Privacy by SLynn
Disclaimer: It's all mine, because yeah, this is what I'd do with my free time if I actually owned these characters.
Notes: In chapter 20 of 'Happy Enough' I goofed and put down that Amy was from Torrance, CA when I'd meant Fremont, CA. Torrance is in the LA area, Fremont the San Fran. My bad. I've updated that chapter to reflect the change. It's not mentioned here, but I figured if I didn't put this down now I'd forget too. Happy reading!
Chapter 2: Unfinished
"No Amy?" Greg asked as he found Nick in the break room. He looked like he might have just woken up as well.
"She's off tonight," Nick answered. "Thought you knew."
"Why would I?" Greg asked, clearly confused.
Nick just shrugged it off.
"So what's this about, any ideas?" Greg asked sitting down in the nearest chair.
"Multiple homicides," Grissom answered as he came into the room, obviously ready to go. Warrick right behind him.
"How many?" Nick asked, getting to his feet as it was obvious this would be a short meeting.
"Ten," he answered before giving out the address.
He relayed a few more minor details before they left. As usual Greg rode with Nick out to the scene. They'd both been a bit surprised at the neighborhood; it was one of the best in town. The house itself was huge, a mansion really. When they'd arrived cops were everywhere and with them the media.
"Hey," Nick said as they took their cases out of the SUV, "it's your autobiographer."
Greg shook his head, biting his lips almost so tightly that they bled. He didn't even have to look to know who Nick had meant. The press as a whole had given up on trying to get anything out of him about the incident, but not this guy. This guy showed up at least once or twice a week to the higher profile scenes and kept on trying.
Despite giving him a hard time about it, Nick casually switched places with him. Walked on the side closest to where he knew that reporter to be. It was the best he could do to shield Greg, but it wasn't nearly enough.
"Sanders," he heard his name called, "when are you going to talk about the Fenton case?"
Greg just kept walking, head slightly down but picking up speed.
"Think I'd get fired if I mooned him?" he asked Nick under his breath.
"Maybe not fired, but you'd probably make the news again."
Grissom and Warrick, following not far behind, knew all about the guy as well. They'd seen him too. Grissom took Nick and Greg's approach, ignored him, but Warrick couldn't. He glared at him as he walked by. It was getting ridiculous.
"You guys ready for this?" Brass asked as they got to him.
No one spoke. They didn't know what this was yet. Brass stepped under the tape and one by one they followed as he spoke.
"House belongs to James and Shania Warner. He owns that celebrity spa, the Sand and Sun. Apparently they were having a dinner party tonight."
Brass opened the door and led the way, careful as always.
"The Martin's, the couple in the ambulance out there, they showed up late. Guess they were the lucky ones."
They'd stopped just outside of the dining room. Inside were four men and four women, newly deceased, most slumped over in their chairs. One or two on the floor. Plates and glasses were in scattered about, some containing vomit and a couple that looked like blood. The food looked unfinished, almost untouched. It was hard to suppress the shock of seeing it.
"You said there was ten," Grissom said, "I only see eight."
"This way," Brass continued, walking gingerly over one of the women who had fallen to the floor.
He opened the door to the kitchen and sure enough, two more. From their attire they looked like hired help, possibly the maid and the chef. One was near the counter on the floor, plates smashed around her and the other was slumped over on a nearby table still sitting upright.
"David been through yet?" Grissom asked.
"Just finished," Brass confirmed.
"House secure?"
"You wouldn't be in it if it wasn't," Brass answered with a bit of a smirk.
"Okay," Grissom began again, "Greg, Nick start getting photos. I want the exact position of every body, multiple angles. Greg, you're in here. Nick, you start in the dining room."
The scene took the entire night to process. It was a mess. There were no visible signs of trauma. No gunshot wounds, no obvious strangulation marks. It could only be one thing, other then a giant freak accident, poison.
By the time they had everything documented and wrapped and back to the lab their shift had ended.
"You heading home?" Nick asked Greg once they'd gotten to the locker room.
"Yeah, got to make sure Sara hasn't started a bonfire with my stuff."
Nick laughed.
"What about you? Your place or Amy's?" Greg asked with a smile. He loved teasing him about their relationship. Greg considered it as owed to Nick, payback for all the crap he'd put up with over Sara.
"Not today."
Greg stopped and looked at him. Nick had just sounded way too serious.
"You two fighting?"
"Sort of, it's nothing."
"Those are the best kinds. You make up quicker."
Nick said nothing to that.
"So it was like a real fight then?"
"Greg, drop it alright?"
Greg did, still curious. Nick and Amy hadn't ever fought that he knew of. Of course, he wasn't exactly privy to that type of information. They might fight but they certainly always appeared to be happy with one another at work or anywhere else for that matter.
Saying goodbye to Nick and silently wishing him luck, he headed home. This time he stopped for donuts. Sara would probably hit the roof, she didn't like sugar in the morning, but he needed it. He wouldn't make it through the door otherwise; he ate three on the way.
First thing he noticed when he got through the door was that his couch was gone. The living room looked completely set up, or near too it and nearly everything in it had belonged to Sara except his chair and lamp.
"How?" he asked, pointing in that general direction to Sara who had met him at the door.
"Amy came by and helped me move some things around last night."
Greg nodded. That's why Nick thought Greg had known she'd had the night off.
"So I guess I lost this one."
"Not exactly," she said taking his hand and pulling him off towards their other spare room. "We put it all in here."
Greg looked around; it actually didn't look too bad. They'd set up his couch and desk in there, her desk was in the living room. A lot of it was still packed but at least it hadn't gotten tossed out.
"You're not mad are you?"
"I'm too tired to be mad," he admitted, kissing her quickly once before heading back to the kitchen.
"How was it?" Sara asked, "Amy said Nick got called away too."
"How is Amy?"
"Why?" she asked suspiciously.
"She's my friend and I just want to know."
"Did he tell you anything?"
"Anything like what?" he countered.
"Nothing," Sara said giving up.
Greg was too good at this game but she figured he didn't hear anything or else he wouldn't be so evasive. Amy hadn't said anything to her either. She'd come over like she'd promised but wasn't herself. Sara had guessed that something might have been wrong with her and Nick but hadn't pressed. Amy wasn't the type of person you pressed for details, she told you or she didn't. Period.
Both of them shrugged it off. It probably wasn't that serious after all.
After Nick hadn't called her that morning or stopped by Amy knew she was going to have to make the first concession. She was okay doing that, it had been her fault they'd fought after all, but she also knew that it meant she was caving in. Amy didn't like caving in, but she'd grown use to it after years of practice.
Waiting until after four, a time she knew he'd be awake at least, she'd gone over to his townhouse. They were both on duty that night but this was the kind of thing that couldn't wait and by no means done at work. Neither of them had problems with anyone knowing they were dating, but both were too professional to bring their fights in with them.
Knocking on his door for the second time she started to wonder if maybe he was still asleep when he pulled it open.
"Hey," he answered with a tight smile.
'Yeah,' she thought, 'he's still mad.'
"I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No," Nick answered, sounding a bit more good humored and stepping back to let her inside, "I've been up for few hours already."
They both stood awkwardly in the foyer for a few moments after the door was shut before Nick asked if she wanted a drink. Amy declined then wished she hadn't because her refusal was immediately followed by more awkward silence.
"I'm sorry about yesterday," Amy said finally unable to take the strain any longer.
"You don't have to say that," Nick countered.
"Yes, I do. I don't want you to think… it's not like… oh, I don't even know what I'm saying."
Amy turned and walked into the living room, mostly just to be moving. To be doing something. This was all her parents fault. Okay so not her dad's, just her mom's and her sister. They were the real problem. They were all coming up on Saturday morning to spend the week. It was a nightmare.
"No," he said following her, "I understand. It's too soon. We've only been dating a few months, if you don't want me to meet your parents…"
"I do want you to; I'm just not sure I'm ready for it."
"I shouldn't have assumed."
Amy smiled over at him.
"You weren't wrong too," she insisted. And he wasn't. It's not like she didn't think enough of him for that. "It's just that my parents…"
She didn't want to say it.
Nick reached out and gently pulled her over.
"What's really bothering you?" he asked.
"Them," she said looking at his chest instead of his eyes. "I want them to like you."
"I want them to like me too," he returned with a half smile on his lips.
"You don't get it. They've never liked any of my boyfriends. They always find something wrong with them. My parents are literally waiting for the knight on the white horse to come pick me up in front of the castle."
Nick laughed a little thinking she might be overreacting. Amy did have a bit of a melodramatic flair to her; he'd always thought it was cute.
"No, you don't get it. I've never had a relationship last through one of their encounters. My dad's not so bad, but my mom and my sister. It's not pretty."
"Amy," Nick said trying to calm her, realizing that overreacting or not she was upset, "you don't have to introduce us. It's fine."
Amy pulled herself out of his arms some, not feeling that it was fine.
"No, it's not fine. I called them today and said you wanted to meet them. They want to take us out on Saturday night, before shift. Get to know you."
Nick smiled despite her frown.
"Smile now," she warned, "when they're picking you apart over drinks you won't be."
"You really think it's going to be that bad?" he asked playfully pulling her closer to him.
Amy said nothing, just let him hold her. If her past was any sort of indicator, he wouldn't be doing it for very much longer.