Title: A Gruesome Discovery...
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1536
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes and a cop
Warnings: AU and fluff!
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Unbeta-ed: All mistakes will be mine.
A/N 1: Just a little bit of nonsense written for stokesgirl’s birthday!

Nick could not believe his eyes.  Could not believe his eyes.  He screwed them shut and then opened them again and even though they watered against the brightness of the sunshine he could still see.  And what he saw, he could not believe...

---ooOoo---

The night had started badly and deteriorated.  Day shift and swing had been hit by a nasty sickness and diarrhoea bug and it was only a matter of time, in Nick’s considered opinion, (which he gloomily shared with Catherine) before graveyard went down the same route.

Apart from vomit and other bodily fluids, work too, was coming out of every orifice.  Greg was supposed be on his night off but had come in when Catherine had pleaded with Nick to call him and plead with him to come in.  He didn’t bother pleading, he ordered.  What was the point of being an assistant supervisor if you didn’t wield a little power now and then?

But it had backfired because within an hour of turning up at the lab Greg was reduced to sitting in the locker room because of its close proximity to the men’s bathroom.

And now a murder that would normally be a day shift case had Nick running around and having to drive out to Lake Mead, when he should have been safely tucked up in bed.  The man who’d strangled his girlfriend had signalled his intention to commit suicide and now, allegedly, he’d gone out to the lake, hired a jet ski and was intending to find a secluded spot and take a bucket full of pills.

Or, he could have gone out to the lake, hired a jet ski, taken it out on the lake and abandoned it and hiked back and hopefully be presumed dead.

Nick suspected the second scenario and wondered when his humanitarian side had given way to a meaner, sceptical side.  If they managed to find him alive then they’d...he’d have so much more paperwork to do.   Nick was in a bad mood.

He rubbed his eyes and castigated himself for his uncharitable thoughts.  He wasn’t usually as bad as that but it was a hot day, he was tired and fed up and he’d already worked six hours over the end of his shift...with no end in sight.

His one bright thought in all of this was that Gil had told him he was spending the day out at the lake looking for a particular beetle, so maybe Nick would bump into him.  It was just one Gil’s peccadilloes that every month or so, he’d go on this little field expedition to the lake area.  Gil had been looking for this species of beetle since he moved to Vegas and that was about twenty years, give or take.  Nick thought the beetle was an urban legend, but Gil was convinced that one day he’d just bend over and find it...

Nick had mentioned that he thought that there were better things to do if Gil was to bend over, than find a beetle.  He smiled to himself as he remembered Gil’s indignant retort, ‘is that all I am to you, a sex object?’  And that Nick had laughed so much he’d cried and Gil had sulked for at least fifteen minutes before kissing and making up and admitting that he rather liked being Nick’s sex object.

As Nick had driven into the car lot at Lake Mead he glanced around but didn’t immediately see Gil’s new truck, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t around somewhere.

The local police were waiting for Nick to take him out onto the lake in their  small police cruiser.  It was a good day to be out on the water...except that he was working.

The boat hugged the shoreline as they chugged their way from the marina, southwards, because the jet ski hire guy thought their guy had gone that way...he thought!  But since there was nothing else to go on Nick agreed that they would go south.

In thirty-five minutes they’d seen three men and women on  jet skis on the water, and one couple making out on a tiny beach.  A cop on board reminded them, via a public address system on the boat, about public decency and Nick thought telling them about safe sex would have been a better option.

Nick spotted it first; some movement up ahead through some fairly dense foliage that grew close to the lake and as they turned inwards toward a little outcrop of rocks and an even smaller beach, Nick saw him.

At first he was happy and amazed at the coincidence, but that lasted for only  a moment or two because as the boat quietly put-putted and slowed down almost to a halt, Nick saw. 

Nick could not believe his eyes.  Could not believe his eyes.  He screwed them shut and then opened them again and even though they watered against the brightness of the sunshine he could still see.  And what he saw, he could not believe...

Standing in the water smiling at him in surprise, and even happiness, was Gil.  Maybe the water came up to his mid thighs and he had his ridiculous sun hat on but other than that he was naked....stark naked.

Nick’s lover, Gil Grissom, was standing in the water just a few yards away from him...naked.  Nick was incredulous.

“What on earth are you doing?”

Nick heard the cop behind him mutter.  “You know this guy?”

“Isn’t it obvious.  It’s such a glorious day and I was hot and the water’s cold and inviting so...”

“You’re stark naked.”

“You don’t swim in your clothes, Nick.”

“What about your swimming trunks?”

“In a drawer at home.”

“What about your boxers?”

“On the pile of clothes back there.”  Gil turned his head to indicate.

“Why couldn’t you wear them?”

“I‘d have got them wet.”

“Is that Dr Grissom...used to work at the lab?”  The cop recognised him.

Nick responded this time.  “Yes, it’s Gil Grissom.  Standing naked in the water.”

“I would like to take a swim, so is the boat staying there or moving on?”

“Gruesome Grissom?  The bug man who liked dead bodies?  He’s your life-partner isn’t he?”  The cop was persistent.

“Yes.”  Nick didn’t know with whom he was more annoyed, Gil, quite oblivious to his nakedness in the water or the cop who’d recognised him.  “What if someone else sees you?”

“This place is pretty secluded and I've already seen off one interloper.  But, Nick, I’m not ashamed of my nakedness...are you?”

“An interloper?  On a jet ski?”

“Yes.  A blond guy, thirtyish, muscled, ignorant.”

“That’s the guy alright” The cop agreed.  “How long ago?”

“About half an hour.  He rode into this little bay and was very pissed to find me here, eating my lunch and writing up my notes.”

“Hold on.”  Nick thought of something and looked around.  “How did you get here?  Not by using the lake...your clothes are dry.”

Gil smiled.  “Exactly.”  He turned and pointed to the corner of the tiny beach overhung with bushes and trees.  “There’s a path that snakes up to the ridge, not very wide, but not steep and it’s easily accessed from the cliff top.  I found it a few years back and I know other people use it too.”

Nick stared at the cliff face above the beach and trees and bushes covered most of the rock but as he stared he could make out the way the path wound its way upwards.

“He’s not intending to kill himself he’s intending to stage some kind of drowning accident or suicide and make off...probably out of state.”  Nick made the observation and the cop nodded his agreement.

“We need to see if we can find what he’s done with jet ski.  Hey, babe, are there any other places like this with paths to the top...especially ones that are not immediately apparent?”

“Not many, I don’t think...there is one about a mile down.”  Gil pointed further south.  “Not as hidden as this but there’s still a path to the top.”

“We’d better see if we can find it...but if he knew about it too, he’ll be gone by now.”  Nick addressed the cop.

“Yeah, come on then.  Dr Grissom, I should remind you about public decency, you shouldn’t be out here swimming naked.”

“No officer.  I understand.”  Gil replied, uncharacteristically being somewhat  diplomatic, but Nick saw the look in his eye and knew he couldn’t care less.

“Not much to see, the water cold?”  Nick smirked.  The cop laughed.

“I should write him up for wearing that hat in public.”

“I wish you would.”  Nick laughed at Gil’s affronted demeanour.  “We gotta go.  Later.”

“I’ll be home in a couple of hours.”

“Probably before me.  Do dinner...fire up the barbie and we’ll have steak.”

“Will do...”

“...and I’ll deal with you later.”  Nick grinned but still shook his head.

The cop was laughing as he eased the throttle out and the boat started to move away.  Nick was still grinning as he waved at Gil, who smirked back at him as he gingerly lowered himself into the water and started a sedate breast stroke...careful to keep his hat dry.

The End