Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Kayla and yes, I own you Jodi!
a/n: This story is kind of mushy but lately there's been lots of love in the air and I just had to write something about a certain someone that makes me feel special…blushes God I hope that they don't read this…
Uncharted Love
Nick smiled as he walked in through the door of his cozy Vegas apartment. He smelled something cooking, or rather burning and chuckled softly to himself. Looked like his lover was in a romantic mood tonight. "Babe," He called out as he hanged his coat on a hook in the hall closet, "I'm home."
Greg smiled as he walked out of the kitchen and embraced his lover with a warm and welcoming hug. "Welcome back hun, we missed you." As if to further accentuate that fact, Nick and Greg's four year old daughter ran out from the kitchen, flour covering her black mat of hair, and clung to her father excitedly.
"Hey Jamie baby, how was your day with daddy?" Nick asked, bending low to scoop up his adoring little daughter.
Jamie smiled before going on enthusiastically, "Oh father! Daddy let me help him make dinner tonight but he ended up burning it and told me not to tell you that he ordered pizza instead. And then we made a cake but it didn't get burned because when Daddy went to go do the laundry, I ran and told him that the beeper for the cake was going BEEP BEEP! And then we took it out and put green coloured icing on it because Daddy said that he was to, umm… Lazy! To lazy to go out and get the colour that we really wanted. And then we waited for the pizza and then you came home and Daddy was really excited when he heard your big truck come home!"
Greg huffed at his daughters thorough description what had went on that day. He looked at the grinning Nick and groaned inwardly. Now Nick was never going to shut up about his bad cooking! "Tattle tail." He murmured, sticking his tongue out at his happy four year old.
Nick grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Oh? So your daddy attempted to cook dinner again did he? Well it's a good thing that you were here to make sure he didn't burn anything but the food now isn't it?"
Jamie nodded energetically. "Yup, or else Daddy would have had to use the red blowing thing." Jamie released a quiet little feminine laugh. "He made a big fire on the top of the oven too! It went up in a big WHOOSH! It was really funny. Daddy was running around in circles, saying things like, 'When Nick gets home he's gonna hang me for ruining his prized oven and stove.'" Jamie mimicked Greg's voice perfectly and Greg had to release a laugh, if not somewhat nervously.
Nick wasn't laughing. He looked at his husband and then placed his daughter back down on her feet. "Doll face, why don't you go play with that new toy house I got you yesterday?" He suggested and Jamie let out a squeal of delight at the reminder of her favourite toy.
"Okay! Bye Daddy! Bye father!" And then she was off like a rocket launched into space.
Nick stared grimly at Greg, who had taken a few tentative steps backwards towards the living room. "What. Did. You. Do. To. My. New. Oven?" Nick growled, separating his every word to make sure Greg got the meaning of what it was that he was saying.
Greg swallowed dryly before stuttering, "Well you see I was just trying out this new recipe when I remembered that my new Marilyn Manson CD was most likely finished so I just left the kitchen for a moment to go and check and then the music was so good I couldn't get away and then—Nick, why are you looking at me that way? Oh fuck!" Greg bolted for the living room but Nick was to quick for him.
Nick launched himself at Greg and lifted the slimmer man into his arms as he carried him off down the hall towards their bedroom. Throwing the door open with his free hand, Nick flung his lover onto the bed, closing the door before turning angry eyes at Greg. "Gregory Sanders Stokes, what did I tell you about using my kitchen?"
Greg took a gulp. He considered taking the defensive but from the look he received from Nick, he knew that there was no room for further or any for that matter, argument. Sighing he repeated the words that had been drilled into his head time after time again. "That I'm not to use the kitchen unless either I'm making something that only requires the microwave or the toaster. And that I'm to stay clear of the oven and toaster oven."
Nick went over to glare down at him from the side of the bed. "Correct. Now, care to explain why exactly you were using the oven?"
Greg pouted. "Jamie said that she was hungry for some chicken and I was starting to get hungry myself. And seeing how it was my day off, I gave Kayla the day off also."
Nick groaned as he took a place on the bed beside Greg. "You gave the babysitter the day off? Hell Greg! You could have killed the both of you."
"But it's the weekend and Kayla seemed so energetic about this new boyfriend of hers. Think she said his name was J. You should have seen how sad she looked when she came here this morning! She'd really wanted to go on this countryside trip with him today and when she told me that she had rejected his offer because she had to work today, I just couldn't make her stay here all day and make sure that Jamie and me didn't get ourselves killed. Besides," His eyes glowed with boyish pride that made part of Nick's anger subside, "Besides the cooking incident, I think that we did alright."
Nick sighed as he bent down to give his husband a light kiss on the lips. "I should have married a man with better cooking skills." He grumbled, getting up to leave the room.
Greg smirked as he pulled Nick back down onto the bed. "Baby, I can cook. You just assume that everything that a person cooks has to be made in the kitchen, which I don't disagree with."
Nick groaned as Greg pressed the bulge of his pants up against the front of Nick as he swung around to straddle him. "You're a recipe for disaster." Nick moaned as Greg claimed his mouth as his.
NEXT NIGHT AT CRIME LAB
Greg sighed as he reread the manila file that Grissom had handed out to him thirty minutes ago. Try as he might, Greg couldn't help but worry about his little girl Jamie. Him and Nick had decided that she would be most happiest at Nick's and his best friend Charlotte's home. Charlotte was one of the CSI's main criminal prosecutors and didn't lose many cases without going down with a fight. But Greg was still unsure about the whole putting his daughter in the care of a woman, no matter how kind, that Jamie wasn't well acquainted with.
"You alright babe?" Greg swiveled around in his chair to watch as Nick came into the break room with a cup of coffee in his hand and a worried expression stealing across his handsome features.
Greg smiled at his husband as he nodded his reply. "Just wondering how our little girls doing. Do you ever wonder what would have happened to us if we hadn't have went off and gotten married and then that same day, signed up to adopt a little girl?"
Nick smiled warmly as he kissed Greg on the forehead lovingly. "Every day."
"Hey, you wanna help me with this case? I just can't get it. The M.O. is all wrong for the suspected suspect." Greg stated frustratedly, leafing through the folder once again and offering pictures to Nick.
Nick and Greg worked in a companionable silence for about twenty minutes before Nick was jolted by the startling vibrations of his cell phone. Frowning he flipped it open, "Nick Stokes."
"Oh my god, Nicky? I need your help, like right now." Came a scared voice on the other end of the line.
"Kayla? What's going on? Isn't it your night off? Is there something wrong with Jamie?" Greg's head shot up from the paper that he was reading to stare hard at Nick's phone.
Nick shook his head at Greg's imploring gaze. "Kayla, I need you to tell me what's the matter. Are you hurt?"
Nick could hear the sniffles that Kayla was obviously trying to conceal. "I'm at the old drive in."
"I know where that is. Now what's going on Kayla?" Nick was getting worried. Kayla had been there for him and Greg since the day four years ago that they had both solved the case of her families murder. She was now living with her grandparents but had always somehow managed to keep in touch with the male couple. In all actuality, Kayla was like a daughter to Nick and Greg.
"Well, me and my friend Jodi were just hanging out and then we decided to go take a walk by the drop off, you know, where the cliff drops off into the lake? Well, we were really into our-conversation, when I stumbled over something. There's a dead body out here Nick. I tried to revive him but it was hopeless. Jodi wanted to look around but I told her that it wasn't good to contaminate the crime scene. God Nicky, could you please come out here? I—I didn't know who else to call." Kayla was breathing heavily on the other end of the phone line and from what Nick could make out from the noises in the background, there was obviously another female there.
"We'll be right there. You hang in there Kayla, you got that?" Nick ordered, grabbing both a stunned Greg and his car keys from his coat pocket.
"Ya, alright. Be quick, alright?"
"We'll be right there sweetheart." And then Nick clicked his cell off. Damn.
OLD DRIVE IN
Nick and Greg got out of the car, the coroner and the rest of the team not far behind. Greg was the first to spot Kayla and tore off in her direction. "Kayla!" He yelled, sprinting even faster as he noticed her hunched down on the ground, someone unknown rocking her back and forth within the crook of their arms.
Kayla's curly brown head shot up at the sound of the arrival of her good friend. Thank god! "Greg!" She cried out, leaping to her feet and sprinting in the direction of said man.
Kayla was within the embrace of Greg within moments, her sobs wracking her whole body. "Shh, its all going to be just fine sweetheart. Its going to be all right."
"The boy!" She choked out, shaking her head back and forth, fisting Greg's shirt into her hands. "He—he was violated so bad! They slit his throat! And he looked as if he had been beaten. Oh my god Greggy! I think—I think that I knew him!"
Greg pushed her slightly away form him at that. "You knew him Kayla? How? You know that your now going to have to come back with us to the crime lad to make your statement, right?"
"She knows." Came an angry voice to the right of Greg. He turned his head to stare into cool green ones.
"And who are you?" He asked, his shackles raising immediately at the hard edge to the girls voice.
"She's—she's my friend, Jodi. Jodi, this is Greg Stokes, you know, I talk about him and his husband Nick all the time?" Kayla butted in, turning in Greg's arms to look at her friend.
Jodi's glare immediately left her face and she smiled in what seemed like relief at Greg. "My apologies then. Didn't recognize you in the dark. You look much different in person."
"It's alright. Would you two mind telling me where the body is?" Greg asked.
"Over near the cliff edge, we've already got the coroner dealing with it and Grissom and Sarah are printing the scene." Came Nick's commanding voice from the back of Jodi.
Kayla spun in the direction of Nick and let out a cry. She flung herself into his arms and then her fits of tears renewed themselves. "I—I thought that you guys wouldn't come and I was s—so scared!"
Nick took on the role of soothing Kayla and rubbed soothing circles on her back. Jodi's hair stood on ends at this. He was touching Kayla like that and she was letting him? Jodi felt like gouging the man's eyes out.
Nick had just released Kayla from the folds of his arms when he heard a rustling in the bushes behind them. Kayla seemed to have heard it to, but not being as cautious as Nick, she stepped over to where the bushes where and peered inside. Nick was just about to object when he saw Kayla smile and pull out a baby bunny. "Isn't he cute?" She asked, her throat hoarse from so much crying.
"Very." Was all that Jodi had to say, obviously a little on edge at Kayla's lack of procedure.
Kayla giggled and was just about to let the small animal go when a shot rang out. Nick and Greg both had their pieces out immediately, scanning the surrounding area for the source of the gunshot. "N—Nick, Greg? I—I think that I've been hit."
Both men turned their heads to look at the trembling voice of Kayla, and gasped. "KAYLA!" Jodi screamed, racing to Kayla's side as she collapsed onto the ground, blood pouring from a wound near her upper chest. Jodi tried to sooth the choking woman in her arms, not paying heed to the salty liquid that streaked her pale complexion.
The rest of the evening was a blur of ambulance, weeping people, hands being held, support, and last but not least. What seemed like hundreds of doctors.
Greg sighed as he hung up the phone. "Who was that?" Nick asked, sitting down beside his lover and taking his hand in his reassuringly.
Greg smiled weakly. "That was charlotte. She said that it would be fine if Jamie spent the night at her house until we could come and pick her up. How's our other girl doing?"
Nick shook his head from side to side in a slow, sad pattern. "The bullet was lodged in some tissue and nicked the side of her collar bone. The surgery was a success but—" Nick broke off, tears streaming down his face, unable to be controlled any longer.
"Come here baby." Greg whispered sympathetically, hugging his husband close to him. Greg choked his tears back, knowing that he had to be strong for Nick. It had been Nick that had found Kayla huddled in a corner after the slaughter of her parents. Nick had been the only one that had been able to coax the little girl out of the cramped space of the closet that she had sought refuge in. Greg had come in after that. The two of them had met when Nick had brought Kayla to his lab and asked him to take care of her until Nick could find a place for the young woman to stay. The two of them had hit it off immediately.
"She's able to take visitors now." Came the voice of the chubby little nurse that had been the first to sooth the two distressed adults.
"We can both go in?" Greg asked, rising and giving Nick a reassuring pat on the back.
The nurse nodded and smiled. "Go on in. Her friend is already in there with her but you all can be in there. She'll be just fine."
The two men smiled at her and went to go and enter the room, but froze at the threshold at what they saw. Kayla was wide awake and looked to be doing just fine by the activity she was carrying out. Jodi was laying in bed with her and the two young woman were wrapped in eachother's embrace, their lips meshed together tenderly, and their faces flushed from eachother's kisses. Nick and Greg looked at eachother and Nick scowled at the playful look that Greg gave him.
"Greg…" Nick growled low, trying not to disturb the two obvious lovers yet attempting to give off a warning to his young husband. Wasn't going to work. Since when did Greg listen to warnings?
Greg pushed Nick back onto the bed vertically so that his head banged against Kayla's legs, and then jumped ontop of him, stealing Nick's breath away with a furious kiss, full of passion and, yes, playfulness.
Kayla gasped and shoved Jodi off of her, sending her friend flying to the ground with a loud THUNK and then a resounding OOF!
Greg grinned wickedly at the occupants of the room. "I'm sorry, I was just thought that you guys might want some company. You know, so you wouldn't feel all geeky and loserish."
"Stupid idiot." Nick growled, pushing Greg off of him so that he went sprawling out right beside Jodi.
Greg grinned rakishly before turning to Jodi and puckering up his lips and offering, "I'm lonely. Wanna resume what we were just doing? No worries, its alright if your not a guy, I'm bi. Nicky's the completely gay guy."
The noise of the slap that whipped hard against Greg's cheek resounded through out the clean white room. Greg rubbed his cheek as he watched Jodi get to her feet and glare down at him. "I take that as a no?"
Greg let out a yelp as Jodi's foot made impact with the floor right between Greg's thighs, too close for comfort. "Hey! No need for that!" He cried out, leaping to his feet.
Jodi smirked at him. "My mistake. But you were wrong there Mr. Stokes."
"What?" Greg questioned, his voice high and his breath still heavy from the fright of his near initiation into the life of an eunuch (has no balls or penis).
Jodi smiled cockily. "Kayla's the bi one, not me. I'm a lover of all things woman and that's it."
Nick sighed as he shook his head. Ignoring the bickering pair, he turned to the pale Kayla and gave her a worried smile. "How you holding up kid?"
Kayla attempted to give him a smile but it turned out weak and tired. "I'm okay. I just want to get home."
"I know sweetheart. How long did they say that you had to stay here?" He asked, getting more comfortable on the hard hospital bed.
Kayla sighed. "They said that I need an adult signature. And seeing as how my Grandparents are both out in Costa Rica, I don't know. Grams and Gramps aren't getting home until next month and I'm already 17 so it never really occurred to me that I'd be needing an adult signature for anything."
"You know we could sign for you." Greg interjected, obviously losing his arguing match against Jodi and retreating to lick his wounds.
"You could?"
"Sure. I'll go sign the papers now if you want."
Kayla nodded enthusiastically. "Yes please."
Nick frowned. "Kayla, you just got out of surgery. Don't you think that it would be best if you stayed here for a little while?"
"No, I just wanna go home and get some sleep in my big old bed. Jodi will take care of me." Kayla smiled at Jodi, and received a loving smile in return.
"You sure Jodi won't mind?" Nick asked, turning his head in Jodi's direction for her answer.
"She doesn't really have that much of a choice really. If I say I want something, I get it. And I mean anything I want." Kayla grinned wickedly at her lover and the look wasn't lost on Nick.
Sighing he looked at his husband and made a shooing gesture with his hand. "Go sign them papers then Greg. Looks like Miss. Wright is going home."
Kayla squeed in happiness and wrapped her arms weakly around Nick. "Thank you Nicky."
Jodi growled low in her throat at this transaction of affection. Why was it that Kayla had to fling her arms around any guy she was with, no matter what her state or condition? The two occupants of the bed looked at her questioningly and Jodi turned her head away, blushing furiously. "Nothing."
Kayla smiled at Jodi before asking, "Could you give us a moment Nicky? I really want to talk to Jodi in private. Just one second."
Nick seemed to think about this and then nodded his head in agreement. "I'll be waiting outside. You get dressed and come out when your ready. You think that you can manage?"
Kayla smiled. "Jodi will help me." Kayla watched as Nick left the room and then turned to look her lover in the eye, smiling warmly at her.
"What was that important thing that you brought me up to the old Drive In for? You said that you had something important on your mind."
Jodi seemed to start at this. "Oh! Right." Digging around in her pocket, Jodi pulled out a little velvet box. She loves you. She'll go for it. Please let her agree to it! Taking a breath of fresh air, Jodi spoke the words that had been nagging at the back of her mind for such a long time.
Greg had just signed the papers and was waiting for Kayla to come out when he heard a scream come from the room that Kayla was in. Nick practically slammed the door off of its hinges as the two men trampled into the room. "What is it!"
Nick frowned in confusion at what he saw. Well this wasn't quite what I expected to find… Kayla and Jodi were embraced in a loving hug, Kayla's head buried against Jodi's neck as tears of… happiness? streamed down her face.
"What the hell?" Greg wondered allowed, obviously sharing the same thoughts as Nick.
Kayla and Jodi pulled apart, Kayla even releasing a giggle as they both separated. "Nicky, Greg, Jodi just gave me a—a commitment ring! She said that she loved me and that she wanted to be with me forever and ever!"
"And Kayla said that she had always wanted to be with me, she was just to shy to say so." Jodi spoke, kissing Kayla's temple and hugging her close to her.
Greg and Nick both smiled happily. "That's great Kayla. I'm glad for the both of you." Greg said, hugging both of the woman close to him.
"Its really great. Come on Greg, Jodi, time for Kayla to get changed so that we can take her home." Nick stated, turning to leave.
"That's okay. I'll stay and make sure that Kayla can get ready alright." Jodi stated, not making any movement to leave.
"Out. Now." Nick snapped, sending Jodi leaping from the bed and scrambling out of the room right after Greg.
Closing the door behind him ,Nick turned to Jodi and said the only words that he could. "You better take care of her."
Jodi looked at him seriously. "The love I have for Kayla is uncharted Mr. Stokes. I love her and she loves me. I'll make sure that she's ever happy and do all that I can to keep her out of harm."
Nick smiled and seemed to release a sigh of relief. Yanking Jodi into a big bear hug he smiled against the top of head. "It's Nick. Your family now, we don't speak so formally to one another."
Right at that moment Kayla came out of the room, dressed in a fresh pair of jeans and a white t-shirt that Greg had went out and purchased for her while they waited for her to come out of surgery. She was a little unstable on her feet but her smile was strong and vibrant. "Lets go home."
Home… That was the thought that went through every one of the members of the group of friends as the left the hospital.
That's all! I know I know… Shitty right? Well I had fun writing it so please, if you have any time, please leave a review and maybe even some constructive criticism. Bye!