Love Is Not A Crime

Disclaimer: See Chapter one

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Free

Date: November 19, 2004

Warning: There may be some mild language and slight sexual content.

Nick and Greg awoke around 7:00 wrapped in each others arms. Nick softly kissed Greg's ear nudging him awake. "Good morning, love." he whispered as Greg tried to go back to sleep.

"It's my night off." he said as he cuddled closer to his pillow, and pulled the comforter over his cold, naked flesh.

"Fine." Nick argued and climbed out of bed and headed towards the shower.

In the shower, Nick was embraced by the hot water. The steamy water massaged his tense back muscles as he stood there for five minutes before leaning his head back and letting the water run through his hair, as he ran his fingers through it.

When Nick left the house, that night, Greg was still asleep. That's the thing about Greg, he could sleep all day long if he had too. Not a bad thing, when you work nights. All the time. That particular night was slow. It was only Grissom and Nick on Graveyard. It was Warrick and Catherine's night off, and Grissom said something about Sara being ill.

Nick had just returned from the break room, when Grissom came striding over to him, joining him in the A/V lab.

"Hey boss, what's up?" Nick asked as he typed his password into a computer, to check his email.

"I need you to call in Warrick, Catherine, Greg, and Addison." he said sternly with a solemnity that Nick couldn't place.

"What's up?" Nick asked more alertly.

"Brass called. Seven victims in a homicide. All hands are on deck. I already called Sara, she's meeting up there."

"Oh dear God. Address?" his eyes large.

"121 Hillcrest Road. Coroners are en route." With that Grissom left.

Nick frantically searched for his cell phone and called the Graveyard CSIs. Nick looked at the clock, 1:45. The slow night turns into the hottest case all year in fifteen seconds.

Nick and Grissom rode in silence to the crime scene. Hillcrest Road was located in Green Valley, amongst a fairly suburban neighborhood. As they approached the scene, Cops and three coroner vans lined the outer exterior.

"Gil, it's a mess in there." Brass said greeting the CSIs.

"Have we identified the bodies?" he asked, getting the point.

"Martha and Alexander Goode. Both 45. And their five children. Marie and Claire, both 17. Kristin, 15. And James, age 11, and Charles, age 9." he read from a notepad in his right hand.

"Man, so young. Is David in there?" Nick asked, overwhelmed.

"Yeah. David, the days coroner, Carl? And that new ME."

"Okay. Nick, I'm going in to see the damage. Wait here for the team." Grissom said following Brass. Nick nodding his head and waiting. There was no rush, well no immediate rush. The dead can wait.

Addison Merritt walked through the crime tape after a flash of her crime lab badge. She looked tired.. She was dressed casually in comparison to her heels, and designer suits for work. She wore a white sweater turtleneck under her dark blue peacoat. She wore blue jeans and white running shoes. Her brown hair was in a messy ponytail, and her face had no makeup. Her pink Coach bag rested on her shoulder as she walked towards Nick.

"Hey, Nick. How bad is it?" she asked looking at Nick through her glasses.

"Pretty bad. Seven victims, ages 9 to 45." Nick said with a reverence that Addison hadn't heard before.

"Damn. Is Gil here?" she asked.

"Yeah he's inside assessing everything. Once the coroners are done, we're heading in."

"Okay, thanks." she said as her cell phone rang. She sighed and pulled her phone from her bag. Twenty seconds later she hung up and rolled her eyes.

"Everything alright?" Nick asked in his Texan compassion.

"Yeah. That was Conrad. He's on his way here to oversee. He needs to me to do a profile."

"Great. Ecklie. Just what we need, a two-faced loser hanging on our backs."

"I can tell you don't like him." she said as she made eye contact with the younger man.

"No, not at all. He is rude, arrogant and needs a reality check." Nick said angrily as he saw the love of his life walking towards them.

"Hey." Nick smiled despite the circumstances.

"Hi." a groggy and tired Greg spoke. Greg wore a black tee-shirt and a grey Texas A&M zip hoodie. He had on blue jeans and black converses.

"Nice hoodie." Nick laughed.

"Shut it, it was the only thing I was able to find." Greg looked at Addison. "Morning."

She laughed a bit and smiled. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good, but I feel as if it's all about to get worse."

"Yeah." she smiled as Grissom walked out of the house. "Catherine and Warrick aren't here yet? Hello. Greg, how are you?"

"Hey Gris. I'm fine. So what's the damage?"

"Grant has prelim CODs as exsanguination due to stabbing. They're all still in bed."

"It reminds me of that case few years back. The family that was killed, you know, the one where the daughter orchestrated it because of the sex abuse and all that."

"Thank you, Nick, I do remember and didn't need you to give me a full summary." Nick looked at his boots.

Catherine and Warrick walked through the crime tape together. Greg rose an eyebrow that Catherine caught and nodded No with her head. Catherine was in black trousers and a red tank top with her blue Forensics jacket on, and her blonde hair was in a tight ponytail. Warrick had on a blue tee shirt and white sweatpants from Hollister. Greg laughed, Hollister and Warrick.

"Whoa, Nicky, what's with the shiner!" Warrick exclaimed as he approached the group.

"I fell." Nick said sheepishly and looked at Greg, Catherine's eyes following.

"Okay, we can deal with that later." Grissom said as he went into a description of the scene and victims.

"Okay, what do you want us to do?" Catherine asked.

"Warrick will take the twins' room. Nick take James and Charles' room. Catherine will take Kristin's room. And I will be in the parents' room. We're doing things differently tonight. There is a lot of blood in the rooms and floors. It can come from any of the victims. Greg will be in charge of collecting all DNA evidence. Catherine, when you're done processing the girl's room, I need you to help Greg, also you and him will be in charge of making a blood splatter floor plan. Addison, will be in all rooms watching and inspecting. She's doing a profile. Everyone understand?"

They all nodded their agreement and started their jobs.

Four hours later, the physically and emotionally tired CSIs and psychologist exited the house. Each of the CSIs were balancing multiple bags of evidence and their cameras. Greg had two evidence bags filled with DNA swabs and bloody sheets. No one was looking forward to going back to the lab. A Double, perhaps triple was in order.

"Surprise, surprise. Ecklie didn't show up." Nick said to Addison as they walked towards where the cars were parked.

"Yeah, well he had called and told me to report back to him." she nodded.

"Oh." Nick said with a look of suspicion.

Addison got into her car and pulled out. Nick rolled his eyes and saw Greg coming towards him and a smile entered his face.

"What a way to spend our anniversary." Greg said in a joking manner as he just smiled at Nick.

"I know, but just remember what last night was like."

Greg laughed as he saw Warrick approaching. "We need to tell him. I mean he is the only one who doesn't know."

"I know, but I think it's something I need to do on my own, no offense, but he's my best friend."

"No problem. He's always come off as homophobic, so I'd be afraid, but he likes you, so you should be fine."

"Yeah. I'll see you at the lab?"

"Yeah. I'll be in DNA all night and possibly into tomorrow night." Greg rolled his eyes and placed a gentle hand on Nick's shoulder and headed off. Nick's heart skipped a beat.

"Hey, Rick!" Nick called out to his African-American friend.

"What's up Nicky?"

"Can we talk later? When we're on break?" Nick asked, his eyes once again darting to his boots.

"Yeah, no problem. Is everything alright?" worry present in his voice.

"No, I just need to talk to you about something. So, I'll see you at the lab?" Warrick nodded as Nick headed to his Tahoe.

The drive to the lab was uneventful. The murders were all over the radio with the usual, if you know anything contact this number service announcements. Nick rolled his eyes as he put on a country station and rocked out all on his own to Kenny Chesney's "Back Where I Come From".

When he got to the lab, Nick saw Greg in DNA cutting swabs, mixing solutions and listening to music, which to Nick sounded like semi-organized noise. Catherine and Sara were in a layout room, going through their evidence and taking samples of blood and trace. Warrick was with Jacqui in the Print Lab going through the prints collected. Grissom was still at the scene.

Nick took his evidence bags to a deserted layout room, and placed the bags on the table. Then he headed towards his locker. He removed his black leather jacket and replaced it with the standard navy blue lab coat.

Twenty minutes later, Nick was just about to begin his analysis of the first bag, when his pager went off. He rolled his eyes and saw Ecklie. Nick angrily pulled his latex exam gloves off and threw them on the table and headed towards Ecklie's office, where he was sure he would get in trouble. For something.

'Sit." Conrad said sternly to Nick, and Nick did just that.

"We seem to have a problem here, Mr. Stokes." his eyes flashed dangerously.

"And what would that be, Conrad?"

"Let me start off saying, that I would have expected this from Sidle, but not you. Dr. Meritt so kindly informed that you told her that I need a reality check, that I'm arrogant and rude. And before you say anything, to try and get out of the hole you so eloquently put yourself in, if this wasn't the biggest case of the quarter, I would suspend you."

Nick's eyes were wide with anger. "I apologize for saying those things. I won't lie to you, because unlike some people, I don't lie, cheat or use other people to get information."

"Stokes, watch it. That's strike two. One more and you're suspended two weeks with no pay." Nick was incredulous.

"Conrad, we have worked together for almost seven years. You know that at times, you can be the least favorable person around. But I am a good CSI, I do as I am asked and I try my hardest to be the best. I spent the last six years proving to Grissom, that I am a capable CSI, and if you suspend me for something as trivial as this, then you're ruining my standing with Grissom."

"No, Stokes. You would be ruining your standing with Grissom. I let you get away with a lot of things around here."

Confused Nick asked, "Really? What kinds of things?"

"I don't know. Your relationship with Greg Sanders, for instance."

"What about my relationship with Greg? We're close friends." He was desperately hoping that Conrad didn't know about them. But how?

"Close friends or lovers? I saw you too having a intimate moment in a layout room, when you and Sidle were working the mayonnaise case."

"Define intimate."

"Kissing rather passionately. I don't pretend to know that Greg was always like that, but you. That was a shock. And I don't think you would like the lab director to know that you two are having relations on county time."

"Conrad, you don't know what your talking about." Nick sighed.

"Stokes, don't lie to me. I know you and Sanders are dating or whatever the hell you're doing. But having relations on county time is a serious thing."

"We weren't having relations." Nick placed relation in air quotes.

"How can I believe you? I catch you two kissing and I am automatically to assume that you two have never had sex on the clock?"

"Conrad, with all due respect, shut up. This is none of your concern. The relationship, Greg and I have is strictly confidential and personal. It has nothing to do with work, and for the record, he and I have never had sex in this lab." Nick was red with anger.

"Control yourself, Stokes." Conrad said with a calmness not normal for the situation.

"I'm done." and with that Nick got up and walked away with the quickness of a marathon runner.

"I'm not done with you!" Ecklie yelled after him, and Nick just kept walking.

Nick walked down the halls, with Conrad yelling after him.

"If you don't stop, you're suspended!" Nick kept going to the one place he was safe.

"STOKES!" and still he kept walking, not looking back.

By now everyone was poking their heads out of their offices and lab and watching Conrad yell at Nick. Nick, the perfect one, the one who never gets reprimanded.

Nick walked right into DNA. His lab coat catching up to his long strides. Greg looked up from his desk and saw the upset, tear filled eyes of Nick. He wasn't crying yet, but was on the verge.

"Sweetheart?" Greg asked instantly, not watching his choice of words.

And Nick started to cry silently as he pulled the younger man into a hug, a hug the whole lab saw. A hug the whole lab was whispering about. And it didn't end there. Nick leaned in slightly and kissed Greg gently and tenderly on the lips as tears ran down his cheeks.

And for the first time: They were free of their secret.

Here is Chapter Twenty-Nine! So sorry for the lengthy delay. I apologize heartily! I hope you all enjoyed this drama/angst filled chapter! Updates will be sooner! I promise! Have a good Easter! Damien455