Disclaimer: I don't own them

Spoilers: Up in Smoke (this chapter)

A/N: the last chapter in my slash experiment. Please review and let me know how I did.


Nick had made it through two weeks of a lot of hell. But he had made it through, and it was getting better, bit by bit. He had decided after the disastrous outing with Greg that he would try to greet the man with his same easy going demeanor and professionalism. He had partially succeeded, but it was awkward and stilted, and he always got the feeling that Greg was on the verge of saying something more. Nick would leave before Greg could say anything.

Greg was acting more subdued than normal around Nick, but if anyone noticed the tension that was being danced around, they didn't say it. Nick had caught Sara giving him a look that could only be described as analytical, like she was trying to figure out some new specimen.

"What?" he had said, more curtly than he intended.

"Nothing," she replied. "Boy, you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," she hissed as she walked away.

"Try this decade," he said, under his breath.

Warrick had tried to get details out of Nick, but all Nick had told him was that the bird watching was cut short by a storm, and that he and Greg hadn't made any further plans.

"So you blew it," Warrick said, disappointed. "You blew it!"

"What makes you think I blew it?" Nick said caustically. "You know, there were two of us there, maybe Greg blew it. Maybe there was nothing to blow," he said vehemently, but in a low voice. Catherine gave the two a look from the other end of the break room. Nick ran a hand through his longer hair; now would be a good time to cut it. It obviously hadn't proved to be his strength. "Just drop it, War," he said and stomped out.

It all left Nick wondering where to go next. He was strong and smart, and things would present themselves. Right? So when he was working on the case that they were calling "the Smokee" and Greg waltzed into the video lab of his own accord, Nick acted as nonchalant as possible. He had made out a sunburst on the card, which now appeared to be some kind of ID card.

"Hey, sunburst, that's a gym." Greg was more like his usual self. Nick still couldn't get used to him in a blazer and with the longer, non-spiked hair. But then again, his hair wasn't what it used to be.

"How would you know?" he asked.

"I go."

"You been hitting the weights Greggo?" Nick asked, trying for levity, though it came out wooden.

"Muy Thai. Competitive kickboxing. You've got to balance the weights with aerobics," he said, smiling. Nick was trying for casual, but Greg's smile put him off balance. He returned his eyes to the screen.

"Yeah, OK," he said, lamely. Anyone who had lifted weights and trained knew that. Then it dawned on Nick that Greg was trying to make conversation about something he knew Nick would know about – working out.

Nick finally got the face to come through on the ID. Archie couldn't have done better. He grinned to himself and looked up at Greg. The look he saw there was unmistakable: longing. But what for? Nick's friendship, which was in peril, or more? Nick pushed the thought aside.

"I've got to see Catherine," Nick said lamely. Greg' disappointment showed on his face briefly.

"Sure," he said. He walked with Nick to the end of the hall and turned the opposite way.

"Greg," Nick called. The other man turned with an expectant look. "Maybe you can tell me more about it later," Nick said. Greg gave him a big smile and nodded.

Nick felt like he had taken a step towards some kind of recovery.


"He feels bad," Sara said. They were sitting at the deli, just the two of them, waiting on the lunch order for the lab. Nick looked at her blankly. Being that Sara was amovie geek, they had been discussing the Oscar's, and now she blurted this out. Nick wasn't sure if it had to do with Joaquin Phoenix or not.

"Joaquin or Joaquin as Johnny Cash?" Nick said, confusion clearly etched on his face.

"Greg. He feels bad," she clarified. Nick grimaced.

"He told you that? What else did he tell you?"

"It's not that he told me anything. He just said that he blew a chance at something. He said he let fear get the best of him. I just assumed, with the way you two were acting …" she trailed off, looking at him to fill in the gaps.

"I don't really want to talk about this," Nick said stubbornly. "He made himself clear. That was that, and we're friends."

"Friends who don't talk and barely look at each other," she said sarcastically. "You know, all of my best friends are like that." Nick wanted to make a comment about a man who only emoted with bugs, but wisely held his tongue. Friends shouldn't use those things as ammunition. "All I'm trying to tell you is that the door may not be closed completely. He regrets his actions. It's written on his face every time he looks at you." Sara had an earnest look to her, and Nick was glad that she was his friend, and Greg's.

"I'll take it under advisement," he acquiesced. She smiled.

When they returned to the lab, everyone sat in the break room together. Or what Nick thought of as everyone: Sara, Warrick, Greg and himself. Even Archie and Bobby joined them. It was rare that they could eat together. That made it nicer. The conversations flowed, and Nick caught pieces here and there.

"So, Hodges and the new DNA tech went to breakfast together yesterday after shift," Archie was telling Sara. They shared a look of conspiracy. Gossip mongers.

"And then, she did the cutest thing. She raised her little hands and tried to clap them together. You are going to love it when you and Tina have kids," Bobby was saying to Warrick, beaming over the tales of a small toddler. Warrick looked alarmed at the prospect. Nick smiled and looked over to catch Greg looking at him, again. Nick took a chance and smiled.

Greg smiled back.

"Tell me about kickboxing," Nick said to him. Greg launched into a description so animated that all other conversation ceased. It ended with Greg's chair knocked over and his drink spilled on the floor. But everyone was laughing, including Greg. Nick felt a little hope creep in, but he shut it down.

Now it was Greg's move, he thought to himself.


Nick had barely made it home and into his knit pants and t-shirt before his doorbell was ringing. It had been a rough case for Nick. The sight of that charred corpse in the chimney had given him nightmares, though he had played it off to Sara at the scene. And then, when he had seen the pictures of that poor girl's body, bricked up in the chimney while still alive and slowly bleeding to death, he had gone to the locker room and sat on the bench for a few moments. The thought that it could have been him, though in a different situation, plagued him. He felt for the girl's dad. He wondered how his own parents would have taken it.

He walked to the door and looked out the peep hole to see Greg. He opened the door in surprise.

"Greggo," he said, perplexed but happy. "What's going on man?"

"I brought pizza, and beer," Greg said, holding a four pack of Grolsch in one hand and two pizza boxes in the other. "I thought you might use some company," he finished.

"Come in," Nick said quickly. "I was going to microwave a meal, but this sounds better." Greg followed him in and set the pizza boxes down on the counter. Nick was already getting plates, albeit paper one, out of his cabinets.

"I thought this case might have gotten to you," Greg said, tentatively. "You know, the burn cases, they always get to me," he said.

"Perceptive," admitted Nick. "I wasn't sure how I was going to sleep tonight. Well, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to sleep, not well anyway." It was more candor than Nick had allowed himself to any of his friends. He wasn't sure why he was letting his guard down, other than it was Greg, with pizza, and he wanted to be open.

They stood awkwardly for a moment, each of them drinking out of the funky bottles with the rubber stoppers. Nick wasn't a big fan of Grolsch, but it was one of Greg's favorites. He was never one to turn down free beer. That lesson, at least, had stayed with him from college. Plus, Grolsch bottles were 16 ounces, not the usual 12.

"I want a redo," Greg said, breaking the silence. Nick looked at him without expression.

"A what?"

"A redo," Greg repeated. "I was scared and I thought it was too good to be true, that you were asking me out, and then, the kiss, and I wasn't sure if I could handle more heartbreak, because the last guy went back to an old girlfriend." In typical Greg fashion, the words came out in a hurried rush. "I want another chance."

"Why? Why change your mind?" Nick asked. The beer burned his throat and churned in his empty stomach.

"I have crushed on you forever, but I didn't think you were gay. I didn't want to be an experiment, and I didn't want you to come in and make dreams come true and then leave it all to crash and burn."

"Greg," Nick said and closed the distance between them. He put his hand on the younger man's face. "I can't promise that we'll work out. I can't promise that either one of us won't break the other's heart. But I can promise that right now, you are the one I want. I fought the idea for a while, but when I was in that box, things became clearer than they were. I'm just sorry that I didn't act on it sooner."

"I'm sorry that I freaked out the other day," Greg said. They shared a smile, now a little shy. Nick suggested they take the supper into his living room. They sat side by side, drinking and eating and talking. Or Greg talked and Nick listened and laughed. Nick hoped it would be the first of many meals together.

He had changed. He knew that – he wasn't hiding from who he was any longer. Looking at Greg's animated face, with the little bit of pizza sauce on the side, he wished it hadn't taken the events that it did to make him realize that hiding wasn't a good thing. He could have been doing this a long time ago. He reached up and wiped the sauce off with a paper towel. He suddenly had the urge to ask Greg to move in, so that this could be everyday. He figured that he needed to take it slower than that, at least.

"So what kind of pizza are we ordering tomorrow morning?" he said, and smiled. Greg smiled back.

"Actually, I already made plans for us to meet Sara for breakfast," Greg said. Nick looked at him in surprise.

"That was confidant," he said, a little ticked, but at the same time very happy that they were making plans, together.

"Well, I just told her that I might have someone with me. I didn't say it would be you."

Nick thought a moment. He wanted to say that Greg could always say it would be him, but it wasn't wise to make promises like that when you're on your first almost-date.

He figured he could wait until the weekend, at least.


A/N: So this one's done. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know in an review!