Title: Keeping

Pairing: David/Tim (OMC.) David/Greg

Rating: R (for language)

Summary: Jacqui tries to understand. With lots of angst, a little exposition, and a resolution (of sorts).

Disclaimer: Either Jerry Bruckheimer is 19, female and Irish, or this isn't mine. I'll let you figure it out.

Greg woke up tangled in his blanket, still dressed. A good thing, he thought. No matter how much he loved Jacqui, he didn't think he could handle her seeing… that. His head still pounding, he crawled into the bathroom to shower, scrubbing his stomach for so long he was sure he'd have no skin left be the time he was through.

Twenty minutes later, he found Jacqui asleep on the couch.

"Hey."

"Sorry Greg. I was going to leave once you were asleep, but I kinda dozed off."

"S'okay. You want some coffee?"

"Sure."

She joined him in the kitchen, shuffling around, studiously avoiding eye contact.

"Jacq, you're going to have to look at me sometime."

"Sorry, just… Do you remember last night?"

"Not really. I can remember the bar, and tequila, but after that, everything's kind of a blur…"

That's a lie, he remembers everything. But he's not sure how much she knows, and he's embarrassed enough by the whole thing to want to avoid discussion.

She doesn't believe him. Or at least, if she does, she isn't going to let him ignore it.

"You were in the bathroom. With David, and…"

"Yeah… I know."

She sighed. "Look Greg, I know I shouldn't…"

"Then don't." But he smiled, or tried to smile. He didn't want to sound ungrateful, but this was the last conversation he wanted to be having.

"You know me better then that." She smiled to, trying to reassure him. "But you can see my point right? Last week you were… well, straight. Now you're… It's confusing."

"How do you think I feel?" This time a genuine smile.

"What can I say? If you're gay or whatever, more power to you. If you're after David… You've got some shitty timing."

"Yeah… I know."

She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. "I'll see you at work, okay?"

"Okay."

"Nick, can you do me a favour?"

"Sure Greggo, what's up?"

"David just paged me to get my results, and… Can you get them for me?"

Nick looked concerned. "What's up G?"

"Nothing really… Nothing. Just… We kind of had a… disagreement, last night, and I think I should leave him a while before I see him, okay?"

"So you had a fight with Hodges, and now you're afraid to talk to him?"

"Something like that, yeah."

Greg was glad Nick was too distracted by the microscope to pay attention to his face.

"Fine, I'll get your results, but you owe me."

"Thanks man."

He was about to leave when Catherine arrived.

"What's up with Hodges?"

"How do you mean?"

"I went into get my results and he nearly hit me."

"How's that different to normal?"

"He actually nearly hit me. I swear, there's like a solid block of rage surrounding the trace lab. I'd advise collecting results in a group, hopefully he's too afraid of Grissom to wipe out the entire shift."

She nodded at the two men before heading off to DNA.

"How important are those results?"

"What? You're not afraid of Hodges, are you?" Greg managed a smile.

"No… I just think there's no point antagonising him."

"Well he's more likely to be pissed off if you keep him waiting."

"Good point." Nick went to leave. "I wonder if Warrick needs results…"

"Paint fleck were from a green Ford."

"Thanks Nick."

"Catherine wasn't kidding. He threw a coke can at me."

" What?"

"It was empty… Seriously man, what'd you do?"

"What? You think this is my fault?"

"You fought with him. What else?"

Greg tried to steer the conversation away from himself.

"Do you really think Hodges would let me affect him that much? I don't know, maybe he got dumped or something."

"I guess. Whatever it is, I hope he sorts it out. If tries that with Ecklie, I doubt he'll be here much longer."

"What's wrong Archie?"

"Greg, I don't know what happened with you and David, but you better fix it. He just yelled at Bobby."

"Why does everybody think this is my fault? It's not like David's always been the most enthusiastic of people."

"I'm not stupid. The two of you were in the bathroom, when he left you were crying, and now he's like this. I really, really don't care what the fuck happened, but you better sort it out or I'll get him to tell me, and then I'll tell Jacqui, and…"

"No! Please Archie…"

"I don't care Greg. Just sort it out."

Catherine really hadn't been kidding about the bubble of rage surrounding the trace lab. Greg could practically feel it as he walked in the door.

"I gave Stokes your results."

"I know."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Archie…"

"I figured it wasn't out of a genuine regard for my well being."

"They're worried about you."

"I haven't done anything. If Bobby's going to ask stupid questions he's going to get yelled at. He's a big boy, he'll get over it."

"David…"

"What?"

"This isn't like you."

"I'm an asshole Greg. Anybody will verify."

"You're not vindictive."

"I'm entitled to be in a bad mood, given the circumstances."

"What circumstances?"

"Don't act stupid Greg."

"I didn't mean…"

"Well, whatever you did mean doesn't matter. Suffice to say my boyfriend was displeased to come over for breakfast after what he thought was a night I spent with my friends to find me covered in bite marks. So I don't really give a fuck what your intentions were, yesterday or right now. Now Get. Out. Of. My. Lab."

He turned away, leaving Greg wishing he'd just hit him. At least then he'd have some idea of where he stood.

"I didn't tell anyone."

"I know."

"Don't get me wrong… I wanted to. Really bad. But I figured I had to wait until I knew all the facts before anybody else does."

"I don't even think I have all the facts." Greg was picking at his food.

"I'm trying to be compassionate…"

"But you wouldn't be you if you didn't butt in?"

"I guess not." She smiled gently and stroked the back of his hand. "What's going on Greg? I mean, when I asked you what the problem with David was yesterday, I wasn't expecting…"

"Neither was I, at the time." He's avoiding answering the question she hasn't quite asked. He can tell she knows it too, but it's not just his story to tell, and David's pissed at him enough as it is without dragging anyone else into the mess.

But she's not going to let him get away that easily.

"Greg…"

"I don't know what I was thinking Jacqui. Too much tequila, I think. And a complete lack of good judgment on my part."

"So no change there then."

That managed to raise a smile.

"But I fucked up. I fucked up bad. And I think Tim dumped him, and, and…"

"Hey. It wasn't just you. It takes two…"

"To tango?"

"I was going to say have sex in a bathroom, but tango works too."

He laughed this time. "I started it. I fucked up."

"So you said."

"I just… I don't know how to fix this."

"You'll figure it out."

"I don't know if I will."

"You'd better." She tried to keep it light, but he could hear the edge in her voice. "I don't think the others can handle this for very much longer."

The shift's over when Greg finds David out behind the lab, smoking.

"You don't smoke."

"Go away."

He didn't. Instead, he moves in, sitting down as close to David as he thinks the other man will allow.

"Go away Greg."

"You shouldn't smoke."

"Because you get a say in that."

There was silence for a moment.

"Wendy said…"

"That Tim ditched me? Yeah. So, mission accomplished."

"I didn't mean…"

"Of course you did. Why else?"

David sounds detached now, and somehow, that's worse them the anger from earlier.

"Couldn't you have blamed me? Say your drunken ex-boyfriend assaulted you? That it wasn't your fault."

"Ex-boyfriend? I know you're a fan of exaggeration, but that's pushing it."

"I'm not exaggerating…"

"We didn't have a relationship Greg. We had an extended one night stand."

And that hurts. Because it's the truth, though he doesn't want to admit it.

He reaches out to touch David's cheek, but he pulls away.

"Don't touch me."

"David…"

"Just don't Greg. You've done enough."

"Did you love him?"

David snorts. "Don't be stupid."

"What?"

"I don't fall in love that easily. Especially not when I'm still in love with someone else.

"Oh."

"Yes. 'Oh'. I was wondering if you still remembered that."

David's on his feet now, pacing angrily back and forth.

"I figured you'd have forgotten by now. I mean, it apparently meant so little to you at the time. But it's not like I can blame you, can I? I mean, you were always clear about everything being just about sex, weren't you? I guess it was my fault for thinking five months of near-constant fucking warranted more of a brush-off then 'I don't know what you think this is, but it's just about sex, right?' Or did I miss that class in dealing with obnoxious closet-cases?"

Greg's on his feet now, trying to come up with an answer, for himself just as much as for David.

"David, I'm sorry…"

"You're sorry? Good to know. I tell you I love you and you start ignoring me, but that's okay, because you're sorry. And I start seeing someone else, and you manage to fuck that up to, but again, it's all right, because you're sorry?"

David's angrier then Greg's ever seen him, and he tries to get a word in, tries to explain, but he gets cut off again.

"Is this how it's going to be? I meet someone, you decide that's not on and blow me in a bathroom? Because we both know I'm pathetic enough for that to work. And this way, you don't have to worry about commitment, or relationships, but you still get to know that I love you. That I can't love anyone else as long as you're around."

Greg tries to grab him, tries to get him to stand still for a moment, but he pulls out of his grasp.

"Because I'm done with this, okay? You've fucked up my life enough."

He finally manages to hold him still.

"David… That's not what I wanted, it never was… I just…"

"I told you not to touch me."

And David pulls out of his grasp, storming back inside, and Greg's body switches to autopilot as he follows him. Through the halls to the break room, and it's fuller then usual and there're alarms going off in Greg's head but moments like this call for a big gesture and he's pretty sure this is as big as it can get.

So he grabs David's arm, turns him around and gets the lapels of his lab coat in his hands before pulling him closer and pressing their lips together. And he knows if he lets himself, he'll stay there forever, so he counts to twenty slowly, before breaking the kiss, and he can feel silence in the room as he pulls David even closer to whisper in his ear.

"I do love you. I always did, but I was scared. I'm not scared anymore."

And David says nothing. He just pulls his lab coat out of Greg's hands and leaves the room. And Greg stands there, alone, whilst everyone else slowly exits, and he tries to reassure himself that he's done all he can, but he's still wishing he hadn't been stupid enough to mess things us in the first place.

It's two days later and he's in the diner with Jacqui, and he's staring at his coffee again. It's the only thing on the table, which is weird because Jacqui always orders pancakes, and he's still wondering about that when he realizes Jacqui's not sitting across from him anymore.

David's hands are flat on the table, and he looks straight at Greg.

"I don't know what I'm doing here."

Greg's smile is so big he thinks it may actually split his face in half, and he reaches across to take David's hand. And David tried to resist, but Greg won't let go, lacing their fingers together.

"Neither do I. But we'll figure it out."