Nick was giving him a weird look until Mia leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"He's been doing that all day, says there's something off about Greg," she told him conspiratorially. Nick nodded, and then jumped a foot in the air as Warrick sprayed his drink everywhere; evidently he solved his puzzle. The CSIs all exclaimed loudly, but Warrick was pointing at Greg making strangling noises.

"What's wrong Rick?" Nick asked. Warrick looked back at him incredulously.

"Greg's…he…he's wearing your clothes man!" Warrick choked out. Greg froze in spot when everyone turned towards him, noting the relatively calm shirt he was wearing as opposed to the crazy ones he usually had on, and the too-big jeans. Nick went straight to the defensive, trying to protect him.

"How do you know those are my clothes?" he demanded.

"I bought them for you!" came the answer from the African-American. Nick stopped moving, remembering that they had indeed been his birthday present last year.

"Oh…well that is damning evidence…" All eyes were on the clothes-sharing pair until Catherine burst out laughing, then everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to regain her composure.

"That's why you were so anxious to get back!" she crowed. "I knew you were gay Nicky, but Greg?! I had no idea!" And with that she went off in to peals of laughter again, holding on to her sides. Eyes widened all around as the two accused stammered and searched for the right words to make up an excuse with.

"That's not what happened at all!" Nick protested.

"I didn't know you were gay, Nick." Greg mentioned quietly. Unashamed, Nick just shrugged and looked him in the eye, speaking without thinking.

"Well I didn't know you were gay until last night," he countered. Catcalls and whistles sounded throughout the break room and Nick slapped his hands over his eyes in embarrassment. "That came out wrong!" he shouted over their noise. He uncovered his eyes but when he looked to his fellow accused he found him shaking in the same frightened manner than he had the night before, obviously scared by the memories. Nick stepped over to him quickly, worried. Another round of catcalls sounded, but when they saw what Nick saw there was a stunned silence.

"Greg?" Nick called his name, but Greg's hand shook so bad he dropped his coffee mug and it shattered, making the girls cry out in surprise. Greg took a quick, guilty step back, closing his eyes and breathing fast. Nick stepped right in to glass, grabbing his arms and steadying him, forgetting all about the others.

"Greg, it's ok now," he tried again. Greg looked at him and nodded, his eyes a bit unsure. He covered his face with his hands, sinking in to a handy chair that just happened to be right behind him. He looked in to the curious, worried faces of his coworkers and took a deep, steadying breath. With Nick's hand on his shoulder, he found the strength to tell them the truth of what happened, down to the details that flooded Nick with fury. But the bastard was dead; he couldn't hurt Greg any longer. The night shift listened in silence, and that silence reigned when the story came to a conclusion. Greg looked at his still shaking hands, unable to look his friends in the eye, fearing what he might find there. He was surprised when they surged forward en masse and caught him in the middle of a tight group hug, forgetting about the glass on the floor. As he was caught in the tangle of arms and faces, a calloused hand wound it's fingers in with his and squeezed reassuringly, but when the hug separated, the hand let go and floated away. Greg, however, knew just what Nick had done, and smiled at him in thanks. Nick gave him a nod. Sara, back in her seat at the table, looked at the brunette man with an indistinguishable emotion on her face.

"So you…you killed for him," she stated finally. There was a collective intake of breath as they all realized how true this was. Nick stared at her as the truth sank in to him finally. He had been so worried, so wrapped up in Greg that he hadn't even stopped to think about it. He had killed a man. He had killed a man to protect Greg. A man without a weapon. Greg's eyes were shining up at him and he fell back against the wall and slid down. The tension in the room broke immediately when he hit the ground in the middle of the pile of glass shards and howled, bolting back on to his feet. Laughter rang out instead. They let him stand there, twitching, while they fought over who was responsible for picking glass out of Nick's pants until, with uncharacteristic boldness, Greg pulled out a pair of tweezers, bent Nick over the table, and went to work without a word. The team didn't even bother muffling their laughter.

"This is most humiliating," Nick pouted. He felt Greg pat him on the head, then go back to pulled the glass out. When he was done, he leaned over the reluctant patient's shoulder and grinned.

"You want me to sterilize it?" he asked mischievously, causing more catcalls and hoots of laughter. Nick stood straight and glared at them all.

"I can do it myself!" he declared, grabbing the bottle of peroxide dangling from Greg's slender hand. The blonde just grinned up at him, which for some reason made Nick stop breathing. He stammered some more, but settled for rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. Grissom looked at his watch and shook his head, announcing that they all had to get back to work. Greg received many pats on the back and hand shakes as they all told him they were glad he was ok now, and then he limped back to his lab. He worked on identifying an unknown blue substance found at Sara's crime scene for a few minutes before he heard someone behind him.

"Is that why you put in so many extra hours?" It was Nick. Greg turned on his stool and nodded solemnly. Greg amused himself in the off hours by picking up coffee cups from the break room and candy wrappers from the locker room floor and trying to determine who had handled them, what time they had drank or eaten what was inside. He created whole case scenarios and pretend murder scenes in the lab, staying late to 'solve' them so he didn't have to go home to Victor. How he remained so energized with so little sleep was beyond even him. Nick nodded too and came further in to the room, shoving his hands shyly in his pockets.

"So now that you don't have to, what are you going to do?" he asked. Greg considered this. It meant many more free hours to do what he wished. What he wished was for Nick's hand to wind in to his hair once more. Instead of saying that, he shrugged.

"I don't know," he answered. Nick bobbed his head, more to himself it seemed.

"Well I was wondering if…ah..." He lost his nerve right in the middle of the sentence, making Greg cock his head to the side.

"If?" he prompted. Nick chuckled nervously and removed one hand from his pocket to run in through his brown hair.

"If you wanted to get some breakfast together after shift?" came the hurried answer. Greg let him suffer for only so long as it took his smile to light up the whole room, calming Nick significantly.

"How about we just go back to your place and I'll make you some pancakes?" he countered. Nick's smile was even bigger than his as he agreed, then left for his next assignment. Greg turned back to his microscope and immediately knew what the substance was. A special type of blue rubber used to make a 'bridge' when doing dental work. He scribbled a few notes, and then typed some things in to the system, already knowing he was right but knowing that Sara would want paper results. Soon after, Grissom's head came up from where he was sitting at his own desk, and he smiled at the sound of the loud rock and roll that boomed throughout the lab. As each person came in from their shift in the morning hours, they each stopped with a smile to watch the little lab rat Greg Sanders dance around with his air guitar and sun glasses, banging his head around to the beat as he processed evidence with quick, skilled hands. Nick was the last to come in. He stopped walking when Greg burst out of his own door, broom/guitar in hand, skidding on the floor on his knees and punching the air like he'd just finished a stage performance. The next song started with a guitar solo and, much to the amusement of Nick – and Catherine and Warrick who were coming from the opposite direction – he lay on his back and strummed his imaginary guitar while arching off the ground, his face scrunched in to 'rock and roll pose'.

"Rock on baby," Catherine called, doing her own little fancy jig. Greg grinned at them, still not spotting Nick. He scrambled to his feet and continued with his guitaring. Warrick pulled two pens from his pocket and made at if whacking away at a drum set very seriously. Sara stumbled out to see what was going on and had soon joined in dancing about. Nick watched in fascination until the song ended and came on to a song he knew very well. So, throwing inhibitions aside, Nick skidded over with a water bottle microphone and took up the vocals, gaining smiles all around when he winked at Greg while singing the first line.

Hey, uh huh huh
Hey, uh huh huh

What I like about you, you hold me tight
Tell me I'm the only one, wanna come over tonight, yeah

You're whispering in my ear
Tell me all the things that I wanna to hear, 'cause that's true
That's what I like about you

What I like about you, you really know how to dance
When you go up, down, jump around, think about true romance, yeah

You're whispering in my ear
Tell me all the things that I wanna to hear, 'cause that's true
That's what I like about you
That's what I like about you
That's what I like about you

Wahh!

Hey!

What I like about you, you keep me warm at night
Never wanna' let you go, know you make me feel alright, yeah

You're whispering in my ear
Tell me all the things that I wanna to hear, 'cause that's true
That's what I like about you
That's what I like about you
That's what I like about you
That's what I like about you (whispered)
That's what I like about you (whispered)
That's what I like about you (whispered)
That's what I like about you (whispered)

Hey, uh huh huh, hey hey hey
Hey, uh huh huh, brrr
Hey, uh huh huh, hey

Nick gave all he had, singing his little old heart out even though he was quite aware that he couldn't sing worth a dime. But it was fun. The girl danced their feet off and Warrick banged the life out of his drums. And Greg, oh sweet Greg, was everywhere at once. He bounced up and down, he swung about, and he ended up back to back with Nick, backing up the vocals, all the while playing his broom guitar. As they were singing the last of it, and the song was fading away, they heard a throat being cleared and turned to see Grissom and Hodges there, calmly observing the chaos thumping about in the halls. The team pulled on their best guilty faces as they were scrutinized, that is until Grissom cleared his throat again and spoke.

"I can sing a mean Cher solo," he announced, and everyone burst in to laughter at the thought of it. Instead of reprimanding them, he told them all to go home to bed and perhaps they could sing a bit of Billy Joel tomorrow? When the music was shut off everyone grabbed their stuff, some heading for the parking lot, some for the locker room. Greg found Nick waiting for him by the Denali that Nick drove. He hopped in without a word and the sped off the Nick's house. Pancakes ahoy, Greg thought as they pulled in the driveway.