Author's Note:Thanks for all the reviews, I appreciate knowing who's reading. Just posted a silly little one-shot yesterday on my profile (Some Fantastic), if you're interested in goofy optimism, personification, and Nick/Greg. Also, I often preview or post stories first to my livejournal, which is also where I publish icons, videos, etc. If interested, don't be afraid to add me as a friend at smilesinc[dot]livejournal[dot]com. Cheers, and keep the feedback coming - good, bad, ugly.

Chapter Five: On A Scale of One To Ten

"So what'd he say?" Mandy asked the next day, leaning on her forearms which rested on the counter in the DNA lab.

Wendy put some samples in the spinner. "He wants to, but he doesn't feel comfortable with it."

"Did you tell him what you were gonna wear?" Mandy asked.

"Believe it or not, guys aren't that interested in detailed ensemble descriptions," Wendy told her.

"But he's bi, right?" Mandy said. "That makes him, what, half-gay? Doesn't that give him half the fashion sense?"

"Sh!" Wendy hushed, her eyes bulging. "If he found out you know about that, he'll kill me."

"Please, it's not like you told me," Mandy said. "Not your fault I caught him drooling over Nick Stokes during his lunch hour. You just filled in the details. Besides, why would I tell anyone? I like having secrets with you. Also, did you tell him there would be free food?"

"It's a wedding, I think that goes without saying," Wendy replied.

Mandy thought for a moment. "Did you tell him about the open bar?"

Wendy gave her an amused look. "There is no open bar."

"He doesn't know that."

Wendy rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to lie just to get him to come to a wedding with me."

"So here's my real question," Mandy began.

"What have all these other questions been, then?" Wendy returned.

"Shut up. Here's my real question. On a scale of one to ten, how disappointed were you when he said no?"

"That's your real question?"

"Just answer it."

Wendy sighed. "Five?"

Mandy made a face. "You are clearly way too lucky for your own good."

"What's that mean?"

"On a scale of one to ten," Mandy said, "Hodges' moping this past week? Eleven."

"That doesn't make me lucky," Wendy said.

"On a scale of one to ten," Mandy repeated, "the hotness of you having sex with Greg Sanders and managing to not be too awkward about it? Twelve."

"That part was pretty lucky," Wendy conceded. "We're just… really great friends, I guess."

"You don't get it," Mandy said. "You have not one, but two guys who have your back no matter what. And one of them just happens to be in love with you."

"Which one?" Wendy asked, as if Mandy could solve all her problems just by answering that one question.

"On a scale of one to ten," Mandy began as Wendy rolled her eyes, "how disappointed were you when Hodges turned you down?"

Wendy felt her stomach twist. She took a deep breath before saying, "Nine."

"I rest my case," Mandy said

"But that was different!" Wendy protested. "With Hodges, it was all angry and personal and hurtful. Greg was polite. Sweet, even. Explained very well why he would love to, but couldn't. It was thoughtful, and cushioned the blow, so I was less disappointed."

"So this is what I just heard," Mandy began. "With Hodges, it was personal. With Greg, it was polite."

Wendy thought about how Mandy had repeated her words. "OK, when you say it like that…" She sighed. "But I've wrecked it all with Hodges. He won't even look at me, let alone go to a wedding with me. And I find the way he is conveniently avoiding Greg oddly disconcerting. Especially as every time Greg's name comes up, he turns red like an angry tomato."

"Do tomatoes have emotions?" Mandy mused, teasingly.

"All fruit emote," Wendy returned. "Didn't you know that?"

"You didn't wreck it all with Hodges," Mandy insisted, seriously. "These things aren't fixed in a day. He just has some unresolved issues he needs to work out, and maybe when that tomato finally turns to ketchup, you two can have a relationship. A messy, messy condiment relationship."

"And what about Greg?" Wendy asked. "He actually told me he thought he had feelings for me."

"So do you have feelings for him?"

Wendy thought about it. "I could. I like him a lot. We get along really well, and the sex…" She smirked. "I don't know."

"Kiss 'im," Mandy said.

"I already did that."

"Stone-cold sober," Mandy clarified. "Kiss him."

"What would that prove?" Wendy asked, shying away from the idea. "All it would do is get both of us in even hotter water with Hodges and Nick."

But Mandy shook her head. "Listen to me, I know about things. All of this started because of one wild night of drunken sex, am I right?"

"Technically, I guess," Wendy acknowledged. "Although it just sounds dirty when you say it like that."

"So you and Greg have never had any sort of intimate or physical relationship without a drop of alcohol in your systems."

"Maybe not…"

"You drank more than wine that night, Wendy," Mandy said. "You drank the Kool-Aid. And it's still in you. You need to get it out of your system. You need to see if what you're feeling is actual feelings, or if it's just, you know, the Kool-Aid."

She frowned. "You think I'm infatuated with Greg because the alcohol made it seem more real than it was?"

"OK, fine, don't use my metaphor, stomp all over my poetic license," Mandy said. "But yeah."

"That's ridiculous," Wendy said, stubbornly.

"So prove it. Kiss him and find out if he's a prince, Cinderella," Mandy dared.

Greg opened the closed door to Nick's office without knocking, causing him to look up from a stack of paperwork. At just the sight of him, Nick looked utterly exhausted.

"Greg—"

"It's about the Jensen double homicide," Greg interrupted, before Nick could tell him to leave. "I think there might be a connection to your burglary case last week."

At least now Nick looked more intrigued than annoyed. "How do you figure that?"

Greg hesitated a moment. "Uh, Wendy… matched the DNA in the hair that I found on the wife with the epithelials you pulled from the inside of the discarded latex at your scene. Good find on that, by the way."

Nick rolled his eyes at the blatant attempt at flattery. "So the Jensens were probably intended burglary victims, only they ended up being home unexpectedly."

"Looks like," Greg said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. "I just thought you'd want to know. Kay, well… Bye." He turned to leave. He begged for Nick to stop him.

"Greg, wait."

As he placed his hand on the door frame, Greg couldn't keep a triumphant smile from his face. He wiped it off before turning to Nick again. "Yeah?"

Nick scratched the back of his neck. "I know this is… awkward."

"Yeah…"

"I want you to know, I don't want it to be."

"Me either."

"That's why I asked Catherine for a transfer a few days ago."

Greg blinked, feigning surprise. "Wait, what?"

"So that whatever is going on between us, we don't have to compromise any cases because of it," Nick explained.

"What'd she say?" Greg inquired, already knowing the answer.

Nick snorted, as if Catherine's response had been typical. "She rejected it. Which I should have seen coming. So I guess you're stuck with me for now."

"I don't see it as being stuck with you," Greg muttered, half-shrugging. "Do you see it as being stuck with me?"

Nick closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hand. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Be cute like that," Nick explained. "Like you're doing. All cute and contrite. Greg, I know you're sorry. I know it. I just… I can't do this, right now. After how you thought you knew me, and then what you did with… I can barely manage to go into the DNA lab anymore just to get my results. Can't look Wendy in the eye. Wendy. I loved that girl, Greg, and now I can't even look at her."

"I'm… sorry," Greg began. Nick emitted a frustrated sigh. "Look, I know you know that, but I can't stop saying it, all right? I'm sorry I put words in your mouth, I'm sorry I was really stupid about it, I'm sorry I hurt you by what I did with Wendy, and I'm sorry I ruined your friendship with her. I'm sorry I ruined our friendship. I just…" He pursed his lips and shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I know that hoping for… a real relationship right now is too much to ask, but I at least hope that… that we can get our friendship back."

Nick shrugged. "I don't know what to say, Greg."

"Say it's possible," Greg pleaded. "Say anything, just… don't leave me dangling like this."

Nick frowned. "No, let's leave you dangling for a while. Because the honest answer right now, if you forced my hand, is I don't know. I don't."

It was fair, but it still cut to the quick. Greg tried to remember to breathe. "OK. Well… thanks."

"And in the meantime…" Nick began.

"We'll keep it professional," Greg agreed, finishing his thought.

Nick snorted, derisively. "Look at that. For once, you guessed what I was actually gonna say."

Feeling somehow worse than he'd felt when he'd walked in there, Greg turned his back on Nick and left. He felt like he was turning away from Nick a lot lately, and that just made the whole thing feel worse. Every time they spoke, it felt like a battle. And every time, he always retreated with his tail between his legs, licking the wounds Nick's words had left behind. But he'd go to war every day, if there were a chance that he could retrieve what he had lost. He would die every day and let Nick pull the trigger if there were a chance that he could ever be forgiven.

Greg dragged his feet from Nick's office to the DNA lab. Reliable as ever, there was Wendy, working away. This time, she was making note of what samples she'd tested in the official paperwork while results printed out beside her. She was so busy, she didn't even notice Greg standing there in the doorway watching her.

"I had a dream about you last night."

She jumped at the sound of his voice and nearly dropped the results she'd just picked up. But she recovered quickly and blinked at him a few times. Her next words were colored with a faint shade of pink. "I hope nothing too inappropriate."

"You were in a wedding dress," Greg said, coming into the lab properly. "And I was eating lots of cake. Also, there was a donkey."

"I don't know what that means."

"Me either," Greg said. "But it's better than what happens when I'm awake. I don't know what any of this means either. At least dreams are supposed to be nonsensical."

"Was Nick in your dream?"

Greg thought. "Yes. He tied a blindfold around my eyes then spun me around and told me to hit the donkey. Only it wasn't a piñata, it was a real donkey, and I was afraid I'd hurt it. But I swung the bat anyway."

Wendy gasped, as if the donkey were real. "You didn't hurt the donkey, did you?"

"You're worried about a dream donkey," Greg deadpanned.

Wendy shrugged. "Dream or not, you should never hit an animal with a bat."

Greg frowned. "I don't remember. I just remember what I told you."

"And why are you telling me this, exactly?" Wendy asked.

Greg shook his head. "I can't go to the wedding with you, Wendy."

"I know."

"How'd you know?" Greg asked.

She shrugged again. "It's awkward and complicated and I think it'll hurt Hodges more than I want it to. Also, there's Nick. Obviously, you can't come to the wedding."

He made a face. "I'm sorry, Wendy."

"Don't apologize," Wendy commanded. "I'll figure something out."

"What do we do?" Greg asked, gesturing at the both of them. "About this?"

Wendy's lips twitched. "You know, I…" Then, she closed her eyes and shook her head quickly. "No. Never mind."

Greg frowned. "What?"

"Nothing," Wendy assured him. "Mandy's idea. It was stupid."

"Mandy?" Greg asked.

Wendy pursed her lips. "Yeah. She's kind of who I talk to about things."

"Well, yeah, that makes sense," Greg muttered, as if he'd never actually noticed the closeness of their friendship. "What'd she say?"

"Nothing. She's an airhead," Wendy repeated. "That's why she does fingerprints. With those new instant scanners, she barely has any job left to do. I've warned her that she'll be the first of us to be replaced with a robot." She managed a sad smile. "Hodges insists he'll be the last. Of course."

"Of course," Greg said. "But what did she say?"

"Crazy Mandy things," Wendy declared, then her eyes widened. Greg turned around to see Mandy leaning into the DNA lab. She was holding an apple. Greg had no idea how long she had been there, but she wore a cocked eyebrow.

"Does this apple look depressed to you?" she asked Wendy, with a knowing look.

Greg turned back to Wendy, clearly missing something as he watched the DNA tech blush ever so slightly.

"Go make some apple sauce," she said. "Put it out of its misery."

Mandy smirked, gave Greg an approving look up and down, and took a bite out of her apple. "I'll give you this, he's no tomato." And with that, she turned around and went back to her lab.

"Was I supposed to understand that?" Greg asked.

"I didn't even understand it," said Wendy. "Like I said, crazy Mandy things."

Greg looked over his shoulder at the spot where Mandy had been. "OK. Well, I guess I better get back to work. I don't even know what I came in here for."

"You don't?" Wendy asked.

"I do," Greg confessed. "Talking to you makes me feel better."

She smiled as the warmth of his compliment spread outward from her stomach. Greg turned to leave but before he really could, he felt her seize his wrist and sling him back again and into a deep kiss. Though he was at first surprised by her sneak attack, it didn't take him long to figure out what was going on, and he returned her passion out of politeness. Then, he realized he shouldn't have been thinking of the quality of a kiss like the firmness of a handshake.

They broke a part. Greg was still trying to sort out exactly what had just occurred between the two of them and what it meant. Wendy rocked back on her feet and licked her lips, eyeing him expectantly. When he remained speechless, she prompted, "Well?"

Greg frowned, his brain still trying to come to a conclusion. "Well… what?" he said, slowly.

"How was that?"

He blinked. She was asking about the kiss. She was asking if he'd liked it. If there were fireworks. She was asking if it was as good as it had been the night they'd made love. Greg scrambled for an answer that wouldn't upset her, but he also wanted to be honest. "It was… fine." The minute he said it, he flinched, knowing that no one ever wanted to hear that they kissed 'fine.'

But Wendy burst out laughing. Greg was puzzled by this reaction, and he had the strange humiliated feeling that he was the butt of a cruel practical joke. "Oh, thank God!" Wendy cried.

"What?" Greg demanded, looking around for hidden cameras.

She calmed down slightly and gestured at herself. "Me too," she assured him.

Relief surged through him like warm water. "Oh good… You're not, you know, offended?"

"No," she insisted. "I'm—"

"Making fun of me?" Greg broke in.

She looked baffled by the accusation. "I'm relieved."

"Oh…" Greg mumbled. His brain was still trying to come to the conclusion Wendy had already reached seconds ago. "I'm surprised… All up until now, I've always felt…"

"I know," Wendy said.

"And then you went and…"

"I know."

"And now I don't really feel…"

"I know!" Wendy exclaimed, as if it were the most amazing thing in the world.

And then, it clicked in his head, and Greg realized the significance of the whole situation. "Wow. I guess that answers that question…" Greg said, thoughtfully. "Thanks, Wendy."

"Any time."

Greg turned to leave but as he headed towards the door, he saw David Hodges out the window a little ways down the hall. The trace tech did an about face and headed in the absolute opposite direction. At first, he wondered at this behavior, but after a moment, his slow brain remembered the very important event that had just occurred. Standing in the doorway, he looked back in at Wendy, who seemed much happier all of a sudden as she went about her work. He hoped more for her sake than his that Hodges hadn't seen what had happened in there, although something deep in his gut told him that he had never been so lucky.