Chapter 9

Groaning into wakefulness, as his stomach rumbled again, Greg sat up and rubbed at his eyes. The already familiar weight of Nick, still sleeping heavily beside him, made him smile, even as his stomach protested its hollowness yet again.

Leaning over Nick, he ran his fingers lightly through the other man's dark hair, before placing a soft kiss on Nick's forehead, Greg finally rose from the bed. Before leaving the room, he glanced quickly at the clock, and saw it was nearing one a.m. Grissom would be expecting them both back at the lab soon.

In the kitchen, as he set up the coffee pot and pulled the leftover fajitas from the fridge, he thought back to the afternoon before. The memory of Nick's hands on his body had Greg stifling a moan, biting the inside of his cheek again.

"Hey!" Nick's quiet voice caused Greg to nearly drop the plastic microwave container.

Readjusting his grip on the container, Greg turned to regard Nick, who was leaning against the doorjamb leading to the living room. Nick wore a pair of gray cotton athletic shorts, and his hair was still sleep mussed. He had his arms crossed casually over his bare chest, causing the muscles in them to bulge slightly under his skin.

"You gonna heat that up, so we can eat, or are you going to stand there and stare at me?" Nick asked, nodding towards the container in Greg's hand.

"I think I'll put this in the microwave, then stare at you," Greg grinned, moving towards the microwave, as he popped the lid open to vent. After setting the microwave for three minutes, Greg padded over to stand in front of Nick.

Resting his hands on Nick's arms, where they were still crossed over his chest, Greg allowed his grin to become a full blown smile, and leaned into the older man.

Nick uncrossed his arms, snaking them around Greg's waist.

As their lips met, Greg pressed himself against Nick, and their growing arousals brushed together. Greg knew it had been the wrong thing to do, nearly the instant he did it, but by then, it was too late. Nick froze, the sudden fear in his eyes unmistakable. It was gone almost as quickly as it had come, but it had still been there, and it nearly killed Greg to see it, and know he had caused that look in Nick's eyes.

Pulling back, Greg crossed his arms, tucking his hands under them to hide the way they were suddenly trembling. Stammering, tears shimmering in his eyes, Greg said, "I-I'm sorry, Nicky! I'm so sorry!"

Nick took a step toward Greg. Looking earnestly into Greg's eyes, he said, "It's okay, G. You didn't do anything wrong. I have to test my boundaries somehow." Reaching up, Nick brushed his knuckles across Greg's cheek, wiping away a few tears that had managed to fall. "God, Greg! I love you so much! I want you so bad I can fucking taste it! I swear to you, if it's the last thing I ever do, we will make love!"

When Nick moved his hand from Greg's cheek around the back of his neck, and applied a bit of pressure, Greg went with it, allowing himself to be drawn back towards the older man. Just before their lips touched, Greg whispered, "I love you, too, Nick!"

The microwave beeping insistently broke them apart a moment later. Pulling reluctantly back, Greg sighed, "We'd better eat and get going. Grissom's going to call one or both of us, if we don't get to the lab soon."

Nodding, Nick said, "Yeah, you're right. I'll be so happy when this case is solved!"

After dishing out food for both of them, Greg sat down at the table and tucked into his. As he watched Nick mostly picking at his food, pushing a piece of chicken around on his plate listlessly, Greg spoke around a mouthful of food, "Didn't like them after all?" though he suspected that was far from the case.

"Hell, no, G! Best fajitas I think I've ever eaten!" Nick said, grinning widely at Greg, though the grin did nothing to hide the look in his eyes.

"It's those two boys, isn't it?" Greg finally asked, after swallowing his latest bite of fajita.

Nodding sadly, Nick said, "We still don't know who they are. There's got to be someone out there missing them. If they were mine, I'd be frantic with worry! How is it that no one's reported them missing!"

It wasn't really a question, but something occurred to Greg, and he spoke up in answer, "Maybe they have tried reporting the kids missing. Kids that age, what do you think the unis at PD are going to say?"

Meeting Greg's eyes, his own narrowing in thought, Nick said, "They'd suggest the boys probably ran away. PD won't take a missing persons report for forty-eight hours after someone disappears."

Greg picked up where Nick stopped, "We're already somewhat past the forty-eight hour mark, if they were taken just before their deaths, and not taken much earlier than that."

In unison, both men said, "We've got to go through the missing persons reports."

With a new sense of purpose at the thought of possibly finding out the identity of the two boys, both men turned back to their food with renewed vigor.

As Greg was rising to clear the table of their dishes, Nick caught Greg's wrist in his hand. Scooting his chair back, Nick murmured, "C'mere," and pulled Greg down so the younger man was straddling his thighs.

Thinking back to what had happened not even a half hour ago, Greg spoke uncertainly, "Nicky?"

"Just need to kiss you again, then we'll go, G," Nick murmured huskily, wrapping a hand around the back of the younger man's neck and pulling him down for a kiss that quickly intensified.

As their tongues danced between their mouths, Greg felt Nick's hands travel down his back, to his ass. The pressure of Nick's fingers gently kneading each cheek caused him to let out a heady moan. Nick's hands tightened, and Greg felt himself being pulled forward. Breaking the kiss, Greg met Nick's eyes, silently questioning the older man.

Nick nodded slightly, as he finally pulled Greg close enough for their rapidly hardening cocks to brush together through two layers of cotton. Moaning in ecstacy, Greg let his head fall back, eyes closing.

Lips attached themselves high on Greg's neck, nearly under his chin, and he felt teeth graze over his sensitized flesh. There would be no way he could cover the mark, and Grissom would probably be pissed, as it was unprofessional to have visible hickeys at work. Right now, he didn't really care, though.

Both men jumped, when Nick's cell phone began to ring. Scrambling off of Nick's lap, Greg resumed his interrupted chore, neatly stacking the dirty dishes and taking them to the sink.

Nick's answered, "Stokes," was almost normal sounding, but not quite. He still sounded just a bit breathless and husky. Greg figured Grissom – who else could it possibly be? – would assume Nick had still been sleeping.

After a few, "A huhs," and "Okays," followed by, "We'll be there," (which caused Greg's eyebrow to raise) Nick snapped his phone shut.

"We'll be there?" Greg asked, cocking his head to the side, as he looked over at Nick.

"Grissom seems to know about us already. I guess he's not as totally inept at human relations as we all seem to think. Anyway, Doc Robbins found some fibers in the second boy's hair. Gris needs me to look at them. He wants you to start going through missing persons reports. Guess he reached the same conclusion we did." While Nick was an amazing detective in everything he did, his specialty was hair and fibers.

Moving to stand in front of the younger man, Nick trailed his thumb over the mark he'd made. "Damn! Guess I got a little carried away."

Capturing Nick's hand, and holding it against his neck, over the mark, Greg gazed into the other man's eyes. "I don't mind. Just next time, maybe a little lower, so I can cover it for work." Not that he wanted to cover it. He wanted the whole world to see it. He wanted to show it off, tell anyone who would listen exactly who had done that to him.

Reluctantly pulling away, Nick said, "Gris said to be there in twenty minutes, or he'd send a pair of unis over here to drag us in. I don't think he was joking."

A/N: Sorry this one took me a bit longer than usual. Had problems writing this chapter, not really sure why. I think the rest will come more easily, though. As always, thanks for the reviews and alerts!