Rating: R just to be safe (for language only at this point. And sexual references I guess)

Beta: Much love goes out to the awesome Jayceepat

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or any of its characters.

Chapter 10: One Step Closer

"Welcome back Nick" Grissom said sincerely to Nick.

"Good to be back" Nick smiled at him. It had been a few weeks since Ron had taken Greg hostage and Nick had ended up with a bullet in his chest. With all his time off he had nothing but time to think. And all he could think about was that night and how much worse things could have been. If he hadn't gotten there when he had Greg would be dead now, and that thought alone almost drove Nick crazy.

"Now, are you sure you don't want anymore time off?" Grissom asked him.

"I am going stir crazy at home, trust me, I need to be back at work" Nick told him.

"Make sure you don't overexert yourself."

"I'll be good I promise" Nick told him with a small laugh.

"Okay then. You have and B and E with Warrick, he should be in the locker room" Grissom said.

"Thanks Gris."

"Hey man" Nick said as he walked into the locker room. He saw Warrick sitting on the bench and Greg standing in front of his locker.

"You all checked in?" Warrick asked him.

"Yeah, I'm with you" Nick told him as he tried giving Greg a smile, but Greg looked away before he saw it. Greg had come to visit him once while he was in hospital; it was an awkward moment at best. But after that Nick hadn't seen or heard from him. If it hadn't been for Warrick, he wouldn't have even known when Greg hadreturned to work.

"What you got?" Warrick asked Greg.

"I'm on a DB with Sara" Greg told him. "They found some poor girl in a ditch just off the strip."

"People are sick" Nick said and saw that now Greg had looked up and was staring at him.

"Welcome back" Greg told him before quickly leaving

"That's one jumpy guy" Warrick said casually as he continued to tie his shoe lace up.

"Can you blame him?" Nick asked. "I mean he was held hostage in his own home and almost killed."

"I meant jumpy around you" Warrick clarified.

"Oh…" Nick replied. "Can't really blame him there either, after all, if it wasn't for me the whole Ron thing never would have happened."

"Nick, it's not your fault. You're not responsible for Ron's actions. You couldn't have known what he was thinking and planning" Warrick told him. He had been waiting for this conversation to happen. Nick had been avoiding the subject when ever Warrick went to visit him at the hospital and at home. But Warrick knew that his best friend would be feeling this way, it was in Nick's nature.

"Greg loved me; He was mine and I was his. And then I had to go and fuck it up. If I had just kept it in my pants everything would be fine right now" Nick said with a frustrated voice.

"Ron was obsessed with you, and he was obsessed with you long before you and Greg broke up. Something like this was bound to happen" Warrick reasoned with him.

"I don't know man I just feel… I feel really weird at the moment. So much is going on and I'm not really processing it all that well" Nick told him as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Things will get better Nick, you'll see, they always do" Warrick assured him.

"Yeah they'll get better. Then they'll get worse. Isn't that what always happens? Honestly I thought all the hard stuff was behind me when I got out of that box, but things just keep going south" Nick replied.

"We do live very complicated lives don't we" Warrick said with a chuckle as he thought about it.

"Hey guy's; aren't you on a case?" Catherine asked as whenshe walked into the locker room and saw the two men talking.

"Shit" Both Nick and Warrick said as they got their stuff quickly and bolted out of the room.

"Do you want to grab something to eat?" Sara asked Greg as they were getting ready to leave work.

"Yeah" Greg told her as he rubbed his stomach, "I think tummy would appreciate that."

"How'd your case go?" Warrick asked as he and Nick started to walk beside them also getting ready to leave the lab.

"For a homicide it was fairly easy. Ex-boyfriend did it, she had a TRO against him and when we took him in for questioning he admitted everything. If only all murder cases were that cut and dried" Sara told him.

"How about you guys?" Greg asked.

"Turned out to be insurance fraud" Warrick explained. "We were just going to grab something to eat do you two want to come?"

"Yeah, we were about to do the same thing" Sara replied with a smile that left her face immediately when she saw the look Greg was sending her way. "If that's cool with Greg."

"Sound's great" Greg said through gritted teeth.

Nick could feel the heavy tension that filled the air all around him. They were sitting in a booth at their favorite diner looking over the menu even though all four of them knew it back to front.

"I think I'll have the pancakes" Sara mumbled to herself.

"You always have the pancakes" Greg told her in an agitated tone. He didn't know why he was so pissed off with her or anyone else really. The reality of the last few weeks was stressing him out and his co-workers seemed to be the one's suffering because of it.

"I like the pancakes" Sara replied.

"Then why did you look at the menu if you knew what you were going to order?" Greg asked her.

"What are you; the menu police?" Sara asked sarcastically.

"Do I have to separate you two?" Warrick joke and was rewarded with two sets of eyes staring daggers at him.

"This is fun" Nick said dryly as he leaned back further into his seat.

"I'm going to go order" Sara announced as she got up and headed to the register.

"Me too" Warrick said as she followed.

"Do you know what you're going to have?" Nick asked Greg trying to make conversation.

"I think I'll just have coffee" Greg sighed as he put his menu down and looked across at Nick. He looked much better now then he did two weeks ago. He'd been so pale at the hospital; he'd looked like a ghost. "How are you?"

"I'm doing really well" Nick told him, "You?"

"Physically I'm fine" Greg told him.

"How are you mentally?" Nick asked him with concern.

"Angry, confused, tired, miserable I could go on" Greg told him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nick asked him. He was really worried about Greg, he could see the dark circles around his eyes and the spark they once held was now gone.

"All I really want to do is go to bed and sleep for a year" Greg told him with a small smile. "Sleep would be good."

"How much sleep are you getting?" Nick asked him.

"About three hours if I'm lucky" Greg told him. They were both so involved with their conversation they didn't see Sara and Warrick look over at them then whisper between themselves before leaving.

"That's not good Greg" Nick said with worry. "You need to look after yourself; you look like crap."

"Thanks" Greg replied sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant" Nick told him.

"I know."

"I'm just worried about you; I want to help if I can" Nick said. He was tempted to grab Greg's hand but knew that he could no longer do things like that.

"Nick Stokes, my hero" Greg joked but it sounded hollow.

"I'm not a hero" Nick said quietly suddenly becoming uncomfortable.

"You saved my life; isn't that what a hero does?" Greg asked.

"I put your life in danger to begin with" Nick said as he looked at Greg with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"Nick… I'm still upset about you fucking around. But I don't blame you for what happened with Ron. He was insane and madly infatuated with you, those two things don't make a good combination. He was going to do something about his feeling, doesn't matter if you fucked him or not" Greg told him.

"I gave him hope" Nick replied.

"He would have created hope for himself either way. In his mind you two were meant to be, anything you said or did wouldn't have changed that."

"When did you get so smart?" Nick joked as he smiled his first real smile since he and Greg had ended.

"Apparently getting knocked around was good for my IQ" Greg laughed feeling more relaxed then he had been in weeks. He forgot how good it could be to just seat and talk with Nick.

"Where did Sara and Warrick go?" Nick asked as he looked around the diner confused.

"Good question" Greg replied as he also scanned the room for their lost friends. "I think they ditched us, I'll have to abuse Sara when I get home."

"What?" Nick asked confused.

"I've been staying at Sara's ever since… I just can't seem to bring myself to stay in the apartment" Greg explained.

"I can understand that" Nick replied as he shifted uncomfortable. He wasn't sure if Greg wanted to stay now that Warrick and Sara had disappeared. "Do you still want coffee?"

"Umm," Greg said as he looked around trying to decide if he and Nick hanging out alone together was a good idea or not, "Okay."

"Are you sure because you sound a little nervous" Nick said and added a smile trying to ease the tension.

"No, it's not that" Greg told him as he looked at Nick and gave him a smile. "I really don't know how to act around you Nick and thatfreaks me out a little."

"We were friends for a long time before we dated G" Nick told him; he was hoping the use of Greg's nickname would make him feel more relaxed. "Maybe we could go back to being friends; I really miss talking to you."

"I miss talking to you as well" Greg told him truthfully.

"So, friends then?" Nick asked hoping Greg would agree. After everything that had happened Nick knew that any chance he had of getting Greg back was gone. But he wanted Greg in his life any way possible; a friend wasn't what Nick wanted but it was the best he could hope for.

"Yeah friends" Greg agreed. "Nick thanks for saving me."

TBC

A/N: Thanks for reading. Only two more chapters to go!