Disclaimer: same as chapter one (prologue)

A/N: It's always interesting to look at the stats page of a chaptered fic and see how many people read the first chapter versus how many people read following chapters. Thank you to everyone who makes it this far and further. Thanks for the reviews, they really inspire me to write more and the make me happy.

Unnatural

Chapter 02 – Newbies

Greg bounced happily into the locker room the next evening. The conversation with his parents that morning was as expected. They wanted to know how he was enjoying his new job, if he was sure he didn't want to come back home, and if anyone suspected. He assured them that he was indeed enjoying his job, he didn't want to come back home, and no one seemed to suspect a thing. He hummed a mindless little tune as he traded his jacket for his lab coat and chose a CD he'd brought with him to listen to this shift. Despite the large amount of DNA evidence that was left over for him from days, he was just as happy today as he was yesterday. He put the CD in the CD player and hit 'Play' before starting to analyse the pile of samples. Half way through shift the door to the DNA lab opened.

"Hey, you must be the new guy," a voice sounded through Greg's music. Greg adjusted the glasses he wore (he really thought he should get new ones, the frames on these made him look too much like a science nerd) and turned to look at the speaker and froze in place. Standing in front of him was the sexiest man he'd ever laid eyes on. "My name's Nick Stokes, it's a pleasure to meet you," the man continued in a somewhat thick Texan accent.

"Guh…" Greg was at a loss of words.

"You must be Greg," Nick flashed a charming smile, which didn't help Greg remember his where he'd left his voice. Maybe he'd put it through the GCMS… Greg blinked then nodded.

"Um… yeah, I'm Greg." Very articulate, the voice in his head mocked. And not to mention observant… Shut up, he retorted. Oh, great, he was talking to the voice in his head now. Now that's not crazy…

"Well, I know you're a bit held up with the samples left over from the lazy days Tech, but when you get the chance, can you analyze this blood sample from my vic for anything that doesn't belong there," Nick explained, leaning casually against the table Greg was working at.

"Uh, yeah sure," Greg managed and cleared his throat. "That's what I'm here for." Nick smiled widely,

"Thanks man, page me when you get it finished," he said and left the lab. Greg felt weak at the knees and stared off into space for a few moments. He shook his head and tried to re-establish his focus on analysing the samples he'd been working on when Nick had entered. He still had a dopey grin on his face an hour later when Catherine dropped off her samples.

"Who's got you smiling like that?"

"What're you talking about, Catherine?"

"You look like a love struck puppy," Catherine smiled.

"Oh, um, no one," Greg blushed.

"Uh huh," Catherine continued to smile as though she knew the answer to her own question. "Well, page me when you get these samples done."

The second time Nick made a trip to the lab – this time to get his results – Greg was able to keep his head a bit firmer on his shoulders. "You paged?" Nick grinned as he entered the lab.

"Yep, scanned for foreign elements, found large traces of a common sleeping pill," Greg explained as he leaned toward Nick.

"Really? How large?" Nick asked he rested against the table again, leaning towards Greg and tilting his head a bit to the side.

"Well, from what I am aware of, enough to considerably slow the heart rate and breathing of whoever took it."

"Hmm, that would certainly make it easier to drown a person and make it look like an accident. What do you think?" Nick smiled and Greg felt his own pulse quicken, his breath catching slightly. The soothing sound of Nick's drawl muddled Greg's brain again and Greg leaned against the table as well.

"I'd say that'd do the trick." Before Nick could comment further, Grissom entered the lab.

"Hey Nick, you get those results yet?" Nick and Greg quickly straightened up and took a step away from each other, Greg turning back to the samples Catherine had dropped off.

Over the next few months Greg found himself doing the same little dance with Nick. Nick would bring in his samples, they'd flirt, Greg would analyse the samples and page Nick, they'd flirt some more, then someone would enter the lab – either Nick's partner looking for the results or someone else looking for results or dropping off more samples. Every day he'd come into work to a pile of evidence bags left over from dayshift – which he'd work on until one of the nightshift CSI's brought something in then return to once their samples were taken care of. Somewhere along the line Greg had talked his mother into sending him a more stylish pair of glasses – ones with a thinner wire frame. Then one day a newbie showed up.

Her name was Holly Gribbs and it was her very first day as a CSI. Greg never met her that night and, as it turned out, he never would. Nick and Warrick were tied for promotion to CSI Level 3. (Nick was assigned a trick-roll and as a result the two of them had a slightly strange, slightly suggestive discussion about swabs and which body cavity yielded the best results.) Warrick had apparently stepped out of line on his case and was delegated to shadow duty for Gribbs. Greg was unsure about how the whole thing went down, but he did know that Warrick had left the scene and Holly ended up getting shot.

After that, another newbie entered the Las Vegas Crime Lab – a CSI from San Francisco named Sara Sidle. Tragically, Holly Gribbs hadn't survived the gunshot wound. Jim Brass was demoted back to Homicide and Grissom was promoted from Lead CSI to Supervisor of the nightshift, Catherine (as always) being his second-in-command. After Sara finished her investigation of Holly Gribbs' murder, she chose to remain in Las Vegas.

"Hey Sara," Greg greeted one shift. "What you got for me?"

"I need you to analyse some skin cells that were under my vic's nails and see if you can get any DNA off this hair that was recovered from the scene."

"No problemo," Greg replied as he took the samples.

"Page me when they're done," she said as she left.

"Always do."

- - -

Shift had ended and Greg was in the process of swapping his lab coat with his jacket when Nick entered locker room. "Hey, Greggo, what you up to now?"

"Me? Absolutely nothing," Greg replied as he rifled through the CDs stashed in his locker. "I was just going to go home, nuke a TV dinner and watch whatever unstimulating Saturday morning cartoon they're attempting to use to educate the children of today."

"Sounds fun," Nick grinned and glanced over to see Greg pull a face. He laughed. "I guess not. Hey, why we go grab a bite? Y'know, just you and me."

"Hmm, almost sounds like a date," Greg smiled and glanced over at Nick.

"We don't have to, I mean it's not that big a deal, I just figured, y'know, that we've known each other for a few months now and, well I kinda like you and you seem to kinda like me back, I just-" Nick stopped talking when Greg placed a hand over his mouth. He looked to see Greg almost laughing.

"I'd love to go to breakfast with you, Nicky."

"Alright, let me just grab my coat," Nick said once Greg removed his hand. They took Nick's truck and drove to little diner not too far away – one that was frequented by the CSI's. At work they flirted at every opportunity and it had become part of their normal dialogue, but now that they were in a different setting (and on a date) they were surprised at how nervous they were. "So, um, I don't think I asked you how you were liking Las Vegas," Nick said as he fiddled with a napkin.

"Oh, I, it's nice. But I do miss home sometimes."

"San Gabriel, right?"

"Yeah, with my parents. I missed it when I was at Stanford too," Greg mused. "I mean, I loved university, I loved learning – still do."

"It's just not the same as home," Nick finished. Greg nodded and a waitress approached their table.

"What can I get you boys?" a pale, dark blonde haired woman in a light blue waitress outfit with the name "Marci" on her name tag asked. They placed their orders and continued to talk. Over the next hour their conversation became more natural, like their flirting was at work.

"Can I tell you something and you promise not to laugh?" Greg asked as they sat sipping on decaf coffee.

"Sure."

"I've never date before," Greg blushed.

"Now I find that hard to believe," Nick responded honestly. "You look like the kind of guy anyone, if not everyone, wants to be with."

"You're just biased," Greg grinned and pushed his glasses back into place. "No one wants a four-eyed science geek."

"Maybe I am biased," Nick reached over and took Greg's hand. "But I know I'm the lucky one here."

"Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to play the field when your parents tend to stick close by," Greg said as he took another sip.

"They worry about you, don't they?"

"Worry is an understatement where my parents are concerned. In school they wouldn't let me play sports because of my glasses," Greg explained. It was partially the truth, Greg's parents were afraid something would happen and his contacts would slip, letting out his secret.

"They're probably just afraid of you getting hurt. You're their only child, right?" Greg nodded. "I'm the youngest of seven children – all my older siblings are girls." At least all his Natural siblings had been girls. There had been two Carriers that the family didn't talk about – only to let their children understand the "Carrier situation" and not to say anything.

"Wow, that must've been hell," Greg chuckled.

"Oh no, it was great… compared to sitting in a tub full of scissors." Greg laughed at his new boyfriend's comment. "It was horrible when I was a small child," Nick continued. "They treated me like one of their dolls, dressing me up in dresses and sun hats and putting make-up and nail polish on me." At the image of Nick dressed as a woman, Greg couldn't stop the laughs that escaped his throat, though he did try.

"Oh, my, God, you poor thing," Greg felt like throwing his arms around Nick as the man blushed.

"At least you're amused," Nick commented wryly.

"Aww," Greg moved to the seat beside Nick and did wrap his arms around the man. "It's okay. You're still all man to me." They grinned at each other as the smiling waitress brought them their bill – she'd heard the entire conversation and thought it was cute. They paid for their breakfast and exited the diner – well, Nick paid as he'd insisted that it was proper since he'd asked Greg out. They walked out hand-in-hand, their first date leaving them waiting for their second.

- 30 -

End Chapter Two

chapter updated: December 20, 2007