Title: The Designated Driver and the Happy Drunk
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1498
Pairing: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes and the team.
Warnings: Fluff and AU.
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Beta: jayceepat and podga for their invaluable help in the Americanisation of the fic and their insightful comments. I thank high_striker for his wonderful icons. I am indebted to them all. Any errors are mine.
A/N: A little fic! Last one before my holiday…so that’s all folks until at least 20th June! Ya’ll be glad of the rest!

They'd been at the party for most of the afternoon and early evening. Catherine’s birthday party had been a success – not too many people but all friends together and used to each other’s company.

Even Gil and Nick, a couple for two years, but only out of the closet for a couple of months seemed to have managed to worm their way back into everyone’s affection. Perhaps that was too much of a exaggeration…they weren’t out of favour as such, it was just that their friends who also happened to be their colleagues had been upset at being excluded from the gay relationship for so long.

But the party had been fun….some had drunk alcohol, others – drivers - sodas, there’d been plenty of food and they’d chatted, told work stories, jokes and played games. So it had been a success.

Nick was the designated driver for this party and had steadfastly stayed on sodas. Gil, on the other hand, had been drinking, not great quantities, but certainly steadily for something like five hours. He’d felt relaxed and happy. He was with his handsome young lover; he was with his best friends; they were all together and there had been no bitching, no comments, no ‘looks’ – even from Sara – he felt that there was a genuine acceptance and the team, pushed off its axis by the revelation had now reverted to its original position. He was feeling at peace with the world.

Gil Grissom was actually a happy man. Only Nick knew that he was, in fact, a really happy man out of work, his persona was much maligned within the confines of work and Nick’s discovery of the man beneath the façade had been a wonderful aspect of their relationship. That the man he’d secretly coveted for years, was - out of work - happy, relaxed, equally slovenly around the house and…gay.

With Nick, he’d also been drunk a couple of times in the two years and Nick knew he was a ‘happy’ drunk. He became relaxed and ‘sloppy’; 'sloppy', that was the word Nick associated with Gil’s drunkenness.

But at Catherine’s party Nick hadn’t quite realised the extent of Gil’s alcohol intake and was quite surprised when he saw Gil try to stand up from the confines of Catherine’s couch. He fell back and laughed, that gentle little chuckle that Nick knew was ‘his’ chuckle. The sound Gil made just for Nick, not a work sound and not even a sound for friends. It was Nick’s, and Nick’s alone.

An alarm sounded in Nick’s head almost at the same time as the chuckle had been chuckled and Nick had processed the sound – less than a second had elapsed. Nick went over to Gil and offered his hand to Gil to enable him to get to his feet.

Gil took it and looked up at Nick. “Don’t think the old man can make it on his own, eh?”

“Something like that.”

“Could be right, Nicky.” He hauled himself to his feet and although he didn’t stagger he still took the opportunity to wrap his free arm around Nick’s waist and move in (real) close.

“Good thing you’re here to help me.” These words were positively purred into Nick’s nearest available ear. Nick smiled at him and shook his head. He knew what an intoxicated Gil was like even without too much experience on the condition.

“I guess it is - there’s no tellin’ what you’d get up to.”

“I wouldn’t get up to anything baby, you know I’m faithful…’ol’ faithful’.”

“I know you are, but since I’m here you could at least try to behave yourself.” Nick was smiling broadly at Gil who was smirking; Nick was of the opinion that the smirk could be classified as ‘evil’.

Catherine, Sara, Warrick and Greg were all close enough to have heard this exchange and were all amazed. Not even Catherine in her fifteen or more years of knowing Gil had seen him drunk. Not once; not ever. Her mouth was open in a fairly delicate manner forming an ‘O’. She was the first to speak.

“Are you alright there?” Now Catherine had directed this question at Nick but Gil took it upon himself to respond.

“Of course I am, I’m in the arms of my lover and he always takes care of me don’t you, Nicky baby?”

“I do.” Nick spoke to Gil and then Catherine. “He’s okay Catherine, I just need to get him to the truck and we’ll be off.” Catherine wasn’t looking or even listening to Nick, she was, along with the others, trying to process the information Gil had just given out. ‘Lover.’ ‘Nicky.’ ‘Baby.’ Okay they’d heard ‘Nicky’ before…but the other words had never before passed his lips in their earshot.

Catherine stood looking, Warrick and Greg were grinning…hell, this was a free show…Sara was looking murderous. Never mind that they’d been lovers for nearly two years and no one had known. Never mind that he was gay. Never mind that Nick was more beautiful than most women she knew. Never mind that she loved Gil...no, it didn’t matter, not one iota to him or Nick that she’d been first in the queue; he’d just bypassed her for his ‘Nicky-fucking-baby’. Life was unfair. What had she done that warranted so much misery?

And now she had to witness it – she turned and left, just like that, and while Gil was oblivious, all the others noticed. Gil only had eyes for Nick and he was standing as close to Nick’s side as he could. Nick knew he wouldn’t be moving away anytime soon. When he’d been like this before he’d wanted Nick, beside him, with him, touching him, caressing him, kissing him. Nick thought, suddenly, that it was imperative that they leave because any moment now Gil would become considerably more amorous.

“He’s a pretty amiable drunk, huh?” Catherine had found her voice.

“Amiable. Yeah.” Nick replied.

“I’ll help you to get him to the truck then.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, Catherine, no need, Nicky’s got it covered haven’t you, babe?”

“Yeah.”

“See, he does take care of me. He looks after me and always lets me do what I….”

“Gil! Come on now lets get going.” Nick wanted to get out – now.

“Oh Nicky, don’t be shy; Catherine’s been dying to know, haven’t you Catherine?”

“No, she hasn’t.”

“Oh baby, I beg to differ. You’d like to know exactly who tops who and….”

“Gil!”

“Don’t shout at me.”

“Then don’t speak; say goodnight and let’s go.”

“Mmmm. How can I not speak but say goodnight…I can’t do that Nicky, can I?”

“Maybe not…just say ‘goodnight everyone’ and let’s go.”

“Goodnight everyone…and Catherine would you like to know?”

“Gil!”

“Shush, don’t shout at me….you said I should share more and so did Catherine. I can’t believe she doesn’t want to know.”

Catherine was giggling and the two other CSIs were openly laughing. Even Nick was grinning…perhaps if he looked sterner Gil would stop talking and they could leave with a little dignity. When Gil sobered up he would be mortified at his behaviour. Nick knew that Gil rarely drank much because he knew exactly how he behaved when he was drunk.

“Come on, baby, lighten up.” Gil then stretched the last couple of inches and kissed the side of Nick’s face; leaving his lips in contact with Nick’s skin he worked his lips down his jaw and then back up and on to Nick’s ear where he chewed on Nick’s earlobe. Making ostentatious moans at the same time causing Nick to blush to the roots of his hair and actually squirm.

“See Catherine, he really likes that…you know what else he likes?”

“What’s that, Gil?” Asked Catherine to Nick’s astounded look. “Well, if you can’t beat him….. What does ‘Nicky’ like, Gil?”

“THAT’S ENOUGH, COME ON GIL, LEAVING NOW.”

“I love it when he’s so assertive, Catherine. Okay babe, lead on, lets go home and you can have your wicked way whichever way….hey, that’s an allire…allit…alliterereration, alliteration.”

“Come on Gil, babe, lets get you home and tucked up in bed and when you wake up you can beg me to deny this ever happened.”

“I might beg, Nicky, but it won’t be for that.”

“We’ll see.”

“Catherine’s always wanted to know, she has; haven’t you?”

“Yes I have, and I seem to have quite a clear indication of the way it goes now.”

“You think you do? Well let me tell you Ms.Willows, you have no idea, none whatsoever…has she Nick?”

“No.” Nick laughed, Catherine really hadn’t any idea what they did and how they did it, even now, Gil might be drunk but he could still lead them all up a blind alley full of red herrings!

But one thing was for sure; pigs would fly before Gil would ever be allowed to drink again in company – in the future he would ALWAYS be the designated driver!

The End