Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of this story, but in all honesty, since I finished it a few weeks ago, I kind of forgot about it! No worries, though. Last chapter here, for your enjoyment. Please review, and keep an eye open for some upcoming stories.

Chapter Eight: New Beginnings

"Hey," Wendy said, once again in the doorway to Hodges' domain.

He turned around, holding a stack of papers, which he set on the counter. "Hey…" he replied.

"I… think I'm leaving," she said.

She could tell that he knew exactly what she meant, but he still said, "No problem, just give me a second, and I'll join you—"

"Not… for the night," she clarified.

He sat down on a stool. "Is this about Portland?"

She frowned. "How do you know about that?"

"You call your sister a lot…" Hodges explained. "Hard not to overhear. Especially when… you've got the help of a nosey AV tech and a toxicologist who can't keep a secret."

"I'll murder them both," Wendy said flatly. She entered the room fully. "Yes, I think I have a good shot at a job up there. I don't know. I'm still feeling things out."

"I know," Hodges said. "That's what you told your sister. Why are you telling me, then, if you don't know yet?"

"Because if it's not Portland, it'll be somewhere else. Salem. Seattle. Olympia."

"Why the interest in the northwest?"

"Because it's green and cool and away from here," she said.

"Away from me," he reminded her.

She nodded. "I know."

"And you see this as a good thing?"

She pursed her lips. "I told you before. I don't know what to do with this."

"I thought we were going to take it slow."

"Snail's pace," she agreed. "But my career, that's going a lot faster than us."

"So that's your reasoning," Hodges said, dully. "Your career over me."

"No, my reasoning is much harder than that," she explained, tears blossoming from her eyes. "Because today, even for just a fleeting second, I actually imagined a world without you in it and it didn't kill me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hodges breathed, clearly wounded.

"I don't know," she conceded. "But people who are in love can't do that. People who are in love aren't supposed to think that. I was beginning to think I couldn't go, because I was in love with you, Hodges. Now that I know that I'm not, the only excuse for me to stay is to wait and see if an empty dream will come true."

"You couldn't have just told me you chose your career over me?" Hodges whispered. "You had to tell me… all that."

She offered him a shrug. "I'm sorry. I thought it was time that I was honest. You have to let me go, Hodges." She turned around, afraid she would burst into sobs if she stayed any longer and made her way swiftly out of the trace lab.

Behind her, Hodges uttered a quiet, "No."

Wendy kept on walking. She couldn't stop. Until, for the third time that night, someone seized her elbow, forcing her to turn, and she was fully prepared to punch Greg Sanders in the face like she had threatened to do, but before she could even raise her fist, she literally ran into Hodges' lips. She ended up with her palms flat against his chest, his arms wrapped around her, his hands on her back. She had kissed Hodges only once before, and it had been similar in its desperation, but as she lost herself in his declaration, she realized that this was so much different than before. In this kiss, it was his desperation they were tasting, his fear, and his pure and unadulterated adulatio. He was telling her, in the way his arms refused to let an inch of space exist between them, and the way his lips embraced hers, that he was not going to let her go without a fight. And it was a fight that Hodges was clearly winning, because in that moment, lost in the strangely sharp and bitter scent of him that held conflicting hints of allspice and ammonia, she imagined something. For the second time that night, she imagined a world without David Hodges in it. A world that existed in shades of blue and gray, with protein strands and double helixes but no quirks or distractions. A world where she was the best damn DNA tech in her field, but where she had no time or incentive to indulge in elaborate ruses, pranks or games, and was disinterested in anything more out there, anything bigger than her tiny lab. A world where on one challenged her, where no one inspired her to look for the next great adventure. A world where she lived in a rainy city on the coast, swigging coffee in the daily grind, surrounded by trees and mountains and completely isolated from anyone that could make her laugh, really make her laugh, not just manage an amused smile. A world where, she realized, she was less than half of what she was in a world where David Hodges existed.

When the kiss was finally broken, Hodges leaned his forehead against hers and didn't open his eyes. He simply whispered, "Please… Please don't go."

After a moment, Wendy pushed him back, making him open his eyes to look at her. "I just told you that I didn't love you. And this is what you do?"

"I… wanted to show you that your feelings weren't the only ones that mattered," he said.

Slowly, she smiled. "You are an oxymoron. I ask you out, and you refuse. I try and get closer, you pull away. I tell you that I don't love you and—"

"I say that I don't believe you," Hodges interrupted.

"Who are you to tell me how I feel?" she asked.

"You're still letting me hold you," Hodges pointed out.

She bit her tongue as she realized that he was right, and she wasn't going to break away now, either. For a moment, they stood there, as she allowed him to embrace her, as she allowed him to love her.

"Look," Hodges began, breaking the silence. "There's only one reason that I can think of for you standing there and telling me that you don't love me."

"It's true?"

"No," Hodges insisted. "You told me that because you don't want me to chase after you. You wanted to hurt me badly enough that I wouldn't think you were worth it. But you've underestimated me. You have no idea the things that women have done to convince me to leave them alone."

She could feel her lips twitch and looked sharply away, determined to not insult him with her amusement in this serious speech he was making.

"The point is," Hodges continued with a frustrate growl, knowing full well how his last statement had made him sound, "I've never been good with people. But I'm good with you. And I'm not ready to just let that go. I don't care what you did with Greg Sanders. Although I will never stop asking myself why Greg Sanders, of all the people inside this lab and out of it that you could have chosen to—"

"OK," Wendy interrupted. "I get it. You're Dustin Hoffman in the Graduate and you won't stop banging on that window until I call out your name."

Hodges shrugged. "I've never actually seen that movie."

She placed her hand against his cheek and smiled. "I've finally made a movie reference that you didn't get. Hell must have frozen over."

Hodges was frowning as he thought through her comment. "That's the movie with Mrs. Robinson, isn't it? Are you saying that you're old? Because you're not old."

Wendy gaped at him. "Just stop talking before I change my mind."

"Change your mind about what?"

"Staying," Wendy said. "I guess… field work can wait a while." She pulled away from him, her hands on his upper arms. "Maybe we can work this out after all?"

He nodded, but he wasn't smiling. "Yeah…"

"Breakfast after shift?" she suggested.

"It's a start…" he replied, a strange glazed look in his eyes.

"It is, isn't it? Start of something all right." She let out a big sigh as she turned and began to walk away, her ponytail swinging from side to side. "I think I just made the biggest mistake of my life," she said with a grin.

Hodges looked after her, feeling oddly guilty. "Yeah…" he mumbled.

Greg's eyes flickered between his watch and the open door to the locker room. He tried to control his breathing as he felt his skin begin to tingle. He was having horrible déjà vu, but that just told him that everything was going according to plan. After two and a half minutes, he strolled into the locker room.

"Oh, hey," he said with a smirk.

Nick closed his locker and looked at Greg with raised eyebrows and an all-around unamused expression. "Lurking again, are we?"

"Two and a half full, unadulterated minutes of it," Greg replied. He stepped into the locker room fully, catching his bottom lip between his teeth. "Listen, I was thinking we could maybe do this scene again. Could you humor me?"

Nick sighed and let his arm drop against his thigh. He shrugged. "Do you have something you want to say to me, Greg?"

"Yes," Greg said, clearly. "Yes, Nick, I do." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, rocked forward onto the balls of his feet and fell back again. "I'm in love with you. I have been for a long time."

Nick seemed unimpressed. "Aren't you worried about how I will react to a confession like this?"

"No," Greg said. "Because I'm smart, and I thought about how well I know you. The way you play along with me by responding to my suggestive banter. How sometimes, I'll catch you looking at me when I'm thinking of looking at you. How your hugs linger a little longer than I think is socially acceptable. But even if I never noticed these things about you and me, I know you. You're the guy that never gives up thinking a little girl is still alive, even when everyone else thinks she's dead. The guy that sees a crying woman on the street and doesn't just walk by without asking what's wrong. And probably the only one on this job that I know who actually still means it every single time he says, 'I'm sorry for your loss.' But mostly, you're the guy who is so loyal to his friends, that he'll stick up for them no matter what. Even if they've hurt you… Even if we've hurt you pretty bad. And I love you, for all of that. I love you for all of that and more."

Nick was smiling by this point, though he was trying to hide it by covering his mouth with his hand. He forced a laugh. "Wendy told you about the punch I threw, huh?"

Greg looked confused. "Punch? What punch?" His hand hovered over his nose. "And keep in mind I'm a little sensitive to that word right now."

Nick laughed, and this time, it was genuine. "Nothing. Officer Jackson was giving her crap, so I gave him some right back."

Greg took a few more steps towards him. "She never said you punched a guy for her. That's hot."

Nick frowned. "I think you have that backwards."

"How's that?"

"I think you're supposed to find it hot when I punch someone for you."

Greg shrugged as he slid his hands around Nick's waist. "I don't care who it's for," he said. "I care that you care so much. You stand up for the people that need it. It's rare, and it's… It's you, Nick."

Nick shook his head, his smile growing even as he refused to return Greg's embrace, but he didn't pull away from it either. "You really are laying it on thick."

"You forgive me yet?"

"Don't push it," Nick said.

"Are you kidding?" Greg said. "If there's one thing I've learned from all this, is that I'll always push it. I'll do anything, Nick, if it means I can be with you."

"OK, now you're just verging on cheesy," Nick said.

"I don't care," Greg replied. "I don't. Can we just… stop talking and be kissing now?"

Nick smiled even as he shook his head. "You can't just say all that and kiss me and make everything better."

"No," Greg admitted. "Look, I know I hurt you. But I want to make it up to you. I want to spend my whole life making it up to you, if you'll just let me."

Nick continued to resist, however reluctantly, until he let out a frustrated sigh and cupped Greg's face in his hands. "What is it about you that makes me just want to…"

"Kiss me?" Greg suggested.

And finally, Nick obliged, giving in to both of their desires. Without the awkward bulge of Greg's swollen nose between them, this kiss was much more comfortable, if more inhibited. Nick was slow, his lips cautious as he engaged Greg's, one hand moving down to tickle the back of his neck, the other moving to rest against his chest, right above his heart, fingers curling over the shoulder. But still, he pressed his body deliberately against Greg's, and the younger man stumbled backwards into the locker as his hands crawled up Nick's back. Though cautious, it was also filled with devotion. The kiss was everything that had evolved between them over the last few days, over the last few years. Nick wanted him, that much was clear, but he was holding back, and Greg couldn't blame him. For now, Greg accepted this timid risk, this quiet declaration, because he knew that out of everything that he and Wendy had said that he deserved, he didn't deserve someone as loyal as Nick. She had been right to say that he was lucky to have him.

When they broke apart, Greg once again found himself breathless, but for a completely different reason. His eyes remained closed long after Nick pulled away, but they remained in each other's embrace for a moment longer. Greg allowed the feeling of security, of finally experiencing the dream, linger, savoring every prickle of his skin, every breath that they shared together.

"I guess…" Nick whispered, "I can't say no to you."

"Thank God you can't," Greg breathed, still feeling slightly light-headed. He finally opened his eyes to find himself staring right back into Nick's. And he smiled.

"I've solved all your problems," Mandy declared with her arms in the air as she stood in the doorway of the DNA lab on Tuesday.

Wendy turned to face her. "You're too late. Hodges and I decided to work things out."

Mandy was visibly disappointed as her arms dropped to her side. "What happened to Portland?"

"I'm sure there'll be opportunities for me here, too," Wendy said with a modest shrug.

"And what about the wedding this weekend?" Mandy pressed.

"I don't know," Wendy told her. "I was thinking Hodges might come with me, now that we've sort of sorted everything out… Why are you shaking your head?"

"Because I have the perfect plus one for you," Mandy said, mysteriously.

Wendy folded her arms, intrigued in spite of herself. "Oh yeah?"

Mandy pointed her thumbs at herself. "I could say something really cheesy about having two thumbs, or I could just tell you it's me."

"Why do you want to go to a wedding?"

"Do you remember last week a little wager going on about who you would end up with?" Mandy asked.

Wendy groaned. "Don't remind me."

Mandy smirked and fanned out a wad of cash. "Archie had the brilliant idea to name me treasurer."

"And what does this have to do with the wedding?" Wendy pressed.

"Simple," Mandy said. "We take the money and run. I can buy myself an awesome dress and hit on the groomsmen, and you can pay for all the booze, considering it won't be an open bar. It'll be a girls' night, funded by a sexist bet. Poetic justice, don't you think?"

Wendy smirked and took the cash Mandy handed to her. "Didn't Archie technically win this money?"

"Archie doesn't know you and Hodges made up," Mandy pointed out. "And he won't find out until after the money is spent. Hell, I didn't even know until you just told me, I just wanted to pocket the cash."

Wendy thought about all the people who had put money on her personal life and had a laugh at her expense. "I guess I do deserve a little compensation. My screwed-up love life and humiliation was their entertainment after all."

Mandy's ecstatic grin faded into a warm smile. "I'm glad you're not going to Portland. I don't think I could stand being the only girl in the lab."

"Aw…" Wendy said, flattered by the remark.

Mandy wrapped her arms around her friend and Wendy closed her eyes, thinking about the choice was making and not sure where the knot in her stomach had come from.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Wendy opened her eyes and lit up to see Hodges watching them, intrigue scribbled across his face. Mandy pulled back and turned to give Hodges a playful accusatory glare.

"Don't get any ideas," she said, shaking her finger reprovingly at Hodges. She nodded at Wendy and offered her a knowing smile. "I'll see you later."

Wendy nodded her goodbye as Mandy slipped past Hodges. She then turned her attention to the man who had convinced her to stay in Las Vegas. "And to what do I owe this visit?"

"For the record," Hodges began, pointing after Mandy, "I don't mind walking in on you two together."

"Oh, shut up," Wendy laughed, rolling her eyes. "You're not that guy, and don't pretend to be. What's up?"

Hodges tapped some papers against his hand, nervously. "I applied for a position in Portland."

Wendy blinked at him, too baffled to even form an expression. "What did you do that for?" And after she asked, the emotions came, flooding her lungs like ice water. It seemed some sort of cruel and unusual punishment for Hodges to go and betray her like that. Not only was he leaving her alone after she had finally admitted her feelings for him, but he was stealing her dream, and her job.

"I just… saw you. In the hall…" Hodges tried to explain.

"I know," Wendy snapped. "I thought we decided to work on our relationship. I thought we decided it was more important than a new job. Or, well, my new job. Apparently, you can do whatever you want, can't you?"

"Wendy, I did this for our relationship," Hodges insisted, as if it were apparent. "In the hall, you decided to stay, because of me. But you don't want to stay here. It was obvious you didn't want to stay."

"What are you talking about?" Wendy demanded. "Of course I want to stay. Vegas has been my home for five years now, all my friends are here, why wouldn't I want to stay?"

"You said it yourself," Hodges reminded her. "You were worried this was going to be the biggest mistake of your life. Because in your heart, you knew that it was."

"I don't understand…" Wendy said, her eyes becoming glassy with tears. "Why would that make you leave?"

He smiled at her reassuringly. "You're really dense sometimes, aren't you?" She scowled, not appreciating his teasing. He quickly went on. "You wanted to stay in Vegas because I'm in Vegas. But if I'm in Portland… then you can be free to go after your dreams."

The ice in her chest melted into a warm puddle in her stomach. "You're willing to move for me?"

"I'm willing to move with you," Hodges said. "Wendy, I don't want to be the person that kept you from being everything you ever wanted to be. But I couldn't let you leave me here, either. This just seemed like the logical solution."

She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him quickly and deeply, squeezing his cheeks so hard she thought his head might pop like a balloon. She broke away just as sharply and beamed at him. "Now I know I made the right choice."

He was bright red and Wendy was warmed as she was reminded of a tomato. "Well, it was time I moved out of my mother's place anyway," he said, bashfully.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Wendy asked, suddenly wracked with anxiety, her brow tightly wrinkled. "I mean, you hate the rain. And trams. And recycling. You always say that the fewer new people you have to meet, the better, and that as a general rule, change is bad, until and unless it involves robots."

"I want you," Hodges whispered. "I want you… to be happy. Everything else doesn't matter."

Slowly, she unwound. "So what job did you apply for? I don't remember an opening for a trace tech…"

"No," Hodges replied. "I mean, not exactly. In all honesty, it won't be as intellectually stimulating as the job I have here, but Oregon pays its techs better than Nevada, so there is a salary boost. And the workload will be smaller, obviously, so more pay for less work is a win in my books."

"What's the job?" Wendy pressed.

He hesitated. "DNA tech."

She scowled and hit him. And then, she kissed him.

Several Months Later

"Please tell me this is the last one," Greg begged as he lowered a particularly heavy box into the back of a pick-up truck.

"That's the last one," Wendy cheerily confirmed, throwing her arms in the air. "I'm officially all packed and ready to roll." She stepped over to the truck and closed the tailgate. She turned and leaned against it, looking at her volunteers.

"Thanks for the help, you two," she said, her smile sincere and somber.

Nick took Greg's hand as he nodded at her. "What friends would we be if we didn't help you move?"

"I have the pizza!" Mandy exclaimed as she walked up the driveway. She tossed Wendy an expectant look. "You said there would be beer?"

"I think it's the only thing left in the fridge," Wendy said. "And where have you been?"

"What are you talking about?" Mandy asked, sounding affronted. "I went to get the pizza."

Wendy tried to contain her smile. "Two hours ago!"

"I don't do heavy lifting," Mandy replied, matter-of-factly.

Greg rolled his eyes. "I'll go grab the beers," he said, reluctantly breaking away from Nick's side as he headed into the house. Stepping out of the sunlight and into the quiet shade of Wendy's empty hallway, Greg closed the door behind him and leaned against it. He felt his heart fossilize and crack like a geode. He could never tell Wendy how much he didn't want her to leave, not now, not when she was so excited. He may not have been in love with her, but he did love her, and to lose her to Oregon of all places just seemed unfair. For a moment, he was bitterly envious of Hodges. After all, he got to go on this new adventure with her and see a whole new city that Greg had never actually been to. In his youth, he had dreamed about traveling the world, and for a while he had lived it. New York, Chicago, even six months spent couch surfing in Toronto, before he really ran out of money and realized he needed to settle down and get a real job. That's how he had ended up in Vegas. It had seemed new, fresh and exciting at the time, but he had been there for twelve years now and he was beginning to feel that old itch to move again. But he knew that he would never leave Vegas. And though a part of him called it home, and appreciated all that he had earned there – a solid career, a fondness for local history, loyal friends, and a forgiving boyfriend – a part of him still wished for something bigger.

He heard glass clink together somewhere deeper in the house and smiled. He followed the noise down the hall into Wendy's blue and white kitchen. He saw Hodges standing at the bar with no stools, already taking a deep swig from a bottle of beer he'd opened. The rest of the six pack was on the table. At the sight of Greg, Hodges froze, bottle still pointed skyward. After a moment, he lowered it and licked his lips. He looked down.

"What do you want?" he asked.

Greg was used to Hodges' abrupt greetings. It had been years since they had fazed him. But for some reason, this one really stung. "Came to pick up the beers for the rest of us."

Hodges nodded, as if he had expected this, then took another sip. "Good. Good."

Greg frowned, then leaned on the bar. "We were friends, right?"

Hodges acted like he had no idea what Greg was talking about. He opened his mouth once or twice, but instead of answering, he just took another swig from his bottle.

Greg laughed, looked at the floor, then back up at Hodges again. "I mean, at one time. We were friends, you and me."

Slowly, Hodges lowered the bottle and wiped his mouth. Even more slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, we were."

"And now?"

Hodges shrugged. "I don't know."

"Friends… admit when they're wrong," Greg began. "They apologize."

Clearly uncomfortable, Hodges squirmed, shifting his weight to one foot. "Well, yes, traditionally…"

"I never apologized to you," Greg said. "Not officially. Unless you count letting you punch me in the face – twice – without any repercussions an apology. Which I kind of did. 'Til now. 'Til this conversation…" Greg was beginning to feel awkward himself, but the contrition that weighed on his rocky heart was sincere. He needed Hodges to know that. "I never actually said the words. Guys, they don't… talk about these things."

"No, they don't," Hodges said, seizing the rest of the beers. The bottles clanked together as he lifted the box off of the table. He ducked his head, walking past Greg to the door.

Knowing he was losing him, Greg said quickly, "I'm sorry, Hodges."

Hodges stopped, his back tensing as he stood in the doorway to the entry hall. Slowly, he turned around and managed to give Greg an ungrateful look, as if blaming him that they had to have this conversation in the first place. He sighed, then shifted his weight again and shook his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "I know it wasn't about me."

"No, it wasn't," Greg agreed. "But it still hurt you. You were still a casualty. And I'm sorry for that."

"I'm sorry I hit you," Hodges blurted out, his words coming out in rapid succession like a child that was being forced to apologize. He rolled his eyes, then added as an afterthought, "Twice."

Greg chuckled. "You were right, I deserved those punches. No apology necessary."

"Well, clearly it was," Hodges said. "Or you would have let me walk out of here."

"My apology was necessary," Greg clarified. "I was the one in the wrong here. Not you."

"Yeah, but if you apologized, then I had to apologize…" Hodges explained, his tone dripping with exasperation.

"You didn't want to apologize, did you?" Greg noted, slightly amused.

"No, not really," Hodges admitted.

"Well, it wasn't your fault," Greg assured him. "I made you hit me. In fact, I'm sorry for being an ass that was asking to be punched in the face."

Hodges nodded, then diplomatically said, "Apology accepted."

"That's it?"

"That's what Wendy says people are supposed to say."

Greg snorted. "Yeah, it is. But only if you mean it."

And for the first time in the conversation, Hodges actually cracked a smile. "I do."

"You're gonna have a great time in Portland," Greg said. "But we'll miss you here."

"You'll miss me or Wendy?" Hodges asked, his eyes accusingly narrow.

"Both of you," Greg said, honestly. "I'm… kinda jealous, actually. Whole new city to explore, whole new chapter of your life to write, and with a woman like Wendy…"

Hodges let out another growl of exasperation. "If you want it so much, take it," he said.

Greg blinked. "What?"

"I don't know if you've noticed," Hodges said, "but I hate people. Or, rather, people I don't know. And I hate tramcars and rain and places with heavy vegetation… I hate Portland."

"So why are you going?"

And he smiled again, his features softening and his eyes glowing. "Because I love Wendy. She's the one that'll make it all just… not matter."

Greg took a few steps forward and patted Hodges' shoulder reassuringly. "You'll see. New people aren't new for very long, it doesn't rain all the time, and you don't have to set foot on a tramcar, or in a forest. But mostly… there's Wendy. Like you said. She'll get you through. She always does."

"She always does," Hodges repeated. "And we will visit. My mother will kill me if I don't come back for Thanksgiving."

"You really are tied to this place, aren't you?" Greg asked.

"Aren't you?" Hodges returned.

Greg thought about the twelve years he had spent in Vegas and the home he had built. The comfort of his apartment, the reliability of his friends, his blossoming romance and the history of a city he had truly come to love.

They smiled at each other. Neither one said it, but they each managed to reassure each other. Greg realized that he had to let Wendy go, that there was no one better for her to run away with than David Hodges, and that settling in Vegas was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And Hodges realized that Oregon probably wouldn't be such a disaster after all.

They went out front, where Mandy, Nick and Wendy had already broken into the pizza. There was a cry of appreciation from all three of them at the sight of Hodges, Greg and the beer. Hodges uncapped two bottle and passed them down to Wendy and Mandy. Greg gave Nick a peck on the cheek before handing him a beer and sitting next to him in a canvas chair on the driveway. Mandy and Wendy were perched on the steps of the porch and Hodges just leaned against the garage door, smiling at Wendy the entire time. They laughed and ate and drank, and at one point, Wendy caught Hodges staring. Their eyes met and she smiled.