"By the looks of things..." Catherine said as she walked into Nick's kitchen, "I'm cooking dinner."
"You're one hell of a CSI Cath." Nick said, ducking out of Catherine's reach.
"I don't have to feed you ya know."
"I'm sorry." Nick said, fighting back a smile.
Catherine just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Okay, so what do you gentlemen want to eat?"
"Whatever Warrick got at the store earlier."
"Okay." Catherine said, looking through Nick's cabinets. "We have...popcorn, chips, oreos, Greg's coffee..."
"Hey!" Greg said, punching Warrick.
"Nick did it, not me." Greg turned to hit Nick, but he had moved across the room out of reach.
Catherine moved to the fridge. "Cherry coke, orange juice, milk, and gatorade." She shook her head at Warrick.
"What? There's nothing wrong with that."
Catherine opened the freezer. "Frozen pizza...you guys couldn't handle frozen pizza?"
"No, we could. We just like your company." Nick said sarcastically. This time he wasn't out of Catherine's reach.
"Oh good job Warrick. Chicken breast. Something I can actually cook." Nick and Greg started clapping for Warrick, who just shook his head. "Okay, I'll go throw this on the grill...are we eating outside or inside?"
"Outside." All 3 guys said in unison. They grabbed 4 cokes from the fridge and followed Catherine into Nick's backyard. They sat down at the table on Nick's patio as Catherine got the chicken started.
"So how's work Greggo?" Nick asked.
"Oh it's a joy. I don't think Sara's slept in a week, and I swear to God Grissom's office has a button somewhere and it turns into a bedroom or something."
Nick and Warrick burst out into laughter. "I would not be at all surprised it that's true." Warrick said.
"And Hodges thinks he's God cuz he figured out there was Semtex under you, so he thinks we all owe him a lifetime of servitude."
"That sounds like good ol' Hodges." Nick said, taking a sip of cherry coke. Catherine returned and took a seat next to Warrick.
"Awww Greg, it's not that bad."
"That's because you don't have to work DB's in an abandoned skate park with absolutly no evidence whatsoever with Sunshine Sara Sidle." Everyone but Geg broke out laughing. "I'm glad someone thinks it's funny." He said, giving in to the smile he was fighting back.
"Don't worry Greg. Soon you can go back to getting tortured by me and Nick and loosing bets."
"Ah...the good old days...I'd take that over this last week anytime."
"That bad?" Nick said with a smirk.
"Remember that case you ran with Sara after she hadn't slept in 3 days and I offered you a Valium for her and she somehow heard and almost killed me? How fun was that?"
"I think I had more fun on the scuba diver in the tree case."
Catherine let out a short laugh. "Yeah. And what was your theory on that Nicky? Sucked up by the heliocopters getting water from Lake Mead..."
"It made sense. Your just jealous you didn't think of it first." Nick shot back, pointing at Catherine with his can.
"Well what about the drowning in the desert you thought was murder?" Warrick challenged.
"It could have been...it sort of was. Her husband screwed with the map."
"Then he drowned her with cantine water?"
Nick threw a foam football that was on the table at Warrick, who easily caught it. "Don't forget your thief versus my phantom driver."
"Oh man." Warrick laughed. "That was such a bogus case. A series of very unfortunate events."
"That made us both looked stupid." Nick added with a laugh.
"And which case was this?" Greg asked.
"A car went off the road and down a steep hill. When we got the the scene, the vic was alive and pulled from the backseat, no driver found in the car or anywhere around it. Circumstancial evidence led Nick here to believe there was a 'phantom driver' who abandoned his friend..."
"And Warrick thought he was robbed."
"What happened?" Catherine asked chuckling.
"Turns out, the vic was really the driver. He lost all his money, watch and ring playing pool, had a few to drink, and drove off the road. As his car was see-sawing over the edge of the hill, he climbed into the backseat before going over." Warrick said. Everyone laughed at Nick and Warrick's competetiveness.
Catherine sighed. "Chickens almost ready...but none of you thought to bring out plates and silverware?" The guys just looked at each other and shrugged. "I'll get it." Catherine said with mock irritation.
"I'll help." Warrick said, standing and following Catherine back into Nick's kitchen.
Nick and Greg sat in silence for a few seconds before Nick spoke. "G...can I ask you something?"
"Yeah. Of course." Nick's tone made Greg a little uneasy, but he was willing to help Nick in any way he could.
"How did you...how did you go back to work after the...explosion?"
Greg's soft brown eyes met Nick's darker ones, and he could see how scared he was. He took a deep breath before answering. "I honestly don't know. I was scared to death. I kept checking everything over and over again...and having to look a cross the hall at the ruins of my old lab didn't help."
"But it got better?" Nick was almost whispering.
"Yeah. It did. After a while I got less and less scared everyday, until I didn't think about it constantly...then I didn't think about it at all. I still do sometimes, but not as much as a few years ago."
Nick slowly shook his head. "Do the nightmares ever go away?" Nick was surprised at what he saw in Greg's eyes. He was expecting pity, but he saw empathy. Greg understood how Nick felt. He too had almost lost his life.
"No, they don't." Greg said sadly. "But after a while, they get better. You have them less often and you wake up easier from them and can even fall back asleep again. It takes time, but it does get better."
"I'm not sure if I can do it...I'm too scared to go back..."
"I was scared too. My hands still shake sometimes when I'm in the lab. But I promise it does get better if you give it time. You're too good of a CSI and a friend to quit, we all need you Nick."
Nick smiled, and if Warrick was there, he would have noticed it in his eyes this time. "Thanks Greg."
"Anytime." Greg returned the smile. Catherine and Warrick came back out with plates, forks, knives, and more soda. She got the chicken off the grill and they began eating.
"So Nick..." Catherine said carefully. "When do you think you'll be back?" Warrick cast Nick a worried glance and held his breath.
Nick and Greg smiled at each other. "Soon." Nick said, and since Warrick was there, he noticed it was a genuine Nick Stokes smile.
A few hours later, Nick and Warrick said bye to Greg and Catherine when they had to get to work. "Say hi to Sunshine for me." Nick said with a smirk.
"I hope she's as sleep deprived as she is now next time you work with her." Greg said smiling.
Closing the door, Warrick turned to Nick. "Soon?" He couldn't keep the smile off his face.
"Yeah." Nick said, Warrick's smile relfected on Nick's face. "I talked to Greg cuz of the explosion thing, and he really helped. I think I'm more scared of quitting than going back to work."
Warrick's smile grew. "Remind me to be a little nicer to Greggo on occasion."
