a/n. Thank you so incredibly much for the reviews! They light up my day. As always, these two adorably angsty guys are not mine. Pretty sure this will be the second to last chapter.

Love, Unwilling

Chapter Ten

Greg held his cell to his ear with his shoulder as he tried to unpack his bags and shake the wrinkles out of his clothes in the hopes of avoiding ironing. He added the occasional "mmm-hmm" and "no, I didn't know that" when there was the occasional lull. He rolled his eyes. He liked his publisher, but she tended to say fifty words where ten would do. When a knock sounded at the door, he was grateful for the excuse to end the call, but she was still giving him last minute instructions as he pulled open the door.

"Genie, I'm gonna have to call you back."

Greg stuck his phone in his pocket and swallowed hard over his suddenly dry mouth, his eyes locked on the man before him, a myriad of emotions warring in them as he stared back.

"Can I come in?"

Greg opened the door, gesturing into the room. He closed the door with a quiet click and leaned against it, watching as the other man walked over to the large windows and appreciated the view, his hands in his pockets and his back to the room.

"Nick, what the hell are you doing here?"

Nick didn't turn, but Greg could see the pulse jumping in his neck and the twitch in the muscle of his jaw.

"Nick?"

Nick put a hand on the window ahead of him and leaned forward, looking down at the busy street. "Nice view, Greggo." he said softly before turning to look Greg in the face, really studying him for the first time in a long time.

"I'm here because Sara threatened to castrate me if I didn't fix what I broke."

Greg crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the floor to hide the disappointment in his face, though he couldn't, in that moment, figure out exactly what he'd been expecting. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw.

"I'm here because I miss you. I'm here because we all miss you."

"I haven't gone anywhere. I've been right there. Right where I've always been," Greg bit out.

"No, no you haven't. Not really. Look," Nick started, running a frustrated hand over his face. "I don't want to make this all about me, this is about you, but after that night, you were never the same. You locked me out. You locked everyone out."

This time Greg turned his back to look out the window, formulating his next words carefully.

"I never intended for you to know."

"Know what?"

Greg swallowed and took a quick look at Nick's face before looking back out the window. He smirked a little sadly at his own reflection. Fuck it. "Know that I've been in love with you for years."

Nick tried really hard to hold back the gasp that escaped him, to no avail. Greg looked to him when he heard it, his face grim at what he felt to be confirmation of Nick's disgust at the idea.

"I really wish you hadn't left that night," Nick said softly. "I wish you had let me explain." He scratched at the back of his neck absently. "Although, I'm not really sure I understood what was going on, myself."

Greg grit his teeth. "The look on your face pretty much said it all, Nick."

Nick looked back at Greg, anger and frustration creeping into his expression. One misunderstanding and bout of hurt pride at a perceived rejection had led to months of isolation.

"Greg, sit the fuck down and just listen would you? For once? Please?"

Greg bit the inside of his cheek and raised an eyebrow, his gaze on the floor, but he grudgingly took a seat in the cushy chair in the corner of the room and crossed his ankle over his knee, gripping the arms until his knuckles whitened.

Nick took a deep breath and ran both hands through his hair, scratching his scalp and then running them down his face, letting a deep breath out into his hands and then crossing his arms over his chest.

"I wish you'd stayed. I…" he took a deep breath and continued. "I've always had rules about getting involved with anyone at work. I've seen it end really badly, ruin careers. But beyond that…." he gestured towards Greg with one hand, appealingly. "I've never thought about any guy like that before."

"Again, I sort of got that from the expression on your face. Jesus, Nick, I've seen you look at rapists or molesters with less disgust."

Nick rubbed absently at his chest as the dull ache he'd felt so often over the last few months flared. He looked sadly at Greg. "I was disgusted with myself, Greg. I took advantage of you. A colleague. A friend. And I was really confused. I really needed to figure it out, you know. I needed to talk it out, with someone. Usually, I would talk to you about crap like that, or maybe Catherine. But you left. You wouldn't talk to me. You said to let it lie….I thought you were disgusted with me, that you were angry that I'd taken advantage of you…You left before I could work it out, before we could figure it out…."

Greg covered his mouth with long fingers and stared past Nick into the middle distance, blinking rapidly as he replayed that night through his mind, unlocking it from the box he'd put it in. After a long moment, he looked up at Nick, realization and shock dawning. Nick took the opportunity to step towards where Greg sat, hesitating only momentarily before dropping to a crouch in front of Greg and lightly resting a hand on Greg's knee. Greg's eyes were drawn to it.

"I've missed you so damn much, G."

Greg took a deep breath and let his hand fall lightly on top of Nick's, trying not to let it shake. When Nick ran his thumb over the side of Greg's hand, Greg's breath hitched and his eyes filled. He blinked to clear them. As he took a deep breath in order to make some grand declaration, the alarm on his cell went off. He looked at his watch and removed the hand from on top of Nick's to wipe a hand over his eyes as he let his head drop back. "Fuck. Nick, I've got to go." Disappointed, Nick nodded, looking at the floor. "No, I mean I have to be at a lecture hall in, fuck, forty-seven minutes. I'm barely going to make it…"

Nick smiled and stood, reaching for Greg's hands and pulling him to his feet, smirking as he watched Greg hurry around the room and throw stuff into his bag. "Yeah, I know. You're a big shot PhD now."

Greg froze from where he'd been shuffling through his pockets. He looked up in trepidation, not sure what Nick would think of his degrees.

"I'm so damn proud of you, G."

For the first time in a long time, Greg let himself smile at Nick Stokes. A real smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Can we talk after your lecture?"

Greg looked him over, saw that he was sincere. "Yeah. I've got a meeting after the lecture with my publisher, but after that I'm free," he said as he opened his wallet and tossed his spare room key card at Nick.

Nick caught the card in the air. "Publisher?"

Greg smirked and pulled a book out of the suitcase still resting open on his bed. Half a grin on his face, he pulled a sharpie out of his jacket pocket and wrote something across the inside of the front page before tossing the book to Nick, throwing his messenger bag over his shoulder and heading towards the door. As he passed, Nick snagged his sleeve and held.

"I'm so sorry about your folks, G."

Greg closed his eyes and let out a sharp breath. Without opening them, he turned, another deep breath, and he wrapped his arms around Nick's neck, impossibly glad when he felt the embrace returned with two strong arms wrapped around his waist and a nose tucked behind his ear. "I am so, so sorry, Greg," said low.

Greg opened his eyes as he pulled away. "We'll talk later, right?"

Nick smiled. "Yeah," and Greg was gone.

Nick pulled the book off the bed and took a moment to look over the jacket, front and back, another proud smile lighting his face as he read the byline. How the hell this guy had the time to do the things he did, Nick would never know. He just kind of hoped somehow Greg would be able to work him into his schedule. Nick opened the cover of the book, curious. Greg had autographed it.

"To Nick, the best thing I've found in Vegas so far. Yours, Always, Greg."