Journeys
CSI: Las Vegas
Gil Grissom/Greg Sanders
FRT/PG-13
I do not own CSI or any of it's characters.
The person who haunts Gil Grissom's past is back, looking for revenge. Forcing Gil to take Greg with him and run for their lives. Along the journey the two of them are forced to admit their mutual feelings.
Chapter Five
"So, want me to take a turn now? You must be getting pretty tired by now." Gil glanced over his shoulder, obviously surprised by Greg's comment. He was a loner by nature and wasn't used to having other people around him. He quickly masked his surprise with a quirky grin.
"Thanks but I'm fine. Did you have a nice nap?"
"Yeah, I guess. You sure you don't want me to take over?"
"Are you bored already Greg? We haven't even been on the road for one whole day." Greg scowled at Gil's snug look.
"According to all of my teachers I apparently have ADD."
"I can definitely believe that."
"Ha ha ha, very funny."
The two sat in silence for quite some time. Greg staring out the window at the passing cars, and Gil concentrating on his driving. Getting a ticket now would mean that Giovanni would catch them for sure. It wasn't until almost noon that Gil finally stopped at an IHOP for some food and a chance to stretch their legs.
Ironically Greg, for all of his complaining about the long ride, was all to happy to sit down, as long as there was food involved. After the two men had both ordered their coffee, Gil turned toward Greg.
"Keep in mind that while we don't have to be stingy, per say, but we do have to watch how much money we spend and withdraw."
"Well, isn't he tracking your account, or something?"
"He is. I kept Peter's old bank account open, and Martin can always wire us some money if worst comes to worst."
"And Giovanni doesn't have a track on Peter's account too?"
"There are too many P Jacksons in the USA in to track them all."
Gil fell silent as the waiter returned to take their order. Greg ordered the two egg breakfast. Shaking his head, Gil ordered two sides of bacon and sausage to compensate.
"I told you that we didn't need to be stingy Greg."
"Sorry Gris-uh-Gil."
"Don't be sorry. You didn't do anything wrong."
The food came next and both men ate in silence. After breakfast/lunch was over Gil and Greg returned to the car. Gil took out an old road map, and he and Greg went over the route that they would follow, for now at least. Then Greg got into the car and made the adjustments necessary in order for him to comfortably take over driving. By the time he was finished tailoring the seat to his specific needs, Gil had returned from the gift shop adjacent to the restaurant. He was carrying a small brown bag and two pay-as-you-go cell phones.
"From now on this is the only phone that you use. In fact, turn off your other one and give it to me. For now it's useless."
Taking the phone, Greg hooked it onto his belt as he started up the car. Gil reclined in his seat and forced himself to relax. It was hard for him to let down his guard, even though he fully trusted the man beside him. Eventually he was able to fall into a uneasy doze. Only to be jolted awake by the car's sudden stop.
Forcing his seat back into it's standard position, Gil turned his head to glance at Greg. His head was forced back against the headrest, throat exposed. His eyes were clenched tightly, and his hands were balled tightly into fists by his side.
"Greg, Greg, are you ok? Greg?"
"Huh, Gil? I'm fine. In fact, I should be the one asking you that, I was driving."
"Don't worry about that, it wasn't your fault." Gil got out of the car and circled around to the front to survey the damage. The bumper had some slight damage and the paint was scratched, but both men were unharmed.
"From the look of things, I'd say that we scraped up against a tree. I should've warned you about that, my fault." Glancing through the windshield as he spoke, Gil noticed that Greg was becoming increasingly more and more upset. Desperately wanting to comfort the young man that he'd grown to care for, Gil went around to the driver's side, opened the door and knelt next to Greg's seat. He gently reached over and cupped both sides of his face.
"Greg, calm down. This isn't your fault. None of this is."
"If I hadn't gone to check up on you-"
"I'd still be running for my life only I'd be alone. You're actually going to be helping me."
"I crashed your car."
"No, you scratched the paint. No big deal. I had to get it repainted anyway."
"I like lime green." Greg said, perking up once he realized that he wasn't in any trouble. Standing up again Gil couldn't resist musing Greg's hair fondly before moving around and getting back into the passenger's side.
"Forest green. Lime green is too flamboyant. We are trying to maintain a low profile Greg."
Nodding to show his consent, Greg buckled his seat belt once again and started the car. The two of them took off again, flying the byway, more carefully this time, however. At the next chance to enter the highway, Gil decided that might be a safer choice than continuing on the tricky back roads. Greg agreed whole heartedly.
-0-
It wasn't until around four in the afternoon that Gil finally told Greg to pull off at the next exit. Once off the highway both men started looking for a decent hotel within their price range. Greg was also looking for a shop that would quickly repaint the car. Once they found a decent hotel, and had checked in under false names, Gil left Greg in the room and went to take the car for a makeover. True to his word the new color turned out to be a dark forest green. Greg also noticed that the licence plate number had been changed. The Nevada plates had been replaced by a custom Canadian one.
"Nice, how'd you get that? Is that even legal."
"No, but in our situation, I think that the government will make an exception."
"Cool, so, what's in the bag?" Greg asked, pointing to the large bag in Gil's hand.
"A Best Buy was next door to the Midas so I bought a new laptop. One which I can guarantee isn't being traced."
"Well, yeah, you just bought it." Replied Greg as he turned around and headed for the bathroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower."
"I also called Nick." Gil's words stopped Greg dead in his tracks. He calmly turned around again to face Gil.
"What did he say?"
"He agreed to cover for us on Monday, but I don't think he realizes that when I said awhile I'd ment awhile."
"What's he got in mind?"
"No clue. I just hope it works. I'll call Catherine on Thursday. Hopefully by then Nick will have mentioned to her that he'd talked to me."
"I hope so." Greg said, rather disheartened. Gil sighed. He wished that there was some way to cheer up his friend. Greg had never asked for this. He didn't deserve this, but Giovanni had seen them together. Chances were that he would suspect that Greg was Gil's boyfriend. That would mean certain death for Greg.
Not knowing what to say to cheer him up, Gil settled for shaking his head and sending Greg off for a much needed shower. When Greg got back from his shower Gil had already set up the laptop and was connecting onto the internet.
Looking over his boss's shoulder, Greg realized that Gil must have been preparing for this for a while. He had a whole second identity planned out: a second licence plate, a second driver's licence, two separate internet accounts, hell, he even had two separate cars. The, now green, ford had never been seen at the lab.
"Enough hot water?"
"Plenty. What'cha working on?" Greg's normal hyper bounce was back, tenfold.
"Martin. I'm trying to find him."
"Any luck?"
"Plenty." Gil replied, reflecting Greg's works back at him. "I just found him."
Author's note: We won't be able to update this story for awhile. If you'll all be kind enough to put this story on your story alertsyou will be e-mailed when I can finish it. Especially for those of you without accounts, please check the reviews for messages from us about the progress of our stories; this is now effective for all of them. The message will be anonymous with the screename Author. Oh, by the way, PLEASE read our Gauntlet: Dark Legacy story, even if you haven't ever played the game. You don't have to have any previous knowledge about the game to understand it.
Our thanks and apologies,
Renee and Serene