Title: Four Times Nick Stokes Didn’t Fall in Love
By: postnotice
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Four Times Nick Stokes Didn't Fall in Love, and One Time he Did. I do believe the title speaks for itself. Other pairings involved, but only slightly so.

1. Janet Porter, his high school prom date. Beautiful long, blonde hair, amazing eyes, nice teeth. She was everything a man hoped for in a woman and more. She made him dinner when they were alone, left him adorable messages in his locker… She cheered Nick on wholeheartedly at games and never even glanced at another guy.

But she wore a little too much perfume, liked reptiles, archaeology, and China a little too much, and was insanely intolerant of many people. She once told him that if Nick got her pregnant or asked her to marry him, she'd give up her dreams of becoming an archaeologist to raise their family. He broke up with her as soon as she tried to trick him into not using protection. In high school, the last thing seventeen-year-old Nicholas Stokes needed was a wife and a child.

2. Michael Jones, Nick's lab partner in college. Nick thought his knowledge of, well, everything was impressive and a little hotter than Nick would ever admit. Michael knew exactly what to do to get him off and expected little, if anything, in return. He wasn't that bad looking, either, but, and Nick wasn't being shallow, his nose was huge, his glasses – which came straight out of the 80's – bumped into his face when they kissed, and Michael knew he was insanely smart, and often used this as bragging rights or for reasoning of why he was always right.

Besides, Michael never loved him, and voiced this at any chance he got, especially, Nick later noticed, when Michael thought he was getting too clingy. Maybe Nick's a little bitter about it still, but if he remembers correctly, Michael was the one always coming to Nick, not the other way around. Truth be told, while Nick enjoyed it, he was still coming to terms with his attraction to other guys, and hey, he wasn't exactly asking Michael "Hey, wanna come over? Work off some of that stress from bio and jerk each other off?" Because Nick was hardly that forward and Michael did not get stress from bio.

3. Dean Hardesty, Dallas police officer. He was great at his job, and when Nick had the chance to work with him, it showed. He had a prominent need to save people, and stopped at almost nothing until he did all he could do. Looking back on it, Nick took more from Dean than he realized he did. He gave Nick so many tips and thoughts, and was generally a good, helpful guy.

Well, he was a good guy while he was on the clock. Nick had the pleasure of going out for a beer with him after a shift; he discovered Dean wasn't all he was cracked up to be. He made frequent racist and sexist jokes and comments, was rude and disrespectful to his wife, and didn't hold his liquor that well. Many of his comments made Nick physically sick to his stomach, and his views on homosexuality were a little too much to take. (The gay couple that was hardly noticeable in the corner of the bar? It was almost like Dean searched stuff like that out, just so he could make jokes and poke fun. It was disappointing, to say the least.)

4. Kristy Hopkins. What was there to say? He loved her, sure, but in more a platonic way. He wanted to see her succeed in life, excel in everything she did. She clearly wasn't interested in what Nick would have offered, and succeeded in getting what she did want from him. Nick should have known she'd take anything from the start, but in truth, he wants to see the good in people, wants to give them a chance before automatically pinning something on them.

It wasn't completely Kristy's fault, of course. She couldn't help who she was, and she sure as hell couldn't help who Nick was, and even though she tried damn hard, Nick had already had his heart taken by someone else.

5. Greg Sanders. He was involved in his work, knew what he was doing – enjoyed what he was doing - and, while he made cases personal, did it on such a level that it didn't normally overflow into his work, a mistake Nick had made quite often. Greg had self-discipline in a way. Because of that, he was great at what he did. And he had a unique personality, at least, unique considering some of the people Nick had known.

Sure, he had his flaws, just like everyone else. Still, for the most part, Greg was insanely patient with Nick. He never pushed Nick to come out to his family or the team, never pressured him into something he wasn't ready to do – like changing addresses or moving in or putting each other as emergency contacts. He was calm, soothing, almost, throughout Nick's 'growing process,' as Greg put it, and Nick knew that Greg was willing to wait with him forever if he had to. It was a comforting thought, because Nick had been pressured into making a family and told that relationships were never going anywhere, so Greg's 'go at your pace' take on it was like a breath of fresh air for him.

But everything about Greg was like a breath of fresh air to him. He still had enough youth, enough innocence, enough happiness to make up for the horrors they saw every night at work. Nick didn't need someone to tell him that the job had gotten to him, didn't need someone to tell him that he was looking more and more tired with each year because of the evil he came in contact with, because he could go home and feel it wear on him. And with Greg, at least, it became easier every moment to deal with that. His energy rubbed off on Nick, and knowing that Greg would be there when he woke up made everything seem easier.