Chapter Two – Temptation

"Sandwich?"

Greg lifted his gaze from the magazine he was reading, giving his boyfriend a curious look. He looked around to make sure no one else was in the break room, before he grabbed the extra sandwich from the man's lunch box that even had his name on it. It was so cute he wanted to kiss him right there and then, but he didn't want to risk something like that out in the open.

"Thanks." Love in his eyes, Greg gave the man a smile he had been waiting to see all day. "Will you still bring me sandwiches when we're married?"

"Of course I will. I wouldn't even have to slip you them on the sly anymore." Nick gave him a wink, closing up his empty lunch box. "Just don't tell Warrick, he's been eyein' my turkey sandwiches all day. He'll be pissed I gave it to you." He grabbed the coffee pot off the side, searching for some clean mugs for them. "I'm headin' out with Sara to our suspects house in a bit. We finally got our warrant. Are you still pickin' me up from Doctor Reed's office after your shift?"

"Yep, I'm lab bound for the rest of the day. Ecklie wants me to keep an eye on the new DNA tech, Floyd. Wendy's supposed to be doing it, but she's off sick. I think she's just pulling a sicky after that argument she had with Hodges in full view of everyone." Greg took a bite out of his delicious turkey sandwich, seriously wishing he could kiss the man right now, but he could already feel the prying eyes of the lab techs looking their way. "Mm," He purred. "I can't believe I'm dating a man who roasts a whole turkey just for turkey sandwiches leading up to Christmas."

"It's a tradition. Reminds me of home." Nick really missed being home this time of year. He missed being surrounded by family more than the food his mother always made, but the turkey sandwiches were a little slice of comfort from his old life. "You know I can't wait to head up to your folks this Christmas. It'll be nice to have a good old fashioned Christmas spread with the family."

"My Mom can't wait either. She keeps texting me how many sleeps left until Christmas. She's such a big kid around the holidays." Greg licked his lips after another bite, looking towards the other man. "Wait, did you just refer to my mother as family?"

"Yeah, I did." He beamed a mile wide grin in his direction. "Not just your mother either. Your Nana and Papa Olaf. And your Dad. They always make me feel welcome. I've never had that at home. I always feel like an outsider at my house durin' the holidays. Your parents accepted me right away and didn't exclude me from anythin'. They made me feel like a part of the family."

"You are you know." Greg assured him. "Part of the family. Once the Sanders clan take you in, you're in it for life. And your folks really weren't so bad."

"They made us book our own hotel after tellin' us that we were welcome to stay at the ranch. And they sat you at the kids table for dinner." He jogged the younger man's memory. "Your parents would never do that to me. They let us stay under their roof in your old childhood room and they let us sit together at dinner."

"To be fair, the kids at my table had way more interesting things to talk about then your brother."

"Yeah, you're probably right on that one." They shared a laugh.

"Speaking of dinner," Greg licked his lips after another bite of his sandwich. "Do I need to pick up dinner tonight? It's my turn, right?"

"No, I have a surprise for you actually." Nick poured an extra cup of coffee, taking it over to the younger man.

"What kind of a surprise?"

"If I told you that, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, would it, G?" He smirked, tempted to lean in and steal a kiss. The door opening behind him quickly snapped him out of that idea. He shot backwards away from the table, feeling the blood draining from his face at the sight of the other man.

"No way, you gave it to Sanders!" Warrick noticed the turkey sandwich in the younger man's clutches. He shot daggers in his direction. "Why does he get special attention?"

"Uh… Sara's waitin' for me by the car." Nick avoided answering the question. He gave his boyfriend a slight smile, before he disappeared out the door.

Greg gulped down another mouthful of sandwich, giving the older man in the room a nervous smile. "I uh… gave him some advice."

"Dating advice? You?" Warrick smirked, grabbing himself a coffee mug. "Why would Nick need dating advice from you?"

"I never said it was dating advice. It was just… advice."

"Oh yeah," The older man laughed, bringing his coffee mug to his lips. "What words of wisdom did the great Greg Sanders give to our Nicky Stokes then?"

"That's between Nick and me. I… I have to go check on some results." Grabbing his coffee, Greg pushed himself to his feet, taking the other half of his sandwich with him as he left the room. He didn't want to accidentally out the man. He really wished Nick would tell him soon. He couldn't put up with much more of the secrets and lies they had to keep from everyone.

"Oh, Mr Sanders," The new lab tech, Floyd stumbled over the stool in the middle of the room, catching himself against the table. He cracked a nervous smile, sighing out a deep breath. "I was just looking for you. I… I uh… I may have cross contaminated some results."

"I told you I was on my lunch break in the break room. It's right across the hall." Greg frowned at him, realising what he just said. He looked as though he was about fifteen with his cute boyish grin and hairless chin, but he was supposed to be highly recommended from the San Diego lab. He reminded Greg of a frightened hamster the way he was jittering about. "How did you do that?" He had only left him alone for twenty minutes.

"Oh, right." He hurried over to his work bench, picking up the folder. "Well, I… I was working on a few cases from day shift earlier. There's still a backlog from swing shift too, but that tall rat looking guy with way too many nose hairs told me that day shift cases were a priority. Then Doctor Grissom came in and asked me to rush his results from the triple homicide he's working that's been all over the news. He's worried the killer would strike again. I got a match to someone in the database. A Mark Kiln. He's got so many priors; it's unbelievable he's not in prison for life already."

Greg watched the younger man's lips as he spoke, wondering if he was that annoying when he nervously rambled. If he was, then why on earth would Nick think it was cute?

"Floyd," He had to shut him up. "Get to the point. Why do you think you cross contaminated the results?"

"No, I think I mixed up the samples from Ecklie's scene." He clarified. "Mark Kiln came up as a match to the unknown blood smear caught on the opposite end of the knife."

"Did you take a new sample?"

"From the knife? Yeah, I did. It came up the same. I thought I should run the samples from Doctor Grissom's scene again, but when I went down to autopsy to get new samples that creepy Doctor guy confirmed to Grissom that the body on the slab was Mark Kiln."

"Well," Greg waited a moment. "Did you get new test samples?"

"No." Floyd stepped closer in case anyone was around, whispering, "He looked really angry."

"Who did?" Greg frowned in confusion.

"Doctor Grissom. He thinks this guy was murdered by the same guy as his other three victims."

"Where did these samples come from?" Greg shook the piece of paper in his hands, urgency in his voice. "From Grissom's cases, where were they from, Floyd? You're supposed to label it or it won't count for anything in court."

"I did. I just… oh, right… they were taken from the fingernails of the victims. They fought back. Doctor Grissom figured they might have got a piece of their attacker. I only did one hand from each of the victims."

"Okay, you go and get new samples." He pointed him to the door. "And while you're there ask Doctor Robbins to examine Mark Kiln's body for defensive wounds from the fingernails."

"You want me to…?"

"No Floyd, Doctor Robbins." He hissed back.

"Right, right. Yes… sir." Floyd hurried for the door.

"Don't call me sir!"

"Sorry sir, uh… I mean… Sand… Mr Sanders." He made a dash down the hall, running straight into the man he had been trying to avoid.

"No running in the halls." Ecklie barked at the young tech. He stood watch over him a moment to make sure he obeyed his command, before he made his way into the DNA lab. "And no food in the labs. C'mon Sanders, you should know the rules by now. What's going on with everyone today? Do you have my results back yet?"

"Sorry." Greg quickly wolfed down the last bite of his sandwich, holding a finger up to the man while he chewed. He watched Floyd quickly legging it once he was out of Ecklie's sights, giving out a soft sigh of relief.

The older man folded his arms across his chest, glaring at the young CSI. "I'm waiting, Sanders. My patience is already wearing thin."

"Sorry," Greg gasped for breath, licking away the last of the cranberry sauce from his lips. "We've got a ton of backlog to work through, but you are next on my list. I'll get to it now."

Ecklie rolled his eyes. "By this afternoon." He pointed a stern finger at the man. "I knew hiring a Sanders lookalike would come back to bite me in the ass."

"He doesn't look like me." Greg protested, catching a glare from the man. "He does not!"

A grin spread across his lips. "Call me as soon as you have anything."

Removing her sunglasses, Detective Childs smiled at the approaching CSIs, softly biting the end of her sunglasses frame between her painted crimson red lips. "Afternoon, you must be my CSIs. Sidle and Stokes was it?" She eyed up the gorgeous hunk of meat behind the woman who really needed to run a comb through her hair.

"I'm Sidle. He's Stokes." Sara reported, already feeling like a third wheel.

"Well hello there. I'm Detective Childs," Curving her lips into a seductive smile, the Detective winked at Nick, before she led the way. "Right this way folks. I'll have to warn you, it's a bit of a dump in there."

"Any sign of the wife?" Grabbing her kit, Sara followed the Detective inside the house, turning her nose up at the sight of all the mess. The floor was lined with bits of dirty newspaper, old clothing not fit for humans to even go near, let alone wear and clumps of what she could only guess was dog hair. At least she hoped it was that. "Oh, that's disgusting. How can people live like this?" She covered her nose with the sleeve of her shirt, watching Nick snapping on some gloves, ready to get to work.

"Wife was a junkie." Detective Childs stepped in behind them, glad she wasn't the one that had to go through all the junk on the floor. "She died around four months ago. The house was in her name. She didn't have any other family, so it transferred to her husband. No kids, thankfully. According to the neighbours, he's got himself a new fancy lady friend. She stops by every few days or so. They don't know her name. They haven't seen her in over a week now. All they could say was she has brown hair."

"That narrows it down." Nick smirked, fishing his camera out of his kit. "How'd the wife die?"

"Overdose. Surprising for a junkie?" Detective Childs snickered, staying in the doorway to the kitchen to watch them working. "Oh, you might want to check the garage out first. There's a funky smell in there." She gave them a word of warning.

"With all of this smell stinking up the place, how could you tell?" Sara set her kit down on a clean patch of floor, giving out a soft sigh. "I hope no food was prepared in this kitchen. Not that I would ever eat anything that came out of this house anyway."

"I think there's a dead rat on the counter." Her partner cringed.

"Yep." Detective Childs confirmed. "There's several throughout the house I'm afraid. We saw at least five on our sweep of the place."

"So glad I skipped lunch." Sara held her stomach, holding back her breakfast. "Okay, I guess you take the garage and I'll check through his stuff. We just need motive and a murder weapon, right?"

"I'd say his motive is pretty clear." Detective Childs reminded them of the incident that happened in the interrogation room this morning. "He treated Willows like a second class citizen. He's a sexist pig."

"Well in our department, we like to rely on a little thing called evidence." Sara remarked, seeing a future of butting heads with their newest Detective already.

"You know Doc Robbins said our vic used to be a brunette. He said her hair had a fresh coat of bottle blonde." Nick remembered, cautiously stepping towards the door leading to the garage. He stopped in his tracks as he spotted something, bursting into a grin. "Sara." He motioned her attention towards the open top bin.

Sara joined his side, rolling her eyes. "Well, that was easy. Not that I'm disappointed, I didn't really fancy routing through all of this junk to find something suspicious." She smirked. "Looks like he didn't even wash the knife before he dumped it. How much do you want to bet his prints are still on the handle?" She grabbed an evidence marker from her kit, setting it beside the knife so Nick could snap a picture. "Complete with dried blood. Looks the same width as the stab wounds to our vic. Can it really be that easy?"

"Hey at least we get to go home early. And this guy goes behind bars." Nick couldn't help but smile. "I'd call that a win."

"Oh yeah, are you buying dinner, Stokes?" Detective Childs piped in, running her eyes up and down the man like he was a piece of meat.

"It's not really a win for the girl he stabbed to death." Sara pointed out to them both, grabbing an evidence container for the knife. "We still don't have an ID on her either. She could have parents out there looking for her. Maybe she even has a child or a boyfriend?"

"Hey Sara, look at this." Nick snapped a picture of the photos on the fridge, before he peeled off one of the pictures to show her. "That's our suspect." He pointed out one of them. "And there's our vic as a brunette."

"And that," Sara rolled her eyes pointing to the other man in the photo. "Unmistakable as the scumbag's lawyer. He's even wearing the same cheap suit."

Detective Childs stepped between them, taking a look for herself. "Alright, I'll call Brass." She clicked her heels out of the house, pulling back her long blonde hair before she put a call in to her new boss.

"I think she likes you." Sara turned to look at her partner.

"Really? Couldn't tell." The man carefully poked through the junk littered across the counter, snapping a picture of the mail left out on the side.

"Are you gonna take her up on that offer of dinner?" She queried.

"She's… really not my type, Sara." Nick replied after an awkward hesitation. He wanted to tell her about Greg so badly, but he knew it would be better coming from Greg. The two of them had shared a brother/sister bond since Sara's early days at the lab.

"What's that then female, blonde, a pair of boobs in your face? She's exactly your type."

"For the record, I'm an ass man." He set her straight. "And if that's all you think of me then you really don't know me that well, Sara."

"So she's not your type?" She continued to pry.

"You have no idea." The man laughed, motioning over his shoulder. "I'll check out the funky smell in the garage. Don't get eaten by the rats."

"Ugh," Sara involuntarily shivered, wishing she had called in sick today.

Floyd anxiously chomped on the tips of his fingers, shaking his leg against the table as he watched the machine doing its job. The test tubes on top quaked with each jolt from his knee. It almost sounded like he was in a high speed train filled with glass bottles clattering against each other.

"Would you stop that!" Greg snipped.

"Oh…" He grabbed his leg to stop it from shaking. "Sorry, sir… Sand… Mr Sanders." He nervously rambled, trembling even more.

"It's Greg." The older man groaned. It felt like the hundredth time he had told him that now.

"Sorry." Floyd whispered in a barely audible voice.

Floyd lowered his hands to his lap, white knuckling his fingers into his thighs. The last thing he wanted to do was get on the bad side of his role model, but he turned into a nervous wreck whenever he was around. He didn't know if it was his big beautiful caramel brown eyes that made him so nervous or the adorable way Greg's lips curved when he was angry. He adored the clusters of moles that speckled his pale white complexion, but why would a man like Greg Sanders ever look at a dork like him.

Greg gave him another glare, finally grabbing the sheet of paper the machine spat out.

"Well?" Floyd waited in suspense. "Did I fuck it up?"

Greg looked over the results a moment, before he shook his head. "No, Floyd. You didn't fuck it up. Mark Kiln stabbed Ecklie's victim then went on to kill Grissom's victims. I'll call Gris, tell him the bad news."

"Why bad news?"

"Because now he has to work with Ecklie." He sighed. He hated being the bearer of bad news. "Trust me, that's bad. Bright side, this gets Ecklie off our backs."

"So this guy went on a killing rampage of women before he got the axe himself?" Floyd couldn't help but smile. "At least they got some justice."

"Still doesn't make it right." Greg pointed him towards the lab table. "Get to work on swing shifts cases now. We don't need her mad at us too."

"Yes, sir." Floyd slapped his hand over his mouth, already catching the annoyed glare from his mentor. "I'll just." He scampered towards the other side of the lab, snapping on a fresh pair of gloves before he got to work.

Greg sighed heavily as he left the room. This shift couldn't end soon enough.

"Truthfully doc," Looking down at his hands in his lap, Nick anxiously picked at his nails, wishing he had the courage to just blurt it all out. "I've never put much faith in head shrinks. I only came to see you because it was mandatory in order for me to get my job back. And I only stuck with it this long because my boyfriend thinks it's helpin' me to deal with everythin'. I'm not entirely convinced."

"If Greg didn't think it was helping, would you still be here?" Doctor Reed pried.

Nick shrugged his shoulders together, lifting his gaze slightly. "I guess you've kinda helped with my anxiety. The pills you prescribed really helped in the beginnin'. I finally started sleepin' again. I just don't get how constantly goin' over this stuff again and again is helpin' me in anyway. I want to forget it. I don't want to be this… broken shell forever."

"You look a little anxious today." The other man noticed. "What would you rather be talking about?"

"I… don't know. How I'm supposed to handle tellin' my friends and colleagues that I'm gay? Tellin' my folks was hard enough. Sara tried to set me up with our new Detective today. She asked me out to dinner. Wrote her number in lipstick on my hand." He brushed away the last few digits that still hadn't washed off yet. "I didn't know how to turn her down without offendin' her."

"Are you worried your friends won't accept you if they know the truth?"

Breathing in a deep breath, Nick leant back against the sofa cushions, pursing his lips together a moment. He clicked his tongue a few times, before he asked, "Does anyone ever actually get better?"

"They can learn to deal with their symptoms. Some peoples anxiety stops them from being able to socialise, trust or even go out into the world and experience what it has to offer. Over time therapy can help them to deal with what makes them anxious. It can give them their lives back."

Nick smiled softly, wondering if that was written in a textbook somewhere. "My sister said the exact same thing."

"Is this your sister… Gwen," He glanced through his old notes. "The one who helps children with eating disorders?"

"Supposedly."

"Why do you say that?" The doctor queried.

"I thought we're here to talk about me?" He snipped.

"We can talk about whatever you want, Nick." Doctor Reed crossed one leg over the other, curiously watching his patient as he anxiously shifted on the sofa. "You've changed the subject three, nearly four times since you arrived. What are you anxious about, Nick?"

"Everythin'," He ran his hand across his chin. "I feel like I'm on the verge of a panic attack, but I don't know when it'll strike. I want to be happy with Greg. But it feels like there's obstacles at every turnin'. I feel like I'm walkin' on eggshells and every step I take…" Nick ran his fingers back through his hair, giving out a sigh. "I just… I don't know what to do."

"You didn't say much about your weekend away with Greg. You were really nervous about it before you left. Did everything go as you planned?"

"Not exactly as planned." He shook his head slightly. "But I guess these things never really work out how you expect them to. My folks kicked us out to a hotel the first day we got there. Greg didn't mind so much. We got to spend more time together and Greg loved the view of the city from our room. He loves a high view. Anythin' that makes him feel taller than the buildings. He looks like a kid on Christmas mornin'." He pursed his lips together, wishing they could just talk about Greg rather than all of his problems. "I managed to talk to my parents. I told them everythin'… about the babysitter. My Dad threatened to kill her. My Mama… she kinda just clammed up."

"People deal with things in different ways. Did you feel better after you told them?"

"Not really. I've been worryin' more since I told them. My Dad's got a heart condition. He gets worked up. He's already had two heart attacks. Docs told him to cut the stress out of his life. A third heart attack could kill him. I don't want to be responsible for that." Nick ran his hand back through his hair, giving out a soft sigh. "Then there's my Mama. I'm worried she'll look at me differently. She stopped huggin' me for a while after she found out I was gay. She still barely looks me in the eye. I couldn't have gone there without Greg at my side. My Mama sat Greg at the kids table for dinner. My brother and sisters, husbands and wife have always been able to sit right next to them. Kids are welcomed with open arms, but Greg and I are pushed out like distant relatives the moment we get there."

Nick glanced up as he heard the buzzer to the door, indicating it was time for the next patient to unload their problems on Doctor Reed. He almost wished he had a little more time, but then he remembered he had a surprise for Greg.

"Nick, we can talk for a few more minutes if you want." Doctor Reed assured him. "I won't charge you more."

"Thanks doc." Nick pushed himself to his feet, grabbing his jacket off the arm of the sofa. He sniffled back his tears threatening to spill, stuffing his hands into his pockets to keep them from trembling. "But I've got somewhere to be."

"Nick, if you're feeling anxious." He tried to stop him from leaving. "I can always cancel…"

"I'll be alright. I'll see you in two weeks." Racing out the door like a lightning bolt, Nick made his way to the front desk to sign himself out, giving the receptionist a smile. He returned his hands to his pockets, taking the stairs down to the car park. There were only three cars in the lot at this time of morning and one of them was blasting out heavy metal music with a gorgeous man sat behind the wheel.

Despite everything that was going on in his life, this really was a great time to be alive.

Greg glanced round as the door popped open, quickly reaching out for the radio to click it off. "Hey you."

"Hi."

"Oh, sorry. I got here too early. My phone died playing some slash the fruit game." He moved his charging phone off the passenger seat, giving the man a place to sit down. The older man immediately leant across the gear shaft, cupping Greg's face in his hands as he kissed him for the first time all day. "Mm," He smiled against his lips. "How'd it go?"

"I think I'm cured. No reason to go back." Nick smirked, teasing the man into another kiss. He slid his hand around the man's warm body, purring into his mouth. "Mm, I have been waitin' all day to do that."

"All day?"

"Yep, every second of every minute of every hour." He merged their lips together, tasting every corner of his boyfriend's delicious mouth. "I can't believe it's been over seventeen hours since I last got to kiss you."

His boyfriend grinned. "You were counting?"

Nick quickly checked his watch. "Seventeen hours, fourteen minutes and ten seconds. Give or take."

Giggling softly, Greg pulled the man closer, planting a kiss to his lips. "And that's why I love you. So, where are we off to?"

"Dinner then I'll show you your surprise."

"Dinner isn't the surprise?"

"Nope." The Texan grinned, tapping his boyfriend's thigh. "C'mon G, I'm starvin'. Get this baby on the road."

"Okay, okay," Greg checked around to make sure he was clear, before he pulled out of his parking space. "You know technically its breakfast. No one will be serving dinner."

"Go to our steak house then. Steaks twenty four hours a day, baby." He whistled.

Greg giggled softly. "You are so cute."

"No you are so cute." Nick corrected him. "I'm a mess. You've probably got a lifetime of pickin' me up from the shrink in your future."

"I'm okay with that." He flashed him a smile. "Listen I know you just took one giant step talking to your parents about past stuff, but I've been thinking it might be easier on you… and me if we start telling people about us. Warrick was pretty pissed about the sandwich."

"I knew he would be." He felt his grumbling stomach knotting with nerves. "I want to tell him. I really do."

"But you don't want to lose him?" His ever so insightful boyfriend answered. He reached out for the older man's hand, weaving their fingers together. "He's your best friend. You two have been tight since day one. You've always said you felt like he was more of a brother then a friend. You won't lose him over this. It's Warrick." He pointed out the obvious to the man. "And if you do then he wasn't that good of a friend to begin with."

"I know you're right. I know it… but it doesn't stop me from freakin' out every time I think about tellin' him."

"If you tell him quick, he'll probably be grateful. You know he thinks he's gonna be in competition with you to ask out the new Detective."

"Ugh," Nick groaned. Sara hadn't stop hassling about that. "You heard about that?"

"I heard." Smiling at his blushing boyfriend, Greg reminded him, "You should know by now how quick word travels around the lab. Nothing stays secret for long."

"Speakin' of, I heard about the new Sanders lookalike in the lab."

"He does not look like me." He protested for the hundredth time. "Floyd is incompetent, clumsy and everyone makes him nervous. The kid's scared of Doc Robbins and he's terrified of Grissom."

"Hmm, who does that remind me of?" His boyfriend teased him. "Relax baby, you're one of a kind." He assured him, gently tapping his thigh.

"Technically we all are. Don't tell me I have to explain genetics to you, Tex."

"Shut up and drive, Einstein." He leant across the car, pecking a kiss to the man's cheek. "I'll tell Warrick. I want him to know about us. I do." Nick promised him. "I just don't want him to look at me the way my brother does."

"Warrick isn't Billy."

"I know. I know that. They're nothin' alike, but I'm still terrified." Breathing out a soft sigh, Nick nodded his head, feeling his stomach grumbling as they pulled up outside one his favourite Steak Shacks. "Do you think they still have the meatball sandwich special?" He licked his lips as Greg drove past the entrance to find them a parking spot.

"No way." Greg climbed out the car first, reminding him, "That last one made you gassy. I had to sleep on the sofa to get away from it."

Nick threw his head back in a chuckle. "You realise that when you marry me, you'll have to put up with me and my gassy stomach full time, G." He followed him to the door, racing ahead of him a little to pull the door open for him like a perfect gentleman.

"Yeah." Greg playfully poked him in the side, leaning close enough to whisper, "Once I put a ring on that finger, it's all health food for you, pal."

Thanks so much for Reading!

I was trying to shorten the chapter to make them all roughly the same length, but every time I read it I only add more to it. So enough editing already, here's the second chapter for you. I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you thought in the reviews. Don't forget to click 'Follow Story' if you want to receive updates when I upload a new chapter.

Have a great weekend!

~ Holly