Series: CSI
Title: Slowly, Chapter 2
Written On: 16 February 2005
Rating: PG-15
Pairing: Gil/Greg
Words: 2,878
Warnings: PWP, Citrus.
Disclaimer: I wish they were mine. Ohh yes. I do.
Summary: Greg and Grissom's relationship progresses!

What was the word?

Greg flung himself onto his bed, just having come in from work at 10 AM. He was exhausted, but he didn't care. He had other things to think about.

Giddy, he decided. Yes that had to be the word. That was what he was feeling. It had taken him a good half an hour to get past the shock and incredulity after Grissom had left him sitting in the lab, completely disheveled. The fact that he could still taste him though..God, that was reality at its finest.

Greg crossed his arms under his head and stared at the ceiling. He couldn't help smiling while he kicked off his shoes, shaking his head. He just couldn't believe it. But it was happening, so he had to push his recurring disbelief away.

Greg thought about what Grissom had said to him before. That he wasn't interested in just sex. He had to laugh at himself for wondering if that meant he wasn't interested in sex at all, but that obviously hadn't been the case. But it was still confusing. He'd have to ask at dinner.

"Oh that's right," Greg whispered. Dinner. He'd forgotten in his glee that Grissom wanted to go out to dinner after work. He would have to remember to dress nicely.

He sighed and closed his eyes. As much as he wanted to think about Grissom, he couldn't shake off the urge to sleep. Besides, he had dreams to look forward to.

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Grissom dressed much as he usually did, except he was careful to leave one of the buttons on his shirt unbuttoned. He shook his head at himself and buttoned it, feeling very much like a twelve year-old for caring what Greg thought about his shirt and how he wore it.

It really was too bad that most of his time would be spent in the field today. He'd so wanted to see every reaction that Greg had today. He'd put Greg into a totally different environment at the lab, and he wondered how that would affect him.

"He's not your science experiment," Grissom told himself. "You think he's attractive. Remember that."

Tightening his tie, Grissom frowned at the mirror. He hadn't done this in a while. He certainly hadn't gone to these extremes for anyone in a while. And he very certainly had not felt this way for anyone in a while.

It wasn't just attraction.

He silently cursed himself for acting on his plans to seduce Greg in the lab. He'd thought it would be a good way to get Greg's attention. But he realized that it was horribly wrong now. He'd told Greg what he wanted. And Greg had sat there and, though a bit breathlessly, told him that he wanted the same thing. But he couldn't help thinking that somehow he'd given Greg the wrong reasons to want to be with him.

He sighed. He would have to wait and see. Things were already in motion at this point. And truthfully, he didn't want them to stop.

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The day at the lab passed just as any other day would. No one bothered to notice - or at least hadn't asked about it, anyway - that instead of Greg's usual rock band t-shirt and jeans he wore a deep scarlet silk dress shirt and pressed black pants. Actually it didn't bother him much at all. He was quite relieved that all he got was a few lingering glances instead of questions. When it was time for shift to end, though, things got a little weird.

"Hey Greggo, what're you all dressed up for?"

Greg took off his lab jacket and hung it in his locker, suppressing a grin as best he could. He turned around to face Nick while Nick changed clothes. He leaned back against the lockers coolly.

"I'm going out to dinner tonight." He put particular emphasis on the word I'm for some reason. He chuckled.

"Oh yeah?" Nick didn't pause, but went right on undressing himself. "And who are you going out with this time?"

"Grissom."

This time Nick did pause and turned to look at Greg like he'd just eaten a bug.

"You're having dinner with Grissom? Why?"

"It's a date," Greg stated seriously.

Nick gaped and then smiled like he'd just gotten the punch line to a joke, continuing to dress himself. "Sure Greggo, whatever you say."

Greg chuckled and walked out of the locker room, thinking to himself that he'd believe him when he walked into the lab someday with his tongue halfway down Grissom's throat.

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Grissom locked his office carefully, turning to see Greg standing there waiting for him.

"So where are we going to eat, Gris?"

Grissom blinked at him, shaking off how stunning Greg looked in silk.

"Reservations at L'obscuritŠ˜, if you're up for it."

"I've never heard of that place." Greg blinked slowly. What sort of place was Gil taking him that had a name like that?

Grissom smiled at him and walked out of the lab, holding the door open for Greg. The sweet, warm air made him pause for a second. He liked being outside.

"Well, you like trying new things right?"

Greg tilted his head at Grissom. He was sure there was a deeper meaning to those words than he was catching on to. And why had he stopped to look at the sun that was barely coming up over the horizon?

"Come on Gris, you see that every day." Greg cautiously took Grissom's hand and smiled when he felt it squeezing his own.

"Right. Well I guess I should fill you in, then. Let's take my car." They walked all the way to Grissom's car hand-in-hand.

Greg hopped up into the passenger's seat of Grissom's SUV happily. Buckling his seat belt, he looked over at Grissom, who was looking back at him and smiling. He smiled back.

"L'obscuritŠ˜ is the only restaurant I know that is open at 8AM. Their daily schedule fits those of people like us who have supper in the morning and breakfast at midnight."

"Oh, I gotcha. Sill never heard of it before."

Grissom shook his head and started the car.

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"Reservations for Grissom."

"Ah, yes yes. Here we are, right this way, sir."

Grissom followed the tall and obviously French man back to the table he had reserved for him and Greg and smiled when two dark-stained chairs were pulled out for them. They were handed menus, and Grissom ordered a bottle of 1909 California Zinfandel. This clearly surprised Greg, who sat and stared at him for a couple seconds before clearing his throat and looking back down at the menu. He chuckled.

"You'll like this wine."

"Okay."

Grissom, who already knew what he was going to have, took the moment to admire the restaurant. He liked this place very much. The light was always a bit dim, because the entirety of the restaurant was lit with small black candles dotted about everywhere. There were silver chandeliers hung here and there, which went entirely perfectly with the almost-black wallpaper, because there were tiny flecks of silver in it that shone when the candlelight moved over them.

He looked back at Greg, who had put his menu down and was now watching him with the faintest grin on his face.

"What is it?"

"You were really forward yesterday."

Grissom tilted his head in disbelief. He couldn't possibly have been thinking the same thing that he was. Greg read this gesture as a sign to elaborate, so he did.

"Well it was totally uncharacteristic of you, don't you think?"

Grissom didn't have a chance to reply as the waiter came back with the wine, and they ordered.

Grissom cleared his throat. "I'll have the Aglio e Olio, light on the oil, please."

He looked to Greg, who was smiling and looking up at the waiter.

"And I'll have the Fettucine al Limone, please."

Greg saying please was cute, Grissom decided. He made a mental note of that.

The waiter took their menus and Grissom took the opportunity to tease Greg.

"I didn't think you'd order Italian."

Greg laughed. "Are you kidding? I love Italian. I didn't want to tell you, but I'm not a French person. I'm glad this place is hybrid. So you say that's good huh?"

Greg motioned to the wine Grissom had just finished opening and pouring into their glasses.

"Well, try it."

Greg obliged, nodding to him before taking a sip.

"Wow.."

Grissom smiled and had a sip himself. Perfect. Dark, rich, elegant. Just the mood he wanted to set off. That's why he chose this place to begin with.

"As you were saying, Greg."

Greg sat up a little. He seemed nervous now, like he was treading on thin ice.

"I just never thought.."

Truthfully he didn't know what to say now. He'd thought it over. All he had to do is ask if it was okay if they had sex. But being with Grissom like this was great, and he didn't want to ruin it.

"Never thought what?"

"I never thought you would date me. Like this. That doesn't make sense. I mean, date me romantically, not that there is any other kind of dating, but I mean we do breakfast - or supper, I mean, breakfast for normal people, not that we're not normal - anyway, we do that all the time, and this is different --"

"Greg."

Greg stopped talking. He did that when he was nervous. He hated it, but it was uncontrollable. Nervous babble. Bleh.

Grissom was smiling at him again. That was the best reassurance he could ever ask for.

"Greg, I realize that.." He didn't know how to word what he wanted to say. "..that I'm not the best at this sort of thing. I wanted to get your attention. I was sure that you were interested, but I didn't know how to progress."

Greg nodded, chuckling. "Well..you got my attention."

Their food arrived and they ate, happily chatting together. Greg was surprised at how much he actually got Gil to open up to him. He'd never seen anything like it the entire time he had worked with him. Slowly, through their date, Grissom turned into a normal person.

Maybe it was the wine.

"Greg, I've never told anyone this before but I think I can trust you with it."

Greg took another sip of his wine as he finished up what was left of his Limone. "Go ahead."

"I think I might be in love with you."

He said it simply as if he were saying that trees are green or that the brine fly was in the family Ephydridae.

Greg blinked. He didn't really know how to react to having heard that, so he sat there for a couple seconds while Grissom sipped his wine. He knew he wasn't drunk.

Gil didn't give him a lot of time to respond. He didn't know what kind of reaction he was planning on getting from Greg. He felt detached now, like someone had flung him off a cliff and he had stood at the top watching himself fall. He wondered just what the hell he was thinking, he wondered if telling Greg this would destroy his hopes of ever being with him, and he wondered if Greg might say the same thing back and want to be with him after all, because that was the scariest thing he could think of at the moment.

Instead Greg said nothing. He sat there watching him, lips slightly parted, eyes showing right through to his own confusion.

Gil smiled and stood up.

"Ready to go?"

Greg's breath wandered back to him somehow. "Yeah," he breathed.

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Greg buckled himself in, expecting Grissom to be silent the rest of the way back to the lab, drop him off, and say he'd see him at work the day after next because tomorrow was Greg's day off. But he refused to let it go down like that. As soon as Gil got into the SUV, he looked straight ahead and just said it.

"C-can we..go to your place?"

Gil looked over at him. He knew exactly what that meant. Oh fuck. So they weren't on the same page after all.

"Greg, I --"

"Please.." Greg looked down at his lap. His hands were balled into fists as tight as he could get them. He suddenly seemed to be trying really hard to force himself to breathe. "I need this chance."

Gil swallowed and started the car. He'd lost it. He'd lost his internal battle right there.

He found his way back to his home with ease, barely thinking about his driving all the way there.

Gil found himself nervous, for once. It was hard to even get his key in the door. Greg was standing a good foot away, he hadn't even gotten close yet.

Greg noticed. He frowned and took the keys from Gil's hands, opened the door, and took Gil's hand. He looked at him for a second before leading him inside, and turned and locked the door back. He tossed the keys on the coffee table.

"Bed?"

Gil's heart jumped at the word. "In there." He nodded in the direction of his bedroom.

Greg took his hand and led him to the bedroom, where he began getting undressed. He tried not to pay attention to the way Gil slowly sat on the bed, and seemed to undress at about one-fourth the speed that he was.

Greg took the liberty of stopping at his pants and going to help Gil remove his clothes. He left him only clad in his pants and underwear, and then he took off his own pants.

"Lay back on the bed."

Gil swallowed and took in a deep breath, doing as Greg said.

Greg crawled on top of Gil, straddling his waist before leaning down to kiss him softly. He smiled at Gil and pressed his upper body against Gil's, scooting back a little so he could lay his head on Gil's chest.

Gil found himself wrapping his arms around Greg before he could stop himself. His back was incredibly warm, he noted. And this..this was perfect. But, he didn't understand. Hadn't Greg wanted to have sex with him? He wasn't moving. Gil could feel his breath ghosting across his chest, even and unhurried. His hand was lying next to his face, on his ribs, unmoving.

Could he really just want to sleep?

Gil closed his eyes and decided to drink the moment, even if it wasn't going to last. But it did last. It lasted until the final rays of sunlight came through his living room windows and the night slowly crept up on him.

Gil awoke to find Greg in the very same place he had left him. He was amazed that anyone could sleep without moving even a tiny bit. There did seem to be a little drool on his chest, though. But that was cute.

He ran his fingers through Greg's hair slowly and felt his breathing change.

"Mm.."

Greg slowly opened his eyes. It only took a second or two for him to get his bearings about where he was, and he tightened his arms around Grissom.

"Don't leave," Greg whispered.

"Greg..I have to go to work."

Greg sighed and rolled off of him, sitting on the edge of the bed with his back toward Grissom.

"Can I stay, then?"

Gil thought about it for a moment before sitting up and going to sit next to Greg.

"What was last night about?"

Greg looked at him. "I thought I told you I don't want this relationship to be all sex either."

Gil nodded. Then he grinned. "But it can be about it a little bit."

Greg looked up at him and laughed, lying back on the bed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. You still haven't answered my question."

"What question?"

Greg sat up again, filled with a new hope. "Can I stay?"

"No."

"Grissom, please." He gave Grissom his best sarcastic face. "Like I'm really going to burn your place down or something."

"Call me Gil, Greg, and yes you probably will. Would."

"Requires a lot of trust doesn't it?"

"What does?"

"Letting someone stay at your place while you're not there. Especially someone as rambunctious and energetic as me. Ahh, I see." Greg shook his finger at Gil. "You just don't want me staying here because you're afraid I'll find out something about you that you might not want me to know."

Grissom sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking at Greg. He hadn't even realized he was doing that. But Greg was right.

"Okay. Please Greg, don't touch anything."

"Awesome! I promise nothing will happen, I won't even um. Well yes, I probably will cook something, I don't want to starve. You do have pancake mix right? I love pancakes."

"Greg."

"Right."

Grissom laughed and kissed Greg soundly before heading off to the bathroom. He didn't know if he could go through with this to the end, but he was going to try. Obviously Greg was willing to be patient with him. And anyway, he really liked his energy.

He had a good feeling about this.