Thanks for all the reviews one again! I appreciate it!
StarESP4Cat: Yeah! Nick's out of the hospital! I did that just for you!
Mudhousejunkie224: Thanks for sticking with me for this whole, entire story!
Debarie: Grissom and Nick bonding. Isn't it great? You gotta love it!
Thanks to everyone else for reviewing! You're the reason why I continue writing!
The party was finally over. Plates, napkins, forks, spoons; you name it. They were everywhere! Nick and Warrick walked throughout the living room with garbage bags, attempting to salvage what was left of it.
"Well, that was fun," Nick said as he plopped down on Warrick 3-coushin couch.
"Yeah, anything for you welcome home party," Warrick said as he plopped himself down on the far side of the couch.
"After all of this, I'm still not tired," Nick said as he took off his shoes.
"Are you kidding me?" Warrick asked as he also began taking off his shoes.
"Why are you?" Nick asked as he took a sip of his beer.
"Nah," Warrick stated before taking the beer from Nick's hands.
"What!" Nick said as he followed Warrick into the kitchen where he placed the beer back in its cardboard container.
"You're on meds! You can't drink beer while you're on your meds. I'm not letting you," Warrick said as he closed the refrigerator.
Nick scoffed at Warrick as he walked back into the living room and plopped down on the couch, dead center in the middle.
Warrick walked back in with a beer and stood in front of Nick.
"Move man," Warrick said as he motioned his hand to either end of the couch.
"Give me a beer and I'll move," Nick said as he lay down on the couch, taking up the couch completely.
"Nope," Warrick said as he sat in the love seat which was to the right of Nick's head.
"So you're gonna drink one in front of me, but not offer me one?" Nick asked as he sat up.
"Yep," Warrick responded as he took a long gulp of the alcohol.
"You're a pretty shitty friend then," Nick said as he laid back down.
"Shitty friend? I have to put up with you for the next week," Warrick said as he quickly tried to swallow the words and take them back. But it was too late. The words were dancing around in Nick's head as he watched the movie on the screen.
"Nick, that's not what I meant," Warrick said as he rested his elbows on his knees. "I was just messin' around man. I didn't mean it."
"That's alright because tomorrow night, I'll be sleeping at my own place," Nick said as he pushed himself off the couch and began walking to Warrick's guest room.
"Nick you can't keep running from your problems. When you have a problem, you talk about it," Warrick said as he walked behind Nick.
"Whatever man. You said what you felt," Nick said as he closed the door in Warrick's face.
Warrick cursed at himself. He couldn't even believe that he had just said that.
"Such an idiot," Warrick said to himself as he found a seat on the bed in his room, beer in hand. He closed the door, and changed into his pajamas.
Warrick changed into a t-shirt and sweats. He sat on the left side of the couch and picked up the remote that Nick has carelessly left on the couch during his tantrum. Warrick switched the channel, not really focusing on what was flying by on the tube. He felt a sinking feeling on the couch to his right. He looked over to see Nick wearing a matching shirt but black sweats instead of the blue Warrick was wearing.
"I'm sorry man. I should have thought before I…" Warrick started before Nick cut him off with the shake of his head.
"Forget it man. It was not that big of a deal. I'm just…sensitive right now," Nick said as he laughed at himself. 'Sensitive? Yeah right he was pretty much bubble wrap compared to what he was before the incident'
"Exactly man. I should of thought about that before I spoke. I'm sorry," Warrick said as he passed him a beer, which he got out of the fridge in hopes of Nick coming back out.
"None for me thanks," Nick said as he pushed the beer away.
"Good for you man," Warrick said.
"Yeah, I'm gonna try something new," Nick said as he brought his knee under his chin.
"What's that?" Warrick asked as he sipped his beer.
"Looking out for myself,"
Nick laid on the guest bed in Warrick's spare room. He tried sleeping on his back, his side, and his stomach. He even tried to sleep with his face in the pillow, which was a bad idea from the start because it made him feel like he was suffocating, and he had been through enough suffocating in the past couple weeks to last him a life time. Nick sighed as he sat up in the bed and rubbed his face. He put his feet on the floor and sat there for a while, taking in the hot, stuffy air of the room. He stood up and opened the door. He walked into the hallway and went straight to the bathroom which was across from his room. He took a piss, washed his hands and stood there, looking at himself in the mirror. He splashed his face with water and rubbed his eyes.
"Get it together Stokes," Nick said to himself as he picked his head up and opened the door. What was outside of the door scared Nick half to death. Nick opened the door to a drowsy Warrick who was in his pajamas.
"Holy Shit!" Nick said as he jumped back over to the sink.
"Sorry man. I woke up to check on you, and you weren't there," Warrick said as he walked past the doorway and back into the living room.
"You couldn't sleep either?" Nick asked as he followed Warrick.
"Nope. Not at all," Warrick said as he turned to look at a very weak Nick. "You should get to sleep Nick. You look kinda…" Warrick started before making a weird face.
"Bad?" Nick asked before scratching his head.
"Horrible actually," Warrick said as he sat down on the left side of the couch.
"Thanks buddy," Nick said as he sat on the right side.
"Anytime," Warrick said as he smiled.
"You got PS2?" Nick asked as he sunk to the floor.
"Yeah, I just bought NBA 2K5. Wanna play?" Warrick asked as he also sunk to the floor.
"Sure man. You set it up, I'll get the food?" Nick asked as he got to his knees.
"Yeah, yeah," Warrick said as he began changing the TV to the appropriate channel.
Nick got to his feet and walked into the kitchen. He opened the fridge where an ice cold beer stared him in the face. He looked at it, and went past it to the Chinese in the back. He grabbed the noodles and the orange chicken. He grabbed two forks from the drawer, along with 2 paper towels from the rack. He opened the fridge and took one more look at the beer. He closed the fridge in frustration, and walked back over to Warrick who was on the floor, game ready to go.
"You see anything you like in the fridge?" Warrick asked in a taunting manner.
"No. Actually I didn't," Nick said as he sat the food on the coffee table and sat cross legged next to his best friend.
"I'm Iverson," Nick said as he grabbed the control.
"Fine I'm Marion," Warrick said as they selected their players.
"Ready to get your ass whooped?" Nick asked with a smirk on his face.
"By you? Yeah right! But I'll take your mom up on the offer," Warrick said as he patted himself on the back at his dis.
"Oh you're going down. Ready to be my bitch? Cause Tine was last time I checked," Nick said as he laughed.
He left Warrick speechless. "Oh, you're gonna regret that," Warrick said as he socked Nick in the arm.
"Ow," Nick yelled as he stabbed a fork in to the orange chicken.
"Oh, shut up," Warrick said as he punched him again.
"You shut up. That hurt," Nick said as he rubbed his arm.
"Fine, then punch me," Warrick said as he tightened up his arm.
Nick began to crack his knuckles and tried to get his muscles ready. He pulled back completely and socked Warrick square in the muscle.
"Geez," Warrick said as he rubbed his arm as pain was felt throughout his body.
"Oh, shut up," Nick said as he laughed and took another bite of orange chicken.
Warrick looked at Nick with a glare.
"Oh now you're gonna act like a bitch," Nick asked as he put the orange chicken down on the table.
"Are you ready to get this party started ma'am?" Warrick asked as he stabbed his fork into the noodles.
"More than ever," Nick said as he glanced at the time on Warrick's VCR. "3:42," Nick said as he pressed start and began to play.
"3:42?" Warrick asked as he began to block Nick's shots on the game.
"The time," Nick said as he pointed to the clock.
"Oh. Why did you need to know the time?" Warrick asked with a confused look on his face.
"I just wanted to see how long it was gonna take me to whoop your sorry ass," Nick said with his tongue sticking out of his mouth.
"Yeah right," Warrick said as he became fiercer. He took it a little easier on Nick during the game like letting him take the ball back and letting him make three pointers even though his player could have easily blocked him. They played for 2 hours straight until both men drifted off to sleep on the floor. Nick was stretched out underneath the coffee table and Warrick stayed sitting up with his head backwards on the couch. That was where Catherine, Sara, Greg, and Grissom found them after Catherine helped herself into Warrick's house with the spare key around 8:00 that morning. They tip toed in as Grissom closed the door behind them. They brought food from Sam's Diner and coffee from Blake's Coffee Shop, a new place down the street from Sam's. The first hundred customers got free coffee. Sara and Greg placed the food on Warrick's counter and Grissom and Catherine place the coffee on the glass table.
"Should we wake them up?" Sara asked with a smile on her face at the way the guys were sleeping.
"No, no, no, no, no," Grissom said with an authoritive tone as Sara and Greg walked over to the couch.
"Oh come on," Greg said with a smile on his face.
"Please," Catherine chimed in as she begged Grissom.
Grissom sighed and gave a smile of approval to the other 3. Greg got the water, Sara got the shaving cream, and Catherine, who didn't want to be blamed for anything, stood back with Grissom and smiled.
The group had been close for quite sometime so they knew their sleeping habits. Warrick and Greg were the heavy sleepers, Grissom and Catherine had been the light sleepers, and Nick and Sara were the in-betweens.
Knowing that Nick would want to be apart of the prank, Sara and Greg woke him from his slumber with a few water drops on his face. He wiped his face a few times in his sleep, but than Greg got bottle happy and squeezed too much onto Nick's face waking him up in jiffy. He wiped his face as a pissed look came onto his face. But, he couldn't help but laugh at the 4 of them standing and staring. Nick rubbed his eyes and stood up as Greg and Sara began to get Warrick. Nick, Grissom, and Catherine were back by the counters which was a far enough distance away, just in case Warrick wasn't in the mood for the prank. Warrick's hand was in the perfect position for the plan; palm up. Greg filled his hand with shaving cream while Sara picked up a noodle out of the containers left open. She wiggled the noodle over Warrick's nose until just the tip was touched. She then began tracing it along his forehead. Warrick began frantically slapping at the moving on his face, but with the clean hand. Greg began to fill the other hand up with shaving cream just as Warrick woke up. He looked at Sara, who laughed and pointed at Greg. Warrick winked but closed his eyes before Greg knew he was awake. Sara began wiggling the noodle on Warrick's nose again. Warrick opened his eyes frightening Sara, Greg, and the three in the kitchen. Warrick took both hands and slapped them across Greg's face, not hard, but just enough to here the suction sound of Warrick's hands coming off of Greg's face. The team began roaring as Greg lost his balance, part of it from the scare, but the other part from the shaving cream in the eyes.
"Got ya," Warrick said as he wiped his hands on Greg's clothes.
"He got you good Greggo," Nick said from the kitchen as Catherine and Grissom attempted to be the adults and not laugh, but were failing miserably.
"Fine, I'll admit it," Greg said as he wiped the shaving cream off of his face. "You got me."
"Good. He got you good," Sara said with a smile.
"Fine he got me good," Greg said with a smile. "But now I got you," Greg said as he wiped his shaving cream covered hands onto Sara's shirt.
Sara squealed as Greg opened the container and proceeded to practically empty the can into her hair.
"Oh come on guys," Warrick said as he stood up. "Not in my living room," Warrick said with a smile.
"Shut up," Nick said as he took a handful off of Sara's head and began walking towards Grissom and Catherine. Grissom got away but Catherine was left in the dust.
Nick slapped a handful of shaving cream into Catherine's hair.
"Oh Nicky," Catherine said as she began scooping it out of her hair. "This is such bullshit!" She shouted as she wiped the rest on his shirt.
"You can't tell me you're not having fun," Nick said as he wiped his hands on his shirt.
"Ok, I'm having fun," Catherine said as she looked into the living room. The noise had quieted down a bit.
Grissom, who thought he could hide out in the Arizona Room, was soon caught by a very happy Greg and Warrick. The wiped the remaining goop onto Grissom's shirt and Grissom didn't do anything to fight it. He just let it happen. He knew by doing this, it would spoil most of their fun.
The three walked back out to Catherine, Nick, and Sara sitting at the table picking out everyone's breakfast. The other three joined them at Warrick's 8 seat dinning table.
"Where's Linds?" Nick asked as he took a bite of his eggs.
"Oh, she had already missed 5 days before…" Catherine stated before swallowing. "Before you know," Catherine continued as she stared at her plate.
"Oh I see," Nick said as he took a sip of coffee.
"So what's planned for today?" Greg asked as grabbed napkins for everyone.
"Well, last night everyone agreed to having a movie night at Warrick's," Sara said as she wiped her mouth.
"Here?" Warrick asked as he stabbed his food with his fork.
"Yeah," Catherine stated as she threw a napkin at him.
"Well, it sounds like fun," Nick said with eggs in his mouth.
"Nicolas Stokes, what did Mrs. Stokes teach you about talking with your mouth full?" Catherine said with a serious look on his face causing everyone at the table to laugh, including Nick.
"Well, you got the look just right," Nick said as he wiped his face.
"What about the accent?" Grissom asked with a smile.
"Oh she did it perfect," Nick said with a smirk and a bit of sarcasm.
The rest of the meal was pretty uneventful up until Nick asked a question that would anger, hurt, and sadden the rest of the group.
"So, how long did you guys watch me in the box?" Nick asked with his hands behind his head.
No one said anything, not wanting to tell Nick the God awful truth.
"Come on you guys I'm man enough to hear it. Let's go," Nick said as he leaned closed to the table.
"The..." Greg started before taking a sharp breath. "Whole time."
"OK. Thanks Greggo. That's all I wanted to know," Nick said with a smile. "I did that as a test," Nick stated before getting up and throwing away his trash.
"A test?" Catherine asked. "I thought that was Grissom's thing."
"It is. I just wanted to see that, if I asked you guys a question, if you'd be able to answer it, regardless of how it makes me feel because right now, the best thing you guys could do for me, is tell me the truth," Nick said as he looked over at the rest of the group.
"You're not gonna always want to hear the truth," Sara said as she looked at Nick.
"I know. But it's what I want," Nick said as he sat back down at the table.
The next couple minutes were pretty quiet as what Nick said really sunk in.
"So, The Italian Job or Walking Tall?" Nick said as he attempted to lighten the mood.
I hope you liked it. I really enjoy the bonding between the group members. Tell me what you think! Review if you can!
-CSIFanatic08