Title: T&A Brain

Rating: PG13-R.
Summary: Catherine: 'I bet if we opened this guys brain up, all that would fly out would be a whole lot of T and A.'
Greg: 'Didn't you say that about me once?'
Catherine: 'More than once...'
Author's Note: I had this episode taping, but it shut off halfway through, so I lost some of it. So, if the events aren't exactly in the right order, I'm sorry.

Of course, Greg thought about T and A. What heterosexual male didn't? But, Greg, lately, had been thinking about a particular set of T and a particular A. Lately, he couldn't stop thinking about Aiden, and it was strange. She was his friend, yes, but she made him happier than most people did. And not just her T and A, although those were very nice in their own light; her H and S (heart and soul), too. Greg and Aiden just seemed to connect. Now, he was a ladies man. He was an absolute flirt. But not with Aiden. He didn't flirt with Aiden because he liked her, and wanted to keep their friendship strong. Even thinking about it just then, his face was cherry-red.

With perfect comedic timing, right after Catherine spoke her T and A comment, asked about his last proficiency and left, Aiden poked her head through the door and cleared her throat. "Thought I'd bring you a little salvation from the insanity, there, Greg..." she walked up next to him and sat down. "I've finally got a break, since, you know, I worked a solid seven hours without a bite to eat, so, I figured after my lunch I'd come pay you a visit. Anything interesting here?" she asked, looking up at the tape.

He flashed a half grin and nodded his head toward the middle screen. "There's captain Testosterone there..." he pointed at the teenager, looking at himself in the reflection on the elevator door.

Aiden stifled a laugh and shook her head. "Reminds me of someone I know..." she winked at Greg and watched the screen. "So, Greg..." she crossed her arms over her chest and kept her eyes on the screen, searching for anything interesting, aside from the King of Self Love. "There's another banquet coming up...you know, when Ecklie picks his replacement for day shift super?" Now, watching the screen was more about not meeting Greg's eye, than watching for evidence. Unprofessional, maybe, but she couldn't help it. "And I know we're all invited, but..."

In mid-sentence, Nick Stokes came into the room, and Aiden just stopped. There was no way she was doing this with Nick in the room. He and Greg started talking about something or other, and she kind of blocked them out. How was she going to do this? Greg was her friend. Her best friend, really. And she wanted to ask him to go to a banquet with her. A banquet...did that even constitute a date? Sitting around, listening to Ecklie babble on about some random selection he made, and why he made it? Listening to Ecklie joke about CSI after CSI, smiling and being polite, but not meaning a word of it? Having Ecklie smile to your face, and then go home to his wife and yak on about how ignorant you are? No, that wasn't a date. She could ask Greg.

But, then, there were the two main date rules. Rule number one: if you get dressed up, it's a date. It was a banquet. Obviously, they were going to dress up. Was she about to ask Greg Sanders on a date? Greg Sanders...her closest friend, Greg Sanders...no. Rule number two: if you kissed after...it was a date. But, she wouldn't know that until afterward. There was no way it was a date. They'd just go to keep one another awake, passing notes on napkins as Ecklie made them want to snore. She laughed softly at that thought, forgetting for a second that Nick and Greg were right there. "What's up, Aiden?" Nick asked, flashing her a slight grin. "Taking a break?"

She blushed, thankful for the lack of light in the room, and nodded. "Yeah..." she answered simply. "I came to talk to Greg for a little bit..." she explained to Nick. "But you know I'm never one to object to Nicky Stokes' company. Ain't that right?" she winked at Nick.
Nick grinned and laughed a little at her. "Yeah, I'm dead sexy. You can't resist my sexy body!" he nudged Aiden with his elbow and grinned lightly.

Aiden raised an eyebrow and casually watched Greg's reaction. He wasn't even paying attention. She laughed a little at Nick's comment and shook her head. "Or...something like that..." she grinned. Part of her hoped Greg would spin into a fit of rage and jealousy, but after thinking for a minute, she knew that wouldn't happen. "What say you we go into the break room?" she clicked her teeth.

She and Nick shared a small laugh, and Nick looked at the file in his hand. "Rain check, Aiden..." he still chuckled a little. "I have to get these to Grissom. I'll talk to you later...figure out a date on that rain check, huh?" he winked as he walked out of the room.
After he walked away, Aiden took a second to think about what he said. 'A date for the rain check.' Date. She still had to ask Greg. "So, uh...Greg. As I was saying. You know how Ecklie is making his day shift super selection?" she asked, and continued once Greg nodded. "Well..." she delayed as long as she could. "I was just wondering if you wanted to go together. You know, unless it would be, like, too weird or something..." she blushed beet red and kept her eyes on the security camera screens.

Greg's eyes snapped back up to Aiden. Had she just asked him out? And was he actually thinking about it? Was he a moron? 'Nonchalant, Greg. Be cool...' he thought to himself. "Definitely! That sounds great!" he shouted, a little more overzealously than he'd planned.

Aiden leaned against the chair, half asleep, listening to Ecklie babble on and on. She took the note that she and Greg were passing back and forth, and let out a slight chuckle as she read it, thankfully right on time for one of Ecklie's lame jokes. 'You know how they tell nervous people to imagine the audience naked, or in a chicken suit or whatever? They should tell bored people to imagine the speaker naked, or in a chicken suit, or whatever. In this case...the chicken suit. Ecklie naked? I'm gonna have nightmares...' he'd written. She turned her glance to him and shuddered lightly. She reached for the pen and started to write.

'Thanks, Sanders. You had to pass those nightmares on to me, huh?' she wrote, pausing for a second. 'Just think. At least it's not, like, Bill Gates or something...' she paused and then continued writing. 'Or Ecklie AND Bill Gates. That would be torture,' she half-smiled and handed Greg the napkin.
Greg's jaw dropped open and he got a horrified look on his face. He eyed Aiden and mouthed, "thanks for that, Aid..." then took the pen from her hand. 'Gross. That'll be burned in my brain forever...' he shuddered and glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She was so beautiful. And dressed up she looked a million times better. A long, flowing, white dress with a black lace shawl...he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Even when he wasn't looking at her, she was on his mind. He looked over at her just in time to see her cross her legs and watch a small, wavy strand of hair fall in front of her face. And he was working so hard not to reach out and fix it. But at the same time, he liked it there. He liked the added sexiness it gave her.

After Ecklie made his selection (it should have been Catherine, but he chose someone from day shift, named Sophia), and a small closing speech, everyone stood up and filed out of the banquet hall, most of them heading to an after party, but Aiden and Greg would sooner poke their eyes out with forks than spend more time forced to be nice to Ecklie. As they drove along, toward Aiden's house, to drop her off, 'She's Crafty' by the Beastie Boys started blaring through the speakers. Involuntary reflex forced Aiden to immediately start rapping right along with the Beasties, which brought a grin to Greg's face as he glanced over in her direction quickly. "You like the Beasties, huh?" he asked, seemingly surprised.

Aiden nodded, not missing a beat of the song, until she answered Greg's question. "You know, I'm not limited to just emo music. I may listen to it most of the time, but it's not all that I like..." she winked and put some hair behind her ear. "Don't let it get out, though, that I can recite every single lyric to every single Beasties song. Wouldn't want my 'emo rep' tarnished..." she joked.

He grinned as he turned onto her road. "Of course not. Hey, thanks for asking me to go to the banquet with you. If we'd shown up separately, we'd have wound up at different tables, and I'd have wound up bored out of my mind...and fell asleep..." he laughed softly.

She laughed, too, and nodded in reply. "I probably would have too. And falling asleep at our new assistant director's banquet? Not exactly what I'd like to call a wise plan..." she shook her head and unbuckled herself as Greg pulled into the parking lot by her apartment. "I'll see you in a few hours, no?" she noted as she looked at her watch. Their shift started in less than four hours, so she would see him soon.

He nodded and they said their goodbyes, but as Greg drove away, she was still fresh on his mind. What was he supposed to do? He'd never felt like committing. He was a 'fool around' guy. But Aiden Hensley was not someone you fooled around with. You'd have to be an idiot to treat her like that. He sighed and tried to tune his mind into happier things. Like the song on the radio. 'Pain' by Jimmy Eat World...Aiden's favorite song. He just couldn't escape it, could he?