Standardized Disclaimer: I am broke; thus, I own no CJ. And even if I did, I would use my "influence" to get Nige and Bug together. They love each other! Admit it! Y'all know it anyway!

"Hey, Bug." Dr. "Bug" Mehesh stopped shirt and looked back at Lily as the red-head poked her head out of her office. "Could I... speak to you a moment?" Bug's heart leaped into his throat in nervousness as he nodded his head and walked towards her cautiously. Upon getting inside the office, the grief counselor of the Boston Medical Examiner's Office shut her door before turning to face him.

"...What is it?" He asked.

"I wanted to ask you something." Lily replied. She walked past him and sat down at her desk before motioning for him to sit down as well. He did, but slowly.

"Am I in trouble?" He asked, his heart still fluttering with unease. Lily's face broke into a smile; an action that seemed to burst sparkles into her eyes.

"Of course not. Why would you think so?"

"Well, because you normally do not call me into your office like this." At this statement, Lily's smile faltered, but did not immediately disperse.

"That's true," she admitted. "But I wanted to talk because of something you sent me. It..." She searched for the right word that would not make her sound nosy or rude. "It made me concerned for you." To show him what she meant, she removed a certain printed out email he had sent and handed it to him. He did not have to look at it; he knew what she meant. The icy feeling in the pit of his stomach was escalating. Shifting uneasily in his chair, he surveyed her kind and beautiful face.

"And?" was all he managed to say.

"And," Lily continued for him. Realizing he did not want to look over the sheet of paper, she pulled it back and laid it in front of her. "I just want to know what's on your mind."

"Meaning what?" He was avoiding the subject matter and Lily knew it. She was determined, however, be it because she hung around Jordan too much or because she was genuinely concerned about her colleague.

"Meaning," she smiled to make the situation more easy. "I want to know if anything has changed. Do you still feel the same way? Have you mentioned it at all?" Bug's face contorted itself into a look of mitigated self disgust at the last question at hand.

"Of course I haven't mentioned it." He responded, acting as if that was the last thing he would ever do; even if he died in the process. Lily sighed heavily and crossed her arms on the desk in front of her.

"You have to tell him, Bug." She said. "It's the only way anything will get resolved."

"I can't." Bug said urgently. "He wouldn't..." Sighing heavily, the insect-infatuated M.E. laid back against the chair. "He wouldn't understand." He muttered.

"You don't know that," Lily stated, trying to make her friend feel better. "He could feel the same way."

"He doesn't." Bug retorted, his eyes narrowing slightly in frustration. He did not understand why the therapist could not contimplate such honesty. "Have you actually met this guy? He is a walking playboy, for chrissake's!" Lily took offense to the statement and she sat back in her chair, stunned for a moment. Bug sounded so bitter and agitated. But then the counselor saw what was really bothering the ex-Liverpool-ien. Leaning closer on her desk, she looked him directly into his eyes.

"You love him, don't you?" This question did not need a response; she knew just by his flushed cheeks and avoidance of eye contact. A small smile played on her lips, but came from happiness and not because of the little fangirl-ness she had within her. "Bug, I think it's important to tell him how you feel."

"Oh, right." Bug's voice rang with sarcasm and venom. "I'll just go up to my best friend and say, 'Hey, ya know what? I think I love you, Nigel.' Right." Disgruntled, he sat back in his seat, his right fist covering his mouth. Lily could not see his whole facial expression, but she could easily tell from his eyes that he was upset.

"Are you concerned?" Caught off guard, the Indian man looked over at his co-worker in surprise. "I mean, you mentioned the whole playboy aspect of Nigel's. Is that why you're worried, Bug? Because you're afraid you might get hurt?" There passed several moments of silence from the entomologist. Finally he spoke quietly,

"He just seems to go through so many girls, you know? It's like every weekend he has a new girlfriend. I do not even think he is interested in men but, yeah. I guess his playboy-ish antics are cause for worry. Wouldn't you think so?" Lily smiled faintly, thinking back on her own personal/social life. She nodded her head.

"I would." She admitted. She reached out her hand to take his. "But that does not mean he's incapable of loving anyone, Bug. He just... hasn't found the right person yet. You could be the person he's looking for, you know." She pointed out in her ever chiche way of doing things. Bug snorted. Sighing heavily, the red-head knew she was running short of options. "Alright," she theorized. Getting up, she made the meeting go from profession to personal by just sitting on the corner of her desk. She looked more relaxed and the enviroment thus was changed. "Let me tell you something. I was once in love with this gorgeous man. He was the center in my high school basketball team and we had known each other since we were little kids. We spent every moment together when we were little, playing house, sleeping over, catching fireflies..." She caught herself rambling and she smiled, chuckled briefly and shook her head before continuing. "Anyway, when we were in high school, he became popular and I was one of the geeks. I thought everything between us had changed permantantly and we would never be friends like we used to. And I was fine with that. But one night, he came over out of nowhere and asked me out. He said that he still loved me and had since we were little, and he wanted to be with me." Bug was intrigued by this bout of a story.

"And?"

"And," Lily's small smile danced on the corner of her lips once again. "I thought it over. He had a horrible reputation for screwing and leaving behind girls; just shoving them to the curb. Not wanting to get hurt like that, I turned him down. But I knew in my heart that I loved him. Despite all those years convincing myself he and I were over and our relationship was simply a fond childhood memory, I loved him."

"So what happened? You never dated him at all?" Lily shook her head in response.

"Nope. I never did. All because I was scared of getting hurt."

"So... then what?"

"Well, then he met another geek in our rival school and fell for her. He then married her and now is the head of a big investment firm, making about a million and a half dollars in profit a year; after taxes."

Bug's eyebrows rose. "You looked him up?"

Lily shrugged. "He had a big article in Forbes magazine. But my point is that you can't give up, Bug. Yes, it's possible that you will get hurt, but it's just as possible you will get hurt with someone besides Nigel. If you truly love him, he has the right to know." She paused several moments, waiting for that information to sink in. "Did that help at all?" She asked.

"Bug?"

"Bug, are you okay?" Without replying, he got up from his seat and walked past his worried commrade. She watched him as he walked to the door. Before disappearing into his great bug-abyss, he turned to her, a small smile on his lips.

"You did help. Thank you, Lily." Lily's face broke into a happy grin.

"You're welcome. Good luck."

(Five hours later...)

"Hey, Buggles!" The Brit smiled, waltzing up to the busy doctor as he sat at his desk. "What's new in the Land of the Dead, eh?" Shooting up an annoyed glance, Bug's only greeting was,

"You're late."

"Oh come on, love." He smirked, trying to get his best friend to let it go.

"Twenty-three minutes late, to be exact." Bug said, not showing an inch of forgiveness. He stood up and walked over to the fax machine with several pieces of paper in hand. Dr. Townsend followed him. "And out of those twenty-three minutes, Dr. Macy has been demanding of me where you are. Like I would know."

"Relax, Buggles." Nigel teased, resting his hands on the smaller man's shoulders. "You know I will always be here for you."

Bug checked his watch. "Twenty-four minutes." Nigel laughed.

"That's not fair. You can't do that; counting my lateness when I am already here."

"No one says I can't." Bug said, continuing his silly little charade. He was not sure why he did it; it was simply something to do. Aside from that, talking to Nigel like this made him feel important; he was the only one Nigel shared little quirks like those with. It made him feel singularly special in the eyes of the man he loved so dearly.

Draping his longated arms over Bug's shoulders from behind, the flirtateous M.E. traced his fingers up Bug's chest. The entomologist froze, reddness rushing to his cheeks. This contact was something that Nigel had never done in the past. Bug craved more just as much as he feared it. In the end, his fear won out and he pulled away. Nigel's lower lip jutted out in a pouty look. Bug's heart raced because of that action. However, he tried his best to mask his flushed cheeks and he avoided any furtherance of eye contact as he walked past the ever-joyful ex-Londoner and to his desk. Picking up his things, the Indian-descendant tossed his bag strap over his shoulder.

"I'm leaving now, Nigel. Make sure you get the autopsy and trace done on that Blaine case for Dr. Macy. You'll be working with Wonder Boy tonight," the shorter man scowled at the mention of Sydney. "And I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he made his way to the door. Nigel watched him and timed it perfectly that, as soon as Bug was about to leave, he said,

"What? No kiss goodbye, love?" This comment warrented a look of crimson-colored ears poking out from his shirt collar as Bug left the office, not looking back at Nigel Townsend, playboy extraordinare.

Fin, love :smile:

Last Minute Author Notes: Please do not have my head for gravy! This is my first fanfic that is not based on some form of Japanese Anime Curricular. (well, except for that one Harry Potter story...) I hope you like it, although I easily see that there are not many Nigel/Bug stories. Hell, there's about five. But I wanted to write one. So you better have liked it!

:puppy eyes:

Please? REVIEW!