Another short chapter -sigh- Ah well, what can you do.
Thank you all for the reviews...Someday I'll reply individually...someday...
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August
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Greg reached out to swipe some frosting from the edge of the cake and winced when a rubber spatula made firm contact with his fingers, "Ow."
Catherine brandished the spatula in front of her as if it were a sword, "Then don't come near the cake. It is officially off-limits to everyone but yours truly until after dinner."
"Aw, come on Cath, not even a taste?" Greg said, pulling out the doe eyes that could make his parents, grandparents, and sometimes even Nick cave to his feet.
"Don't even attempt that on me. You can't top Linds and I don't even let her get away with it most of the time." Catherine lifted the half-sheet cake and walked over to the fridge to slide it in, careful to avoid disrupting the letters or plastic designs.
Greg kicked the counter and eyed the left-over ingredients in front of him, "Can I lick the bowl?"
Catherine shut the fridge door and turned to look at Greg, who was practically salivating. She rolled her eyes and pushed the bowl over to him, "Eat up. You'll need the extra sugar for tonight anyway."
Greg froze, fingers halfway to his mouth, "If I had known you were going to tease I would have asked War...rick..." He trailed off and then shook his head, "Never mind. He teases worse than you." He flicked his fingers at Catherine. He laughed at the squeal that emitted from her as the frosting landed on her cheek.
"Oh, you're going down little boy." Catherine grabbed one of the frosting tubes and squirted it at him. He laughed again and dove out of the way, but not fast enough as the frosting hit him on the ear and neck. He lunged for the powdered sugar and flung a handful at her.
Through the sugar dust floating around her, Catherine aimed two more tubes and squeezed, the streams of gel frosting landing with perfect accuracy in his hair.
"Three stores Greg! I am never picking up specialty flavors ever again...What the hell is going on?"
Both Catherine and Greg came to a dead halt and turned towards the entry way. Sara was standing there with a plastic bag in each hand, eyes wide as she took in her co-workers. Greg smiled, flashing his teeth, "Hi Sara. Should get the ice cream into the freezer before it melts."
Sara nodded and skirted around the powdered mess surrounding Catherine. She slid a little in the frosting by Greg but made it to the fridge with no other mishaps. She pulled out the freezer drawer and dropped one of the bags inside. As she shut it, Sara turned to Greg and held up the other, a blue Wal-Mart bag that passed as Sara's version gift wrapping, "Nick's gift. Where do you want me to..."
"Table in the family room. I'm gunna go get this gunk out of my hair." Greg stuck his tongue out at Catherine as he turned around to head up the back stairs.
"Hey Greg? What about me?" Catherine called out and pointed to her hair and clothes that were finally dusted in sugar.
Greg rolled his eyes, "You can use Rayne's shower and I'm sure there's something in her closet to suit your impeccable tastes while those get washed." He opened the door leading to the hall and glanced at Sara who was making her way out of the kitchen, "When you finish doing that, would you check on the vegetables on the stove? Just don't open the pan in the oven."
"Why? What are we having?"
"We are having forgotten chicken. You are having everything else." He watched in amusement as both womens faces turned green, "Relax, will you? It's called forgotten chicken because you don't look at it for the two and a half hours it cooks. The chicken was fresh when I bought it."
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Greg shook his head at Catherine's offer of cake and ice cream. He was way too nervous to even think of putting any more food into his stomach. While part of his nerves stemmed from thoughts of his plans for the next couple of nights, the other part was squirming about Nick opening the gifts from him and Elijah and what his reactions to them would be.
He had thought a lot on his and Nick's talk the other night, so much so that he had become distracted at work. Grissom had even caught him staring off into space more than once, much to the older mans annoyance. When he got home that morning, he had gone up to Rayne's room and took the shirt out of the gift bag they had placed it in and stared at it for over an hour.
Between the talk and his thinking at work, he had come to realize just what this gift was going to imply. He also figured out that he was ready for it. Nick mentioned wanting to be part of the family someday and Greg had to wonder if Nick knew he already was. He had then repacked the gift bag and decided that he was going to 'add on' to Nick's gift. A phone call to Catherine had put it in to motion when she agreed to take Elijah for the next couple of nights. A little research and two more phone calls later, his surprise for Nick had been ready.
"All right, time for gifts. This one is from me." Sara said, setting her plate onto the table and tossing Nick the bag she had placed there earlier.
Nick let out a huff of air as the bag landed on his lap, "Geeze, Sara, what's in this thing? That hurt."
Sara laughed along with everyone else, "Open it and find out."
Nick tugged at the handles that were tied together and opened the bag. He pulled out the card and snickered as he read. He passed it to Greg who laughed as well at the insulting yet funny inscription, and making sure it avoided Elijah's grasping fingers, he passed it on to Warrick. While the card went around, Nick dug into the bag and pulled out a square box. He read the list on the cover of what it contained and then turned wide eyes to Sara.
"Figured you needed something new." Sara said, smiling.
"Thanks." Nick replied, and gave her a smile in return. He handed the box to Greg who read over the contents as well. It was a collection of nature CD's that blended natural sounds with smooth jazz, a genre of music Nick liked to have playing in the background as he worked on his art, "CD's." Nick continued, noticing everyones confused looks.
Greg shuffled forward and dug through the pile on the table. He pulled out a rectangular gift and crawled back to his spot on the floor, "This is from Rayne and Mark, along with their apologies for missing your party."
Nick read the card and as that one got passed around, he tore into the present. He gasped as the metallic wrapping paper fell away and looked at Greg, "How did they know?"
Greg shrugged, "I think Rayne's been digging into your stash and she knows I don't watch his movies."
Nick held up the gift for everyone to see. It was John Wayne's Hatari, one of the four he was missing that would finish off his collection. Warrick's gift was next, the standard sports video games that they gave each other every year. Grissom had gotten him two bird anthologies with beautiful illustrations of rare birds as well as more common ones. Brass' gift, which had been sent along with Grissom, was one of the major shockers of the night. Three football tickets to the December 8th Cowboy's home game, which had Greg shaking both his head and hands when Nick handed them to him with a wink, as well as a Cowboy's hat.
Catherine picked up the second to last present on the table and handed it over, knowing that Greg wanted to go last, "This is mine and Lindsey's. Have Elijah help open this one. It's sort of for both of you."
Greg glared at Catherine, who sent him a knowing look back. She was jumping the gun a bit at this point and they both knew it. Luckily for her, or rather for Greg, Nick hadn't picked up on the implications and looked at Elijah, who was now sitting in front of the fireplace behind Greg playing 'Hi Ho Cherry-o' with Lindsey, "C'mere little man and help me with this one."
"k!" Elijah nodded and jumped to his feet. He slithered around Greg and climbed up onto Nick's lap, sitting himself so he was in the crook of the arm chair and Nick's chest, his legs spread out in front of him to hold the present. Nick slid his fingers under the triangle flap and pulled his hand back for Elijah to tear in, which he did with much gusto.
As the paper fell away, Nick grinned and gave Elijah a one armed hug before looking up at Catherine, "I can not believe you got me a Harry Potter box set."
Catherine laughed and leaned back on the couch, "It wasn't a hard choice, really. You were talking about wanting to read them when we had that B&E at Borders last week."
"Yeah, but still..." Nick trailed off and ran a finger along the lightning bolt on the front of the box, "New bedtime stories for you, Eli."
Elijah nodded, "hawwy cool."
Greg leaned over the opposite arm of the chair and tweaked his son's toe, "And you know this how?"
"Me! I was tellin' him about them." Lindsey said, as she joined the group after picking up the game. She plopped down on Greg's lap and folded her legs so she was sitting Indian style, "Warrick's been helping me with my reading and I chose those. They're really good."
"Yeah, they ain't bad which is a good thing since I have to listen to her read them." Warrick said, snorting as he took a drink of his soda.
"All right. Last gift is from Greg and Elijah." Sara said, tossing the gift bag to Nick.
No one was surprised to see Elijah start bouncing on Nick's lap in youthful anticipation, but it was surprising to see Greg wrap his arms around Lindsey as if he was comforting himself. Nick didn't notice, as he was too busy digging through the tissue paper. He pulled out the card first and opened the envelope, which Greg had kept closed with about a mile of tape, thanks to his nervousness.
The outside of the card was simple for all its implications. It had a square gift, wrapped in beige paper with black and gold ribbon around it. There was a orange colored rose lying in front of it and half over a small card that said 'I love you!.' It had taken Greg over two hours to choose it, but the smile he received from Nick made it worth the time spent.
The inside, though, that was what was causing Greg to squirm internally. It was plain on the right side of the card except for the 'Happy 32nd' that he had written on it, but on the left was his gift to Nick, details written out and carefully planned.
After working it out with Grissom, he had gifted Nick with a three day, two night romantic get-away to Lake Tahoe starting that night. He was glad for the fact that Catherine had urged him to have the party in the afternoon before their normal shift time, so they would have all night to spend at the hotel awake instead of getting there and dropping off from lack of sleep right away.
The resort was gay friendly, a place that Bobby and Randy had stayed at a few times and had recommended when he had called them the day before. It was about a block from the lake and close to a lot of outdoor activities, including Heavenly Village and its gondola ride, an activity that he knew would appeal to Nick. He had lucked out when he called for reservations, catching the one room cabin just in time as the previous renters had backed out.
He looked up from where he had been burying his face in Lindsey's strawberry scented hair and saw that Nick was staring at him with narrowed eyes. Greg could see the lust building but there was an underlying curiosity as well as to why Greg had picked that as a gift. Greg shrugged his shoulders and looked at Elijah, who's bouncing was getting even more rambunctious the longer Nick ignored his gift.
The toddler apparently couldn't take in the fact that his gift was being ignored and he pinched Nick on the arm. Nick hissed and looked down, "Elijah, that wasn't nice. We don't pinch people."
Elijah's look was petulant as he pointed at the gift bag, "mine. you open."
"You'd better do as he says, Nicky, before he pinches you again." Grissom said, smiling behind his mug of coffee. He was clearly enjoying himself and feeling good enough to let the teasing side of his personality make an appearance.
Nick crossed his eyes in response to his bosses light heckling but heeded his warning and started to dig through the tissue paper once more. He pulled out the shirt from the bottom of the bag and chuckled softly when he had to unwrap it from tissue paper also. He finally had it open and held it up, his breath catching when he saw Eli's messy signature at the bottom. He took in the footprints, following them up the front of the shirt and turning it to follow them down the back. He brought the shirt down and kissed the top of Elijah's head and murmured, "I love it." before glancing at Greg.
Greg bit his lip, knowing that Nick wanted an explanation behind the shirt and that he had obviously caught the depth but not the full meaning of it. He turned pleading eyes to his friends, not really wanting them to witness what was sure to be an emotional breakdown on his end.
Warrick slapped his legs and stood up, "I have to use the bathroom."
Catherine motioned for Lindsey and then turned to Sara and Grissom, "Would you two mind helping me in the kitchen? We left quite a mess behind earlier."
Both of them nodded and everyone left the room with Elijah scrambling after Lindsey, Nick's Harry Potter box set clutched tightly in his hands as he begged more tales out of his friend about the scarred wizard.
Greg sighed and stood up, "Do you really love the shirt?" He asked, running his fingers along the item in question, trailing a path up the small footprints belonging to his son.
"I do." Nick's own finger tips followed Greg's, "I sense there's more to this then Elijah giving me a shirt, though."
Greg nodded and sat down on the coffee table so he was facing Nick, "Remember the other night when I said Elijah was only a few steps shy of calling you dad?" Nick nodded but didn't say anything, "Well, this shirt was actually his idea. My dad has one almost exactly like it that...that I made when I was around Elijah's age. He, um, he still wears it and Elijah has heard the story behind it many times and it means a lot to him. He just had to make one for you."
Nick looked down at the shirt, and to Greg, it looked like he was looking at it with a whole new set of eyes. Those of a proud parent, "Wow." He whispered. He looked up sharply and his intense gaze, the one that used to have Greg on the edge of cowering away, settled on him, "You..."
Greg smirked suddenly, not able to take the pressure, and cracked a joke, "You're a CSI. Put together the pieces."
Nick glared at him but did as suggested. He looked at the shirt again, once more skimming the footprints with his fingertips before picking up the card that contained Greg's gift. He re-read the details Greg had laid out before going back and reading them a third time. Finally, just as Greg was ready to just blurt out what was going on, Nick smiled. A big, beautiful smile that took Greg's breath away, "You mean it?"
"Nick, I don't know if you realized it but you've been a part of this family since you moved in. All I'm doing is acknowledging that fact and just," Greg gave shy smile, "hoping you'll do the same."
"I..." It seemed like for the first time since they had started dating, or hell since they had first met, Greg had knocked Nick into speechlessness. Nick looked at the card and then back at Greg, "Are you sure you want this?"
Greg didn't need Nick to clarify what 'this' was, "I'm sure. Catherine's taking Elijah and we're already packed so..." He trailed off, suddenly feeling and sounding uncertain. Nick had only said that he wanted to talk in the future about being a family. Maybe he thought that two days was really a lot sooner then he anticipated or even wanted, for that matter.
Nick caught the hesitation and placed the gifts on the floor before reaching out and grabbing Greg's hand, "G, listen. I meant what I said the other night. Every word. I haven't changed my mind about anything and I'm elated that Elijah thinks that much of me. To actually be considered one of his dads or even close to being one of his dads is an amazing thing. For you to recognize it and to even want that, however, means even more to me. I want this. A lot."
Greg gave a sigh of relief and tugged on Nick's hand, pulling him out of the chair and onto his knees in front of Greg. Greg ran his fingers along Nick's jaw line and smiled, "I love you."
Nick caught the wandering hand and turned his head a bit to kiss the fingers, "Love you too."
"Is it safe to come back in now?"
Both men turned and smiled as Catherine peered around the corner, looking disgruntled for some reason, "Yeah, it's safe to come back in." Nick said as he sat back onto his heels.
"Thank God." Catherine's head disappeared and not even seconds later they learned the reason behind Catherine's frustration as Elijah barreled into the room and ran straight into Nick's arms. She had probably been trying to keep him from coming back into the room while they talked.
"wead hawwy 'fowe bed?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two men.
Greg leaned over and blew a raspberry into Elijah's neck, "Not tonight, my little mouse. You're going to spend the night with Lindsey."
"Yeah, we'll start the books in a couple of days, okay?" Nick added as he placed his own raspberry to the opposite side of the toddlers neck.
"okay."
TBC...
See...short...but thats cause of what happens in the next chapter and the way it split up. The next one is like, enormous compared to this one...hehehe, bet ya'll can't wait tor the next update now.
