Title: Floriography
By: jayceepat
Rating: PG-13.
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Spoilers: None


Greg was the first in the locker room that night. He dropped his bag on the bench and sat down to get his stuff out. He'd changed a lot in the last few years. Being blown up, beaten almost to death, accused of murdering an ‘innocent' young college student and being hung out to dry by his own department had a way of taking the wind out of your sails. He thought about the young, exuberant man who had first come to the lab at the age of 24. He had the world by the tail. He was good and boy did he know it. He was the best. He could get DNA out of vapor if he had to and he often did.

Sometimes he missed that young man with an almost painful longing for what used to be. Other times, he realized he had grown up and tried so hard not to equate growing up with growing old and stodgy. Gone were the wild t-shirts with X-rated sayings; it had been a few years since he'd shown up with gelled, spiked, blue and green hair; now, he wore cotton work shirts or plain t-shirts. His hair was cut fairly short mostly because it was curly when it got long and he didn't think it projected the image he was trying to support.

The duffle bag was another change. It had come out of a hair-raising lecture he'd received from Warrick Brown on one of his first call-outs. He'd shown up 20 minutes late (not his fault, he'd gone to the wrong gate in a wealthy gated community). He was wearing sneakers, a t-shirt and jeans. His kit was half empty and completely disorganized. Warrick had dressed him down and then proceeded to show him HIS kit and the back of his car. It was better organized than the Smithsonian. Everything was labeled and in alphabetical order. He had two kits; one he carried and the other with additional supplies. He even had a small cooler to keep extra film for his camera. He further told him about how he organized his bedroom with clothes laid out for call-outs and pads for directions. Greg had listened and learned; the duffle bag was a direct result of that day.

Once a week, he cleaned out all the dirty clothes in his locker, took them home and laundered them. He kept two complete changes of clothes in his locker now including shoes and extra grooming supplies. He was ready and he was still committed to being the best CSI, Las Vegas had ever seen.

So he better get himself going then. He opened the bag and removed the clean clothes and the grooming aids. He opened his locker to get it restocked and stopped dead.

FIRST EMOTIONS OF LOVE:
There in his locker was a spray of lavender lilac. The scent was released the minute he opened the door. WTF...Greg didn't say anything but the expression on his face told it all. He looked for a note; nothing; just a single spray of flowers in his locker.

He heard the door open behind him followed by Catherine's voice saying, "My Lord what a lovely smell. That's not something I'm used to in this place. Greg is that you?"

Greg answered slowly, "Well yes and no. It's not something I'm wearing but it's coming from my locker. Someone put a purple thing in there." You have to understand, if it wasn't a rose or and orchid or a sunflower, Greg had no idea what it was.

Catherine came over and looked over his shoulder. "Greg that's a lilac and it's really beautiful. Who's it from?"

"I have no idea. There isn't a note and it was just there when I opened my locker."

By now, Warrick and Ronnie had entered the locker room and had joined the conversation. Rick smiled and gently punched Greg on the shoulder. "Man, you have a secret admirer. You dog you; who you been romancing?"

Greg looked at Warrick still puzzled. "I haven't been seeing anyone since I broke up with Angie. I have no idea where this came from."

He lay the flower down on the bench and loaded his things in his locker, took off his jacket and put on his vest, checked his badge, gun and pockets. He threw his bag on the floor of his locker and closed the door. He started out of the room.

"Hey." Catherine's voice was a cross between angry and surprised. "Aren't you going to take your flower?"

"No...what the heck am I supposed to do with it. Do you want it? Go ahead and take it."

"Greg Sanders...if someone took the time and the effort not to mention the money to buy you a spray of lilac and put it in your locker, the least you can do is take care of the flower. It's a living organism you know."

"Cath, I haven't the faintest idea what to do with this...organism. What do you want me to do?"

Catherine let out a snort of disgust, grabbed Greg with one hand and the lilac with the other and drug him off to the break room. She rummaged in one of the lower cabinets and brought out a large glass vase and filled it with water. She got a sharp knife out of one of the drawers and told Greg to hold the stem under the running water in the sink and cut about a half inch off the bottom at an angle. He did and she took the spray and put it in the vase and placed it in the center of the table. Grissom came in then with their assignments. He raised his eyebrow at the sight of the lovely flower in the center of the break table but didn't say anything. When Rick asked where Nick was, he told him he'd been in court all day long giving testimony in the Henderson murder trial and was going to be in later. He'd had no sleep at all and he'd had to go to court after working a hard double. He was beat. The team went about their business of crime and Greg forgot about the oddity of the flower in his locker. That is he forgot about it until he came back to the lab and smelled the flower before he got near the break room. He casually noted on his case files that the date was 2/1/2008.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT:
The next night, Greg came into work, opened his locker and there was a lavender rose. He looked around. Warrick and Cath were talking about the idiot who'd robbed the liquor store and stopped to fill out an entry for a drawing the owner was having for a case of Tecate beer. He'd given his name, address and telephone number. Nick and Ronnie were standing there with them and they all were laughing at the weirdo's they ran into every day. When Greg let out a loud, "What the Hell", they all turned and came over to him. Nick looked at the flower he was holding in his hand and asked if it was real.

Cath said, "Of course it's real. Can't you smell it?"

Nick said, "Yeah but I didn't know roses came in that color or is it a white one someone has dyed like they do the green carnations on St. Pat's day?"

Ronnie joined them, "No that's the real thing and it's expensive. Greg your admirer means business."

Greg looked around and said, "Are you sure you all aren't just playing with my head. You were here before I was. Didn't you see anything?"

They all said no, they had come in sort of at the same time and no one was in the locker room when they got there. Catherine told Greg to go put the lavender rose with the lilac from the night before. She told him to be sure and cut the stem on the rose just like he had on the lilac. Nick popped up and asked them what they were talking about. They filled him in on the previous night's surprise as they all headed for the break room. Greg fixed the rose and added it to the bud vase with the lilac. Cath said if he got another one, he was going to have to go to a bigger vase and tomorrow he had to change the water. It was February the 2nd.

HOPE, WATCHFULNESS & PROMISE:
When Greg got to work the next night, Cath Nick and Ronnie were waiting outside the locker room. He stopped and looked at them and asked, "What's up?"

Ronnie answered, "We're waiting for the opening of your locker and we decided we would wait out here so you wouldn't think we had anything to do with it."

Greg looked at them suspiciously. "If you don't want me to think you're involved what makes you so sure something's in my locker."

Cath said, "Because there is a heavenly smell in the locker room."

Greg let out a soft, "OH SHIT, SHIT, SHIT" and threw open the door and header straight for his locker. He could smell the scent before he even opened his door. Inside his locker was a spray of what appeared to be a tree branch. The leaves were three to four times longer than they were wide and there were highly fragrant light pink blooms on the branch.

Greg picked the branch up and couldn't help taking a big whiff; it smelled wonderful. He turned as he heard other people entering the room. Nick slid around the corner and said, "Darn, I wanted to be here when he opened the door. What the heck has he got this time?"

No one knew what the tree branch was other than it was lovely and smelled great. About that time Hodges, AKA ‘THE NOSE" came down the corridor sniffing loudly. He walked into the locker room, fixed his beady little eyes on Greg and said, "Sanders, where the heck did you find a blooming Almond branch?"

Greg looked at him and asked if he was sure that's what the thing was. Hodges just snorted and reminded them all about his superior talent for odors, especially the scent of almonds associated with cyanide.

Greg got a bigger vase, changed the water, cut the stem and put the flowers in the middle of the table. He went back to the locker room and printed his locker. It was February the 3rd.

I LOVE:
On February the 4th it was a red chrysanthemum. There were no prints on the locker other than Greg's and the rest of the team on the outside door. Greg went to talk to Archie about setting up a surveillance camera. The chrysanthemum went into the vase with the rest of the flowers. Greg was off the next night so he took his flowers home with him.

DEVOTED AFFECTION, BONDS OF LOVE:
On the 6th, Greg brought the flowers to work with him. By now, the whole lab was waiting and there was a procession following him to the locker room. Again there was a delicious scent and Wendy said as Greg headed for his locker, "I know what that is; it's honeysuckle. My mother used to have it all over her back fence at home."

Sure enough, when Greg opened the locker, there were sprays of honey-suckle. They went into the vase and before Cath could say anything, Greg told her he'd changed the water before he brought the vase in that night. Greg cornered Archie before he left the lab to work his case and asked him about the camera. Archie told him Grissom had vetoed the idea because it was their locker and it was uni-sex. The lab would be open to all sorts of legal action if it ever got out. Greg argued that all he wanted was a camera trained on his locker and he would sign a waiver. Archie told him he would try again.

DREAMS:
The 7th was a white poppy. No news on the camera.

TRUE LOVE:
A red, red rose was left on the 8th. Archie told Greg he got shot down again on the camera BUT how about a sound activated recorder. Greg said that was better than nothing.

MYSTERY OR ATTAINING THE IMPOSSIBLE:
When Greg opened his locker on the 9th, there was a blue rose. He was beginning to be intrigued and pissed and confused and completely conflicted. The recorder was going to be set up during the night while all the CSI's were out in the field.

DESIRE, PASSION, JOY OF LIFE, YOUTH, ENERGY:
The 10th brought a light pink rose. Greg changed the water and worried that the lilac seemed to be fading and the honey-suckle had wilted and had to be thrown out. Wendy told him, honey-suckle was not really a good cut flower and Greg asked then why did the mysterious flower person leave it for him. The recorder caught the sound of the locker opening and nothing more...not even a deep breath.

BEAUTY:
The 11th was something new. There was a gorgeous deep burgundy rose AND more honey-suckle and another spray of lilac. Greg was completely confused and the whole lab was now waiting with bated breath for each night's unveiling. Greg was off on the 12th. He took his flowers home with him again.

DESIRE, PASSION:
When Greg came back on the 13th; with his flowers of course, it looked as though the whole lab was waiting in the hall outside the locker room. It was almost a ceremony now. Greg slowly opened the locker and found...a magnificent coral colored rose. He picked it up and sniffed the partly opened bloom. He looked up with such a funny expression on his face and just looked at all of them. Finally, Grissom said, "It's a Tropicana; one of the loveliest roses of them all."

Greg just shook his head and said someone was trying to drive him insane and he didn't have far to go at all.

JOY, HAPPINESS, EXCITEMENT:
On Valentine's Day, there were two roses in Greg's locker; a yellow and a red. He could hardly work. He was at his wit's end.

When he got home the next morning, he just walked inside, toed off his shoes and dropped on his couch. His mind was such a jumbled mess of questions and confusion he couldn't focus on anything. He had no idea how long someone had been knocking on his door until he heard a voice outside calling his name. He got up and stumbled over to the door. Nick was standing outside with a worried look on his face.

"Man I was just getting ready to go get your super and flash my badge. I saw your car downstairs and I knew I wasn't that far behind you. I was afraid something had happened to you."

Greg yawned until his jaw cracked. He and Nick both sort of snickered over that and then he said, "I'm just so wiped out from work and trying to figure out what's going on at work. I just don't understand any of this."

Nick looked at him for a long moment and then said, "I think I can help you out a little there."

Greg forgot his weariness and started getting excited. ‘You mean you've found something. God I knew you were good Nick but even I didn't realize how good. I've fingerprinted and dusted and Archie set up a sound activated mike for me and we came up with zilch."

Nick smiled and said, "Well, I've got some inside info."

Greg was almost bouncing, he was so excited, "What, What inside info? What do you know? What's going on?"

Nick said, "Just a minute." He walked back over to the door and opened it. He reached down and picked something off the floor and brought it back in and handed Greg a wrapped bouquet of flowers. There was a red rose, a pale pink, a burgundy, a white and another Tropicana. "Greg, I know it's corny but will you be my Valentine?"

Greg looked like a cross between a goldfish and a deer caught in someone's headlights. "It was you? You were leaving the flowers? It was you all the time?"

Nick nodded, "Yeah it was me."

Greg hauled off and hit Nick. He hit him hard and Nick went down on his back in the middle of Greg's living room. "What the hell is wrong with you? Couldn't you just say, Hey Greg, I really like you. You wanna screw? No, you have to drive me right up to the front door of the funny farm. Were you trying to drive me crazy, Stokes?

Nick sat up slowly and carefully rubbed his jaw. Man he didn't know the guy had it in him to hit that hard. He had no intention of getting up; he was afraid he'd just get knocked back down again. "No I wasn't trying to drive you crazy. Well okay, maybe I was. But it's only fair because you've been driving me crazy for the last 8 years and I just couldn't take it anymore. I've gone from liking to being friends to worrying about you to deciding that life is just too damn short to keep on worrying about whether I'm gay, you're gay or whatever. I really expected you to hit me one way or the other. I just didn't expect it to hurt this much. I'm really sorry Greg. I hope this stupidity on my part doesn't hurt our friendship or cause us problems working together."

Nick got up slowly, brushed himself off and started for the door. Greg just looked at him in amazement. Just as Nick got the door open, Greg almost jumped across the space and slammed the door shut again. "Just where the hell do you think you're going? You come in here and drop this on me after putting me through 14 solid days of complete confusion in front of everyone of our co-workers mind you and then you expect to just waltz out of here. I don't think so."

Nick looked at Greg. Now there was one pissed confused man in the room and one sore confused man in the room. "I don't know what else you want me to do or say Greg. I've apologized I've even let you hit me. I can't say anything else to make you understand how much I regret embarrassing you like this and I don't think I can take another punch like that and still keep all my teeth. What do you want from me?"

Greg looked at him for a moment and then said, "Well you could start with a few kisses, work up to a blow-job and then we could see how things go from there."

It was Nick's turn to do the goldfish imitation. At last he closed his mouth and said cautiously, "If I heard you correctly, it sounds like maybe you're not completely against some sort of relationship between us?"

Greg grinned, grabbed Nick by the hand and said as he led him down the hall to his bedroom, "Oh Nicky, Nicky, Nicky...some sort of relationship? Baby, I'm gonna rock your world, blow your mind and make you glad you're a red blooded he-man. When I'm through with you, you won't be able to sit or get a hard-on for at least 24 hours and you are going to love every single second of it. I guarantee!"

Nick pulled Greg to a halt and wrapped his arms around him and kissed him with all the feelings he'd been trying to keep under control for so long. He thought to himself that he was going to be buying flowers for Greg for a long time to come if this was the result.