50 Lines of Love
By: sylvanelfqueen
Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Pairing: Nick Stokes x Warrick Brown
Rating: G to NC-17

#1- Ring

It was overly large, the stone in the center glaringly gaudy, but it was the ring Nick had wanted and it was the ring he’d received when they sealed their promise of forever.

#2- Hero

The meaning of a hero was never truly clear to Nick until the moment Warrick’s hand lifted the lid off his prison and grasp his own.

#3- Memory

It had been his idea, Nick remembered, telling Warrick they needed to start a memory box; photos, movie stubs, theatre and amusement park tickets, sent postcards and letters, and all the tiny little nick-knacks they’d accumulated over the past five years of their life together.

#4- Box

It was then and only then, in the confines of those glass walls, he realized exactly where his heart belonged and it was with the man bringing him back to life.

#5- Run

There was a time when he would have taken off at the thought of settling down and permanently ending his bachelor days, but not this time, not when he was settling down with Nick.

#6- Hurricane

Warrick hit him with a storm’s fury, sweeping him off his feet, raining love and passionate kisses down upon him, each touch sizzling with the electricity of lightning; it was a force he could only submit to.

#7- Wings

Warrick’s breath is coming in sharp gasps as he once again slides home, sheathing himself in Nick’s inviting heat; he doesn’t think he could get much higher if he sprouted wings and aimed for the heavens.

#8- Cold

Fear grips his stomach and seizes his heart in a vice when he reaches out and grasps Nick’s cold fingers in his own, pleading for him to hold on a moment longer.

#9- Red

It stunned him at just how breath-taking Nick was, even at that moment when his own tears dripped down, mingling with the scarlet rivers streaming from the corner’s of Nick’s mouth; Nick would always be beautiful.

#10- Drink

It had all started with a simple invitation out for a beer, Nick remembered; then with inhibitions fuzzy, they’d followed their hearts and had been every step of the way since that night.

#11- Midnight

Slowly Nick pulled himself back up Warrick’s body, lips dancing, placing butterfly kisses on every inch, until they were face to face; once emerald and coffee eyes turned the deepest shades of midnight with desire.

#12- Temptation

The temptation would have crippled a lesser man, but as it was, Warrick was nearly beaten; the urge to grab Nick from behind and ravish him, the urge to wrap his hands the flirty blonde’s throat and squeeze, the urge to torture Nick slowly until they both gave into temptation.

#13- View

Though he thoroughly enjoyed the vision of every inch of Warrick’s anatomy, nothing compared to when he was snuggled up against Warrick’s prone form, his head pillowed on his lover’s chest, peering up at the post coital bliss on Warrick’s face; that was Nick’s favorite view.

#14- Music

True love, his Grams had told him, was made up of the little things, like how he no longer groaned when Nick’s country CDs ended up in his truck, in his house, and on his radio; it was part of falling in love but he made sure to return the favor.

#15- Silk

He pressed kisses over ever bit of exposed skin he could reach, silently marveling at its silky texture; like kissing rose petals, only better because they smelled of Nick.

#16- Cover

Nick, looking back, was glad Greg had stumbled upon them in the locker room, both locked in each others arms in a way that couldn’t be taken as anything but love; there was no longer a need to hide knowing looks or resist touches in cases they held too long, they had no reason to cover it up any longer.

#17- Promise

The day after, he made a solemn vow to Nick; he would never again love another again; Nick held his whole heart.

#18- Dream

After his date with death, he dreamed in black and white, all flat, detail-less images of horror that haunted him until he dreamed of Warrick, the only spot of color and light in his darkest moments; Warrick was the only thing that was real to him anymore.

#19- Candle

His idea of love and romance had never been candle lit dinners or making love on a bed of rose petals with a bottle of champagne on hand; at least it wasn’t until he’d fallen in love with Nick, then everything had changed.

#20- Talent

Nick had the unique ability to be able to read him, sense his thoughts and feelings before he was even sure about them himself, and deal with his moods appropriately, knowing when to pry, when to kiss him, and when to walk away.

#21- Silence

The house was too silent without Nicky in it, without his music or his laughter, or the clatter of pots and pans that accompanied him cooking, or the boisterous sports casters announcing the game scores he always turned on; Warrick picked up the phone and dialed the number once more just so he could hear his lover’s voice.

#22- Journey

‘Anything worth having is worth the journey’ Cisco had told him once, though he’d never believed him, wondering what was so glorious after dealing with pain and heartache; but he was looking at it now and he’d found it in Warrick’s eyes.

#23- Fire

It was sudden and all consuming, this fire that ignited within them the moment skin met skin for the first time.

#24- Strength

There was a quiet kind of strength hidden there in those dark brown depths, only making an appearance in the face of the odds stacked against him; it gave Warrick a quiet thrill to watch him transform into that pillar power and confidence though he’d never tell a soul.

#25- Mask

He loved times like this, both basking in the afterglow; there were no words, no masks, no lies or truths, no one else but them and their love.

#26- Ice

‘They have hearts of ice,’ Nick had whispered to him the night after divulging their love to Nick’s parents; ‘How can they not see that love is love?’

#27- Fall

The jump between love and love wasn’t that big of jump, Warrick realized; it was more the lurching of his heart than falling head over heels, and though they tried to deny it, it had been there all along.

#28- Forgotten

He used to laugh at the corny lines he heard in sappy love songs, like how you forgot everyone you’d ever dated once you met the one you truly loved; it wasn’t that he’d forgotten them but rather they were no longer important in the light of something far grander than you’d ever imagined.

#29- Dance

They swayed together in the dark, bodies molded to one another, with no music but the beating of their hearts.

#30- Body

Nick swallowed thickly, not sure whether it was because of the bile rising or the tears that sprung, as he stared down at the now dead body; ‘You killed for me, Rick’ he whispered in awe.

#31- Sacred

He loved the way Warrick treated him with such devotion, worshiping him like a shrine on the most sacred ground on earth.

#32- Farewells

There were no ‘good-byes’ between them anymore, no ‘catch ya later’s or ‘see ya soon’s as they were just too hard to say; they stuck with ‘I love you’s instead.

#33- World

Nick’s parents may have disowned them and their friends at the lab gave them sideways looks when their backs were turned but that no longer mattered, they had their own little world revolving around on another and they were perfectly happy with that.

#34- Formal

Crisp white shirt against tanned skin, black dress slacks sitting snuggly on thin hips, fingers tugging incessantly at a tie; it was then that he decided Nick Stokes was too damn sexy in a tux.

#35- Fever

They had yet to promise in sickness and in health but there was no place Warrick would rather be than sitting at Nick’s bedside, holding his hand, gently running his fingers through his hair, silently praying the fever would break soon.

#36- Laugh

In the stillness of the night, when Nick slept peacefully, Warrick would sit up and gently trace those creases around his mouth, remembering the belly laughs that had created them.

#37- Lies

Little half-truths and white lies was the driving spike between them, shattering the trust that nothing else had broken.

#38- Forever

He never promised Warrick forever or eternity because he of all people knew they didn’t have that much time; instead, he promised Warrick he’d love him with each beat of his heart and each breath that he drew.

#39- Overwhelmed

Thoughts of times passed threatened to pull him under and forever consume him, visions of violating hands, ants, of predatory eyes hiding in the dark; but Warrick would never let him slip away.

#40- Whisper

A soft touch of fingers to lips and a few murmured words to his beloved’s ear was all it took to calm him back to sleep while Warrick kept watch.

#41- Wait

Unlike everyone else they knew, they didn’t dive into love bodies first; they waited until the time was right before they consummated their love for one another, and in the end, it was well worth it.

#42- Talk

‘You can speak a thousands words’ Nick had been told, ‘but one simple action will out do them every time’ and that statement had never been truer when it came to he and Warrick; no words were needed between them for understanding.

#43- Search

He loved how he never had to search for an answer in Nick’s words or actions; he was an open book waiting to be read, all Warrick had to do was look into Nick’s eyes.

#44- Hope

Some days were harder to get through than others, but when he was nestled in Warrick’s arms in bed, he had the satisfaction of another day survived under his belt and that was enough to give him hope for tomorrow.

#45- Eclipse

They knew the past would always follow them, trying to consume their light with shadow, but they swore they would never let it win.

#46- Gravity

Clothes were torn off as the two made their way to the bedroom, lips never parting, hands never ceasing their stripping and roaming paths until Warrick’s legs bumped the edge of the bed; he flailed for a moment before he wrapped his arms around Nick and let gravity take over.

#47- Highway

Any time he felt like he was failing, falling, like he could no longer go on with this life he was living, he would drive out to the desert and follow the highway, remembering just how far he’d come; he’d follow the road that always lead him back to Warrick.

#48- Unknown

The didn’t know what to expect as they sat in the waiting room, didn’t know how their lives would change, but once their daughter was placed in their arms, fears of the unknown faded to the wayside.

#49- Lock

It still amazed Nick after all these years how he and Warrick fit together, emotionally, mentally, even physically; Warrick fit in him like a key in a lock, perfect and irreplicable*.

#50- Breathe

Life was bustling on in the lab but at the moment neither Nick or Warrick really cared; they were wrapped in one another’s arms and for the moment they were content to just breathe.