Nick groaned and opened his eyes. The blurry image of Warrick standing over him scared him, making him jump slightly.
"What?" He asked sleepily. He tried to rub the sleep from his eyes but gave up after a few seconds.
"You're gonna be late for work man, let's go." Warrick said as he threw the covers off of Nick and rolled him out of bed.
Nick landed on the floor with a thud and sighed. "Why do you always wait for the last possible second to wake me up so I have to rush to get ready?" Nick said as he stood and stretched.
Warrick grinned. "I'm trying to teach you a lesson."
"Yeah, how's that workin out for ya?" Nick asked as he walked past Warrick and headed for the bathroom. Warrick shook his head and went into the kitchen to make some food for them before they had to leave. Just as he took the burgers off of the stove, Nick walked into the kitchen. Perfect timing as always.
Warrick clenched his jaw when he looked at Nick. His dark jeans hung loose around his lean waist and his slightly baggy gray long sleeved t-shirt just added to Warrick's knowledge that Nick was a lot skinnier than he should be. He remembered a few years ago when his best friend had been muscular and strong. Now he looked sick and weak, something Warrick hated to see almost more than anything. Nick's skin lacked it's usual darker tone and his eyes were the dark brown they used to be. A few months had passed since the whole hostage ordeal had happened, but the affects were still visible.
Nick smiled when he walked up to Warrick and slapped him on the shoulder in their usual playful manner. "What did you make me?" He asked cheerfully.
No matter how bad Nick looked physically or Warrick felt emotionally, his smile always made everything better. "My famous burgers of course."
Nick's smile widened. "I'm allowed to eat real food now?"
Warrick smiled back. "Yeah, I don't see why not. But if you tell Catherine, I swear to God you'll never eat anything ever again."
Nick held up his hands. "Don't worry, I know better than that."
They sat down at the table and ate quickly. When they had finished and put their dishes in the sink, Warrick turned to Nick. "You ready?" He asked.
Nick shrugged. "I've been waiting for you."
Warrick laughed and punched Nick lightly as he walked by him to grab his keys. Nick followed Warrick out of the house, locking the door behind him. They hopped into the Denali stationed in their driveway and Warrick pulled out and headed for the crime lab.
Grissom walked into the breakroom to hand out assignments 20 minutes after everyone else had gotten there. He walked in abd held up his hands, silencing everyone.
"I know, I'm late. I apologize. Ecklie was being Ecklie Nothing I can do there." Everyone nodded in understanding. "Okay...we have a fairly slow night, except for Nick and Warrick."
Nick and Warrick exchanged puzzled looks. "Why do we get a hard case?" Warrick asked in mock-anger.
"Because you guys are my favorites, and Catherine still has planning for the wedding to do." Grissom said with a smile. "You guys get a 419 on Fremont. Brass is waiting for you."
The case had been surprisingly easy. Thanks to Archie, they had gotten an ID on the killer from the traffic cameras and it was a slam dunk.
Nick finished filling out the paperwork while Warrick went and tormented Sara and Greg, who's case had been a helluva lot harder than theirs. They still didn't even have a suspect, or an ID on their vic.
Nick entered the locker room just as Warrick was shutting his locker. "Ready?" He asked.
"For what?" Warrick frowned in confusion.
Nick smiled. "Your bachelor party dumbass."
Warrick's eyes widened. "I swear to God if you got hookers I'm going to straight up murder your ass."
Nick laughed. "I didn't. I was seriously considering getting some to go to the crime scene just to see you and Brass' face, but I like my job so I decided against it."
Warrick sighed in relief. "Then what are we doing?"
Nick shrugged. "How the hell should I know?"
Warrick shook his head and smiled. "What a great best man I picked."
Nick nodded. "I know, but that's your own fault. I tried to talk you out of it..."
Warrick pushed Nick out the door and down the hallway. "You didn't have a very convincing argument."
"Dying isn't good enough for you?" Nick said sarcastically. Warrick punched Nick as hard as he could in the shoulder. Nick flinched back and rubbed the now very sore spot on his shoulder. "Sorry." He mumbled.
Warrick rolled and smiled. "So did you think of any brilliant ideas yet?"
Nick thought for a minute, and finally came up with something as they got to their Denali.
"We ride together, we die together."
Warrick smiled as they got into the car. "Bad boys for life."
"Do you think Grissom would get mad if we drove one of the Denali's down a really big hill?" Nick asked as they sat on their couch and watched Will Smith and Martin Lawerence barrell down a hill of crack houses in Cuba in a bright yellow Hummer.
Warrick shrugged. "We'd probably get fired. Ecklie'd be wicked pissed."
"It'd be worth it though."
Warrick nodded. "Oh yeah."
"This is the best bachelor party I've ever been to, and I can't even drink any alcohol at this one."
Warrick laughed. "I think you're addicted to cherry coke anyway."
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
They fell into a comfrotable silence and finished watching the rest of the movie. Once it was done, Nick turned the DVD player off and flipped through the channels until he found a college basketball game. It didn't take long for Nick to realize Warrick was only pretending to watch the game. He could tell his best friend was deep in thought.
"You okay?" Nick asked, snapping Warrick out of his staring contest with the coffee table.
"Huh?" He asked, obviously not having heard what Nick had said.
"Are you okay?" Nick repeated.
Warrick nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Which means you're not." Nick said with a small smile.
Warrick laughed, but Nick could tell it was forced. "It's just...I'm gonna miss this."
"Miss what?"
"Hanging out with you all the time."
Nick smiled. "You're not moving to Florida or anything. And we do work together."
Warrick nodded and frowned at the same time. "Yeah I know...but it's fun living with you. I just feel like I'm ditching you or something."
Nick could tell there was more. "That's not all that's bothering you, is it?" He said, knowing the answer already.
Warrick sighed. "It's nothing."
Nick shrugged. "Okay."
"Damn you Nick." Warrick said, rubbing his eyes.
"What did I do?" Nick said.
Warrick sighed heavier. "You know me too well."
Nick couldn't help but smile. "So does that mean you're gonna tell me what's wrong?"
"Unfortunatly..." He gathered his thoughts and thought of the right words before continuing. "It's just...I'm scared. Living with you...I always know where you are and that you're okay." Warrick shook his head. "I just keep thinking that I'm gonna be at home, about to call you or something...but Grissom will call me and say they found your body in another fucking box or something."
Nick didn't know what to say. He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to think of what to say. When he couldn't think of anything, he said the only thing that came to mind.
"I'm sorry." He said in an almost whisper.
"It's not your fault." Warrick said. He broke his eyes away from Nick's and looked down at the floor. "You almost died, Nick."
Nick reached across the couch and squeezed Warrick's shoulder. "But I didn't."
Warrick looked up at Nick with tears in his eyes. "Not the last few times...but what if you do? I hate thinking about it...but I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have you."
"You were fine before you met me. You'd be fine without me messing everything up."
Warrick shook his head. "No...no, I wasn't. I never had any friends or anything. And now that I know you...I can't imagine what it'd be like without you around."
Nick bit the inside of his lip. He was usually good with words, but couldn't find any right now. He had no idea what to say, and it was more than obvious to Warrick.
"I'm sorry Nick."
Nick shook his head and shrugged. "You didn't do anything." Was all he could think to say.
"Neither did you." Warrick sighed heavily. "I'm just so scared that everytime I see you is gonna be the last time."
Nick finally came up with something to say. "Remember when I was in the hospital after the whole...burning house thing..." Warrick nodded, unsure of where Nick was going with this. "Well I distinctly remember you saying that you weren't gonna let anything get in the way of our friendship."
"And I won't." Warrick responded.
Nick smiled. "Then we've got nothing to worry about bro."
I sincerely apologize for the ridiculous amount of time this chapter took. I'm hoping to finish this story up in another couple of chapters. Thanks for the reviews.