Chapter Ten: Believe
Glancing at his phone in his hands, Nick's features hardened as he looked at the photo Archie had just sent him. Without a second thought, the angry Texan stormed out of the observation room he was stood in, bursting straight into the interrogation room where Sara and the Sheriff were sat, charging straight for their latest suspect seventeen year old Peter Locke.
Angrily seizing the scared teen from his seat, Nick forced him up against the wall, demanding to know where Cassie McBride was. "No more screwin' around!" He shouted in a feral angry voice, grabbing handfuls of the boy's shirt as he held him securely against the wall. "Where is she?" He demanded.
Peter's lower lip started to quiver, but still, he said nothing.
As Nick shook him again, tears poured their way down his cheeks as he looked into the angry mans eyes before him. "Where is she?" Nick shouted, slightly calmer than the first one, but it was still enough to rattle a few more tears from the young boy's eyes. "Just tell me where she is!"
"Okay... Okay..." He whimpered, breaking as Nick's heavy fists shook him right to the core. "I'll tell you where she is... just please let me go."
Arriving back at the Lincoln County station after loading the last of the evidence up into the messengers borrowed Denali from the Las Vegas lab, Greg parked his car then looked across the parking lot towards Nick and the Sheriff quickly loading into a vehicle. He took a step back as the squad car drove by him then rushed over to Sara, giving her a curious look as she looked as though she had something on her mind.
"Did you find the bodies?" He asked, stepping up beside her. Sara shook her head slightly, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Then, where's Nick and the Sheriff going?" He pointed after them.
"Oh, the kid... Peter. He told us where he and his friends took the bodies." After a soft sigh, Sara looked up into Greg's concerned gaze, giving him a slight smile in return. "Greg, you were absolutely right, I am dating Grissom. But you can't tell anyone. Understand?"
Greg gave her a suspicious frown. "What made you decide to tell me?"
"Because... you... y-you're like family to me Greg. You, Warrick, Nick... even Catherine. I think of you all as my family." She admitted to him. "And families should trust each other, so we should tell each other things, you know?"
"Sorry Sara, I stopped crushing on you after you blew me off for Hank. A man can only take so much rejection before he gets the message." Greg cheekily smiled in her direction, brightening Sara's smile as he always had the ability to cheer someone up, no matter how upset they were.
"I'm sorry about that Greg, but dating you, would be like dating my little brother. Weird, and very... incest." She struggled to think of the right words. "Don't get me wrong, I love you, just not in that way."
"Okay, so what do you want?" He sighed as he realised she was being too nice to him and people only did that when they wanted him to do something for them.
"Uh... I eh... I don't want anything. Am I not allowed to tell you who I'm dating?" Greg gave her a slight shrug. "Okay then."
Greg raised his eyebrows as he looked into her eyes. "Yes you do, I can tell. What do you want me to do? Take out your fat cousin for a night on the town. Pretend to be your boyfriend to make your SO jealous..."
Sara suddenly burst out laughing at him, quickly shaking her head as she placed both of her hands on his shoulders. "No Greg, I don't need you to do anything. I just want you to trust me, like I trust you."
"I do trust you." He assured her, cocking one of his eyebrows as he looked into her eyes suspiciously. "Is Nick okay, what's wrong with him?"
"Okay, I'm gonna say something," Slowly pulling back her hands, Sara rested them on her sides, looking into Greg's eyes. "And if I'm totally off base, please don't bite my head off. But you... and Nick, you're... I mean, you are..."
"We are what?"
"Dating." She blurted, allowing the word to tumble off her tongue. "You are dating aren't you?" Greg's nervous smile, followed by the light blushing of his cheeks said it all for the curious CSI. "It's okay, I'm not gonna tell anyone." She quickly assured him. "I just had to know."
"Why did you have to know?"
"Because Nick's going completely off the deep end, and if anyone can help him right now, I'm sure you can. I'll explain it on the drive." She explained then ushered Greg off towards her car in the lot so they could catch up with Nick.
Once Nick returned from the lake on his boat, Greg watched him walking with his head down across the dock while the Sheriff's deputies unloaded three body bags. Greg watched them carrying them off towards the coroner van that was standing by ready to take the bodies off to Doctor Robbins back in Vegas then turned back towards Nick, rushing off after him in case he needed someone.
It was his first big case since he got back to work and it just happened to be his biggest weakness, children.
Dropping heavily to one of the large boulders surrounding the lake, Nick dropped his head into his hands, grateful that this place was so big so that he could get some privacy from the other officers.
When a hand gently touched the sweaty spikes of hair on his forehead, Nick didn't even have to look up to know that it was Greg. The younger man took a seat beside him, facing his body the opposite way from Nick and the lake. "So, you didn't find Cassie?" He spoke softly.
Nick shook his head slightly. "I know she's alive though."
"If she is, we'll find her." Greg assured him, slowly reaching for Nick's hand to hold in his own. "You can't go beating yourself up over this Nicky. You're doing everything you possibly can to find her. That's more than anyone else is doing. Grissom was right to put you in charge. You're the guy who gets the job done, no matter what."
"I think he only put me in charge because I was first there." Nick sighed as he looked up at Greg for the first time since he got there.
"Not true." Greg shook his head, brushing his thumb across the back of Nick's quivering hand. "He picked you because you're the best for this type of case. No one else ever pushes themselves as hard as you do to find the missing link to a puzzle. You're a great CSI and you're a pretty darn good leader too."
Nick smiled up at him. "You have to say that, you're my boyfriend."
"Even if I wasn't I'd still say it." Greg assured him, checking no one was looking before he leant forwards, touching his lips to Nick's temple. "Everyone has their weaknesses. But this is definitely your strength. This is something you can do." He smiled, tightening his grip on Nick's hand.
"Why do you believe in me so much G?"
"You're still alive aren't you?" Greg gave him a soft smile as Nick looked up into his eyes. "Big hearted guys are the best guys around, and you happen to be one of them. Grissom picked you because you're right for the job. I believe in you because you're a good man and you always give your best efforts to get things done."
"Even though I'm too scared to touch you?" Nick asked him. "I'm scared that I'm gonna push you are and hurt you, and that you're not gonna want me anymore."
"You don't have to be. I want you to be comfortable. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, you have a job to do, and when your minds focused on something, you're more focused on the bigger picture. Like finding Cassie." Nick gave him a slight smile. "So what are you waiting for Tex? Let's get back to work and find this Cassie McBride before it's too late."
"That's it."
"What's it?" Greg looked at him confused.
"Any cuter and I'm gonna have to kiss you Sanders." Nick couldn't resist him anyway; he just had to lean forwards and seize those perfect lips into a searing kiss. He quickly pulled back before anyone came looking for them, giving Greg a soft smile. "Hey, can I drop my therapist and just talk to you from now on?" He suggested. "You make everythin' better within a few minutes of talkin' to me."
"Works okay for me. Just so you know, I charge three kisses an hour." Greg cheekily added, giving Nick a smile as he slid off the boulder. "What do you want me to do now, boss?"
"Well, we have to figure out where Cassie is." Sliding off the boulder, Nick brushed down his clothes as he stepped up beside Greg. "Maybe we should talk to Mark and Peter's friends, find out who else was on that boat or in that car with them when they took Cassie."
"I can talk to Peter." Greg suggested, biting his lower lip as Nick looked up at him surprised.
"I take it Sara told you about what happened?" Greg nodded his head slightly. "And you still think I can do this?" Greg nodded his head again. "Okay bobble head, you can talk to Peter, call me when you get somethin'." Nick tapped his phone then quickly leant forwards, briefly touching his lips to Greg's for three passionate kisses. "You said three, right?"
"Yeah, but technically that was four." Greg giggled as licked his lips, slowly taking a few steps back from Nick so he could get focused on the task at hand. Nick gave Greg a smile to thank him for making him feel better then set off towards the Sheriff to talk about their next move. Greg smiled after him as he seemed to be focused again, ready to get back on the case and find their missing little girl.
"Nice work Greg." Sara winked at him as he re-joined her by her car.
"You weren't supposed to be watching." Greg sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't do what you said anyway."
"You didn't ask him why he's so focused on finding this Cassie girl alive, instead of dead like we know she is."
"Nope." Greg shook his head. "Let's save the 'I told you so's' for later. Right now we need Nick focused. The best way to do that is to agree and support him, and I do. We've found bubble gum from the house, and the boat leading us to here. We didn't find her body, so maybe they wimped out and couldn't kill her. I fully support Nick on this." Greg assured her then head round to the passenger side of her car to get a lift back to the station with her where he had left his car.
A couple of hours later, Greg and Sara managed to weasel the name of the other boy out of Peter Locke. The Sheriff, Nick and Sara head straight over to Luke Daniels house while Greg stayed at the station, receiving the autopsy reports via fax from Warrick back in Vegas. Once Greg received the ballistics report from the bullets found in the McBride's deceased bodies, Greg managed to track down a licence for the gun of the same make, leading them straight to Luke Daniels' father Chris.
Sara brought the gun back in an evidence bag, handing it over to Greg to drive back to Vegas while Nick, Sara and the Sheriff proceeded on wrapping up the case by talking to Luke Daniels about what happened at the McBride family home that night.
Greg took the gun straight off towards Bobby Dawson's lab once he got back to Vegas, mindlessly spinning round on one of the swivel chairs in the lab while he waited for Bobby to conduct all sorts of tests to confirm whether or not it was the gun that killed Jude, Nina, Jeremy and possibly Cassie McBride.
"Greg." Bobby gently shook Greg awake as he had fallen asleep. Once Greg opened his eyes and sat up straight, Bobby handed him his ballistics report from his hands. "The striations match. This is definitely your murder weapon."
"Murder weapon to get high." Greg sighed as he took the results from his hands. "Thanks, I'll call Nick." Giving the ballistics lab tech a grateful smile, Greg head off out the lab and down the hall towards one of the empty, sound proof layout rooms. Pulling his phone from his pocket once he was in there, Greg set out the file on the table in front of him, hitting Nick's speed dial on his phone.
After three rings, the Texan's delicious drawl rasped into his ear. "Stokes."
"Hey it's me, I gotcha results from ballistics." Greg spoke softly, resting on his elbow on the table. "The striations match. It was definitely Chris Daniels' gun that killed Jude, Nina and Jeremy." Resting his chin in his hands, Greg listened to Nick's soft breathing over the line before he asked, "What about you, what have you got over your end?"
"Sara's in talkin' with Luke now. He's more talkative then the other two; she thought it best that I sit this one out though. He admitted that they ran out of bullets at the house, that's why they didn't kill Cassie there like the others."
"Has he said what he did with..."
"Not yet." Nick cut him off, knowing what Greg was going to say. "I'm gonna go talk to Peter again in a minute, or get Sara to do it. You should head home G, you've worked two double shifts in a row, you must be exhausted."
"I am, but I can wait for you, if you want?"
"Nope, as your boss for today, I insist you go home." Nick smiled through his phone, watching Sara coming out of the interrogation room from Luke, shaking her head over at him as he didn't tell her anything useful. "Looks like I'm gonna be here a while yet, you've got the spare key to my place still right?"
"Yep," Greg nodded into his phone as he felt for them in his pocket. "You want me to sleep at your place again? My mother's really gonna over load me with the questions when I have to go over for a change of clothes."
"You said it yourself G, there's too many girls over your place and you can never sleep. You can sleep at my place, I really don't mind. I just wish I was there with you."
"You're adorable Nicky." He smiled into his cell phone, holding it closer to his ear as he ran his fingers through his dishevelled spikes of hair. "I'll see you later, don't work yourself too hard... or do even so you can wrap it up..."
"And find Cassie?"
"Exactly. You will find her." Greg assured him. "I have faith in you."
"Thanks Greg, that means a lot to me. But it's the how that I'm worried about." Inhaling a deep breath, Nick held the phone closer to his own ear as he listened to Greg's whistled breathing through the phone. "I'll see you later G, don't worry about me, I'm fine." He assured him.
"Okay." Greg sighed softly. "Bye Nicky."
Nick relicked his lower lip, still able to taste their last kiss before he signed off, "Buh bye Greg, sweet dreams." He smiled into his cell phone again, brushing his index finger across his lower lip as he desperately wanted to kiss his young lover again.
Greg eventually hung up first as Nick was reluctant to, slowly beginning to clear away the file with the rest of the evidence before he stopped by Catherine's office to say goodbye. He felt a little funny heading straight over his boyfriend's house to go to sleep when he wasn't there, but he couldn't complain as Nick's bed was a lot comfier than his own and it smelt completely of Nick, surrounding him in his warmth when he wasn't even there.
Slowly awaking from his deep slumber a few hours later, Greg reached one of his arms out to the other side of the bed, searching for Nick's warmth. He quickly opened his eyes as Nick's side of the bed was un-slept in then quickly searched the room for his clothes or signs that Nick had been in there.
Greg gave out a wide yawn then crawled across to the other end of the bed, reaching for his phone in the back pocket of his jeans. He looked at the time realising it was late in the afternoon the next day, and his last phone call to Nick was thirteen hours ago, immediately making him worry.
Greg quickly hit his speed dial to find out where he was, fearing he had been abducted again or worse.
Glancing up towards the doorway of Nick's bedroom door as he heard a ringing noise echoing through the house, Greg smiled surprised as he saw Nick in the doorway, holding his phone in one hand and a coffee tray in the other.
Nick snapped his phone shut in his hand, smiling at Greg as he slowly made his way over to him. "Where have you been?" Greg immediately asked as Nick made his way over to the bedside table, freeing up his hands before he took a seat on the bed, watching Greg rolling over onto his back to face him. "Did you find her, what happened?" He immediately asked.
"I found her." Nick nodded; placing one hand the other side of Greg's body as he leant down to press their lips together. "She's alive." He whispered as he pulled back. "I saved her because you had faith in me."
"You saved her because you're you." Greg smiled up at him. "So, where were you?"
"Hospital, with Cassie." Opening his jacket, Nick pulled out a folded piece of paper, turning it round to face Greg. The younger man took it into his hands, looking at the child's drawing of a lake and a house on the front. He smiled up at Nick as he read the words 'Thanks for finding me!' written on the front then slowly opened it up to read the inside. "Sweet isn't it?"
Greg nodded his head, noticing the glazed expression in his boyfriend's eyes. "C'mere Nicky." Greg opened his arms to him, watching as Nick quickly flipped off his boots and removed his coat before he relaxed in Greg's open arms; resting his head on the younger mans shoulder. He closed his eyes against him, savouring the warmth of his bed mate's strong grip around him. "This doesn't feel weird does it?"
Nick shook his head. "No, it feels right. Especially the comin' home to you part."
Greg smiled down at him, resting his head against Nick's as he clutched him tightly. "Don't bite my head off or anything Nicky... but... you're okay, aren't you? Sara said you completely lost it in the interrogation room and went after that kid."
"Yeah, I'm okay." He assured him. "Cassie's a brave little girl. I think she's gonna be alright. I thought she was dead when I found her, but when I found her pulse, I knew I was meant to find her and save her." He spoke softly as he circled his fingertips around the buttons of Greg's pyjamas. "I didn't mean to go off the deep end like that; I can't control myself when I'm angry."
"I understand." Greg whispered, touching his lips to Nick's forehead. "You were set on finding this little girl that you would do anything to get the information you needed. If you ask me, we need more people like you in the force. Most of them are so worried about politics that they have to get warrants and all sorts of crap just to sit around and scratch their arses while they wait for the case solve itself."
"I'll give you that one. But for some of that you were voicing Catherine." Nick smirked, feeling completely at peace in the arms of another man. "I feel like I could sleep a month after this case." He yawned as he slid one of his hands down the centre of Greg's warm body, noticing the tartan pattern of his pyjamas. "Hey, where'd these come from?" He queried, admiring the soft blue fabric against Greg's skin.
"Oh, I went home and got some pyjamas and a change of clothes." Greg smiled as he rested his chin against Nick's beautiful head of hair. "I didn't wonna change into smelly clothes in the morning. Just don't tell the guys at the lab that I wear patterned pyjamas. My mother insisted if I was going to sleep over at yours I had to bring pyjamas. She still treats me like a kid and I can never get rid of her, especially now that the triplets are around."
"You look adorable." Nick smiled up at him.
"No I don't. And you can't tell anyone at the lab, I'll seriously kill you if you embarrass me in front of them." The younger man warned him.
"Why can't I brag about how cute my boyfriend is in his jammies?" Nick queried through a wide grin.
"Because my mother bought them for me last Christmas. They're okay, I like their soft fabric." He giggled, shivering as Nick's hand smoothed down the front of his pyjamas to feel it for himself.
"I like em." Breathing in the younger mans masculine scent; Nick readjusted himself against Greg so they were eye level, feathering his fingertips down the side of his face as he looked down into his eyes. "I seriously can't wait to go on vacation with you. And I really, really like you Greg." He whispered as he brought their lips together for another one of those heavenly kisses he was starting to crave. He was amazed at the fact that kissing Greg could melt his heart and chill his spine at the same time.
The deeper he kissed him, the more intense the feeling got.
"Greg, wait..." Nick pulled back as Greg's hands found their way to his hips. "Wait a sec." The older man gasped for breath, rolling onto the empty side of the bed next to Greg. The younger man looked at him in despair, hoping that it wasn't over when it only just began.
Nick's chest heaved as he tried to settle his mind, silencing that annoying panic alarm so he could continue making out with his boyfriend after a tough day, just like normal people did. But no matter how hard he tried to convince himself, he just couldn't see this as normal. "Shit, I can't do this with you Greg."
Greg gulped hard; fearing 'the big gay freak out' had come early for the suppressed Texan, "Do what?"
"This, I'm always gonna let you down. One second I think that bein' with you is gonna be fine and then the next I'm worryin' about everythin'."
"Everything, like what?" Greg queried, rolling onto his side. "I thought you said you wanted to grab hold of all of the opportunities you took for granted in the past? Aren't I one of those?"
"Yes, of course you are." Nick turned his head to look Greg in the eye. "I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to do. My minds pullin' me away but... I want you. And that's the weirdest thing I've ever said to my best friend, but I want you to be so much more than that, I just can't."
"Because you're scared?" Greg asked in a soft whisper. "You don't have to be the big brave macho about this. I'm scared too. But if you want something bad enough, you go for it or you wait for it." He softly smiled as Nick looked round at him. "I can go if you wonna be alone?" He suggested.
"How's that gonna help me?" Nick asked, rolling onto his side to face Greg. "I want you with me, and you can't be with me if I keep pushin' you away." He pointed out to him. "I can't wait for this vacation, maybe when I know that it's just the two of us and no one else, I'll feel more comfortable. You know I really like you though don't you?"
"I know you do." Greg nodded through a soft smile, understanding what Nick was secretly trying to tell him. "C'mere... for a hug." Greg quickly explained as he opened his arms to him. "I'm not gonna jump you in your sleep." He giggled softly as Nick hesitantly moved closer to him. "Just relax like you were before." He whispered as he could feel Nick's tense body against him.
Nick slowly began to relax back into his embrace, wondering what he was so worried about in the first place. "I'm sorry, you must think I'm bein' ridiculous."
"Nope, I think you're being you. The fact that you're still here proves that you really want this to work." Greg smiled as he rested his head back against Nick's, feeling Nick relaxing even more against him. "I can't wait for the two of us to be alone either." He admitted, circling his arms around Nick's body again to pull him tightly against the soft fabric of his pyjamas. Nick had no idea just how much Greg had been craving to snuggle while they slept for the five years straight, but he was starting to enjoy the snuggling himself, making him wish he could sleep in Greg's arms forever.
Thanks so much for all of your inspirational reviews! I hope you enjoyed that chapter :D Don't forget to leave a review of what you thought. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas or Holiday, whatever you're celebrating :)
~ Holly
