Title: A Pretty Good Night
Author: podga
Pairing: Nick/OMC, Gil/Nick
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: CSI and its characters do not belong to me. I write and post for fun only.
Summary: Nick meets someone. Sequel to Black Friday.
A/N: Well, I’m back after a longer than expected hiatus. This might not seem like part of the new series, but bear with me. It is.

The call comes in at 6:20 a.m., just when Nick has the end of what has to be the longest, most boring shift in his career firmly in sight: Dead body behind ‘Roy’s Pools and Qs.’

“Why not just leave it for the day shift? It’ll keep.”

Grissom barely looks up from a form he’s completing. “Why? Do you have someplace you need to be?”

“Uh, no. It’s just…” He falters to a stop, as Grissom continues writing. He waits for a couple of seconds to make sure that Grissom isn’t going to change his mind about the assignment, then sighs inwardly and turns on his heel. The trouble is that he knows all about DBs in that particular spot. Nine times out of ten, no, make that ten times out of ten, it’s because of drugs. Regrettable, but nothing much one can do about it after the fact. Every once in a while the city tries to clear the area out, but they soon give up and the addicts move back in. With so many empty buildings, no businesses, no real local community and no police presence, it’s where certain people go to forget and be forgotten.



The sun has just cleared the low surrounding buildings and is casting a pale light on the empty lot behind Roy’s as Nick pulls up. It’s been years since Roy’s opened, and even longer since the lot was last repaved. There’s a lone police officer guarding the scene, more evidence of the lack of urgency with which the city authorities view this area. No votes come from here and it’s too far away from the Strip for any developer to care either. Nick doubts anything will ever change.

“Hey, Nick,” the police officer greets him. Nick has seen him several times before, but he can’t remember his name. His name tag identifies him as Officer Collier.

“Hey,” he responds. “Here alone?”

Collier shrugs. “My partner and I called it in. She’s gone to get some coffee. It’s been a long night.”

“Tell me about it.”

Nick pulls his kit out of the truck and walks over to the body slumped against the wall.

“Who notified you?” he asks.

“Nobody. We were just on a routine patrol and nature called, so we pulled up out front and I walked back here. I smelled him before I saw him. Almost tempted to just walk away again.”

Nick glances back at him, surprised at the admission. Collier shrugs a little, smiling ruefully. “Almost,” he repeats a bit defensively, crossing his arms against his chest.

Nick squats next to the body, trying to ignore the stench.

“Do you patrol here every day?” he asks.

“Nah. We probably come down this way once a week or so. I haven’t been back here in a couple of months. Why, do you think it would have made a difference if we’d found him earlier?”

“I don’t know. He looks like he’s been here several days, but the coroner will be able to tell us more.”

“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Collier mutters in frustration. “Fucking budgets. Fucking politics. What a waste.”

Nick half-listens to him as he studies the scene. There’s nothing to lead him to any other conclusion than the obvious one: the guy came here for what turned out to be his last fix.

“You used to be one of us, right?”

“One of you?”

“A cop.”

“Oh. Yeah. A few years back, in Dallas. How did you know?”

“I heard it somewhere. So, why did you make the switch?”

“I don’t know. It just seemed interesting.”

“And is it?”

“It has its moments. Why, are you considering it?”

“Me? No way.”

Nick stands up and pulls off his gloves. “Why not?” he asks, more in order not to seem rude than because he really cares.

“Not smart enough. Or patient enough,” Collier says casually.

Nick is saved from an answer by the patrol car that pulls into the lot, the coroner’s van right behind it. Collier moves away towards his partner, leaving Nick to deal with the coroner’s team as they remove the body. They don’t find a wallet or any sort of ID, which is hardly surprising. Others would have been by here and helped themselves to anything that might prove useful. After they’ve bagged the body and loaded it onto the van, Nick takes a last look around the scene in case he’s missed something. The two police officers are leaning against the hood of their car, sipping coffee and waiting for him to finish.

“That’s it, y’all. I’m releasing the scene,” he calls out to them, then walks to his truck and loads his kit into the back.

“Nick, wait up.” Collier trots up to him. “Listen, I was wondering…”

Nick waits expectantly, but Collier seems to find it difficult to continue. He takes his cap off and rubs the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable.

“What?”

“I’m having a few of the guys over for a barbecue Friday night. I was wondering if you’d like to stop by,” Collier says in a rush, the tips of his ears reddening.

Nick stares at him. “Friday?” he asks, stalling for time.

“Nothing fancy. You can bring your girlfriend. The more, the merrier.”

“I don’t-” Nick starts to say, then stops. “Friday?” he repeats.

Collier smiles slightly. “Yeah.” He pulls out his notebook and scribbles something, then tears out the page and hands it to Nick. “Any time after 6:30. If you’re free. No need to call ahead.”

“OK. Thanks,” Nick says, folding the paper and putting it in his pocket.

Collier nods in apparent satisfaction and then gets into the patrol car which has pulled up alongside them.

“See ya, Nick,” he says as they drive off, leaving Nick to stare after them.



By Friday morning he’s flip-flopped between attending the party and not about a thousand times. He’s never going to meet more people if he doesn’t socialize, but he doesn’t relish the thought of making awkward conversation with a bunch of strangers. And who throws a barbeque in the middle of winter, anyway?

In the end he decides to leave it up to fate. If it doesn’t rain, he’ll go. Of course, chances of rain in Las Vegas are fairly slim, even in February, and so he finds himself parking in front of Collier’s house just a little after 7:00 p.m. It’s already dark, but judging from the cars parked in the driveway and on the street, Collier’s barbecue is in full swing.

Loud music is booming, and he has to lean on the doorbell for several minutes before the door finally opens. It takes him a minute to identify the woman greeting him as Collier’s partner. She looks a lot different out of uniform and with make-up on, and he never got that good a look of her the other day.

“Hi, it’s Nick, right?”

“Right. Hi.”

“Come on in. I’m Kate. Brian’s out back, pretending to know what he’s doing. We’re probably going to have to call for pizzas before long.”

She wanders off, leaving Nick just inside the door. He scans the room, and with a sense of relief realizes that he recognizes a number of faces. He winds his way through the crowd, stopping to shake a few hands, and finally reaches a large sliding window that opens to a patio. He can see Collier standing over a grill with a couple of more guys, and goes out to meet him.

Collier seems pleased to see him.

“Nick! Glad you could make it.”

“Thanks. Where do you want these?” Nick proffers a case of beer.

“Aw, man, thanks, you didn’t have to. You can put them in the fridge, if there’s room, and there’s a couple of buckets with ice around the place. Then come on out again and choose a steak.”

Dutifully Nick dispenses the beer and goes back outside. The temperature has dropped, but it’s fairly warm next to the grill. He looks at it dubiously. Granted there’s not much light out here, but the steaks on the grill seem like they passed well done about 30 minutes ago.

“Uh, I’m not hungry yet. Why don’t I let someone else get these, and I’ll wait for the next round.”

“He’s onto you, Brian,” one of Collier’s friends guffaws. “Can we please order pizza now?”

“Fuck you guys. This is the last time I slave over a fucking grill for you.”

“See, I know you mean that as a threat, but we’ll hold you to it anyway.”

The men move inside sliding the door closed behind them, leaving Collier and Nick outside. A couple of seconds later Nick hears a cheer from inside and he grins. Apparently the glad tidings have been shared.

Collier grins ruefully. “You gotta give the people what they want, right?”

“Right.”

“My dad and brothers have disowned me. Grilling is supposed to be a Collier men talent; somehow it’s completely passed me by.”

“You can’t be that bad. After all, everybody showed up, didn’t they?”

Collier dumps the steaks into the trashcan next to him and closes the grill lid.

“Ah, they’ll show up anywhere if you promise ‘em enough beer. Fuckers.”

Nick laughs and Collier joins in.

“I guess one could say I invited you under false pretenses. Sorry about that.”

“That’s okay.”

Collier is standing with his back to the lit room and Nick can’t make out his expression, but he gets the feeling that he’s being scrutinized and it makes him uncomfortable.

“I think I’ll go inside, as well. Do you want me to carry anything in?”

“Nah. I’ll take care of it,” Collier answers. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

For at least a few hours they never seem to be part of the same group. Two or three times Nick turns around to catch Collier staring at him, and he doesn’t know what to make of it. Three days ago at the scene, he’d gained a general impression of Collier as a guy around his own age with pretty average looks, but now he finds himself noticing Collier’s eyes, which are a clear shade of gray, and the fact that the short haircut can’t hide a multitude of cowlicks, and he starts to think that he’d like to get to know him better.

“So, how long have you and Brian been partners?” he asks Kate.

“Two years. He’s a real good guy, once you get past the potty mouth,” Kate says. “Brian says you were a cop too. In Dallas, right?”

“Right.”

“Why did you move to Vegas?”

Nick shrugs. “Just felt like a change,” he says, unwilling to disclose that he’d wanted to get away from his family, because that would only lead to more questions that he also wouldn’t want to answer. “What about you? Are you from here?”

“Born and bred. Brian’s from some small hick town in Utah. He used to drive me crazy at first, responding to calls that were nowhere near where we were at the time. It took him a while to figure out that it takes longer than three minutes to get from one end of Vegas to the other.”

Nick laughs and instinctively looks around to find the subject of their conversation. Collier is standing over the table with the pizzas, choosing a slice, but he looks up at almost the same minute and their eyes meet. Before he can stop himself, Nick looks away and he feels his face growing warm. He steals another quick look, and this time Collier smiles at him and walks over to where he and Kate are standing.

“You look like you’re talking about me.”

“Oh, get over yourself, Collier,” Kate says. “And go away. Nick and I are having a conversation.”

“Does Buck know?” Collier asks, looking around theatrically. “Yes, Nick, she has a boyfriend called Buck. And he’s about the size you’d expect a guy called Buck to be. Hey, Buck! You’d better get over here and protect what’s yours.” He jabs at Nick’s upper arm. “You’re in trouble now, buddy.”

When Nick sees the man putting his arm around Kate’s shoulder, he almost starts to laugh, and has to cough to disguise it. Buck is about 5’7” and can’t weigh much more than 140 pounds soaking wet.

“I warned you,” Collier says solemnly and Nick almost chokes.

“Warned him of what?” Buck asks.

“Nothing, honey. Ignore them. It’s what I do,” Kate says, wrapping her arm around Buck’s waist. “Let’s go dance.”

“You were talking about me, weren’t you?” Collier asks once they’re alone.

“Not directly.”

“And?”

“I’ve been sworn to silence,” Nick says lightly, then glances at his watch. He’s surprised to find it’s almost 11:00. “Listen, I have to go to work. Thanks for the invitation. I had a good time.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Collier says.

“Uh, you don’t need to,” Nick says quickly but Collier ignores him.

When they’re at the door, Nick turns around and extends his hand, but Collier ignores that as well, and steps out with Nick, shutting the door behind them. After the noise and the smoke of the room, the night seems almost unnaturally quiet and clear.

“Do you know martial arts?” Collier asks.

“Martial arts?”

“You know, karate, judo, tae kwon do?”

“No.”

“Krav Maga?”

“I’m not even sure what that is. Why?”

“Just trying to figure out how much damage you could do to me.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Because of this,” Collier says, stepping up to Nick and kissing him on the mouth. Nick doesn’t respond, shocked by the suddenness of the kiss, by the fact that a man is kissing him.

Collier lifts his head, but he doesn’t step away.

“Well?”

“Well what?” Nick croaks, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Feel like punching me out?”

Nick shakes his head.

“Feel like doing it again?”

Nick almost nods, only pulling himself together at the last moment. Instead he simply stares at Collier, wanting to say yes, wanting to kiss Collier again, wanting to run away and never to have met him.

Collier slowly raises his hand and lightly touches Nick’s cheek. He waits for a couple of beats, as if to give Nick a chance to move away, then bends his head and kisses him again. Where the first kiss was quick and hard, this is softer, almost tentative.

Nick used to imagine that a man’s kiss would be different than a woman’s, but it’s not. Not really. With his eyes closed and only their lips touching, it’s almost the same as any other kiss. What’s different is how it makes him feel, light-headed and flushed, and wanting more.

“I’ve got to get back inside,” Collier whispers against his mouth and Nick moans softly in protest as he feels Collier step away from him. He opens his eyes reluctantly, unwilling to let the moment pass.

“I’d like to see you again,” Collier says. “Just us, no crowd.”

“Okay.”

“Tomorrow night?”

Nick nods. “I’ll call you.”

“Great,” Collier says with a smile. He turns to open the door, then pauses. “Nick. This stays between you and me, right?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Great,” Collier repeats and gives Nick a last smile before going inside.



“Nick, is there some sort of problem?”

He hears the thinly disguised impatience in Grissom’s voice and mentally runs over the last three hours, looking for the cause of it. “No problem. Why do you ask?”

“Other than that this is the first question you’ve answered all night without my having to repeat it?”

“Oh. Sorry. I guess I’m a bit preoccupied.”

“Well, snap out of it,” Grissom says, squatting in order to set an evidence marker down and take a picture of a shoe imprint on the mud. “And for the second time, can you please go find out when the sprinklers are set to start and stop.”

“Sure thing. Anything else?”

Grissom glares up at him and Nick takes a step backward. “I’ll get right on that, boss,” he says, trying to sound deferential.

Grissom’s look softens. “Sometimes you’re a pain in my butt, Nicky,” he says, smiling a little.

“Yessir,” Nick says humbly.

As he walks away, he hears Grissom snort and he grins. Getting kissed by Brian Collier and sharing a moment, however dubious, with Gil Grissom. All in all, a pretty good night.