Title: Homecoming
By: Caroline Crane
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Summary: Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Post-ep for "Blood Lust".

Nick caught a glimpse of spiked blond hair as he rounded the corner and picked up his speed a little. By the time he caught up with Greg the other man had already reached his lab, so Nick followed him inside and let the door swing shut behind him. "Hey."

Greg looked up at the sound of his voice, his smile a mixture of surprise and pleasure. "You're early. Wasn't I supposed to pick you up?"


"Caught an early flight," Nick answered, crossing the room in a few long strides to lean against Greg's work station. "Then I caught a cab."

"You should've called. I would've bailed early and come to get you."

"It was no big deal." Nick shrugged and glanced around the lab, his gaze falling on a large board covered in pictures of a dozen men with a shirt at the center connecting them all. "Besides, looks like you've been busy here."

Greg's grin let Nick know that he was feeling pretty pleased with himself. "Just proving to Grissom how indispensable I am."

"You keep proving to him how much he needs you in here and he'll never let you out in the field," Nick said, grinning as Greg's self-satisfied smirk faded.

"I never thought of it that way. What, you think I should start screwing up?"

"No, then he'll just fire you and Hodges will be creeping around even more than he usually does." Nick let out a shudder at the thought, shifting his weight as he waited for Greg to finish cleaning up.

"Give him more time to flirt with you," Greg shot back, stealing a glance at Nick from under his lashes.

"Come on, man," Nick groaned, "you know I hate it when you say stuff like that. It's hard enough to work with the guy as it is."


"Truth hurts."

Somehow Greg managed to keep a straight face, but Nick knew him well enough to know the other man was holding back a smile. He rolled his eyes and pushed himself off the lab station, taking his time making his way around to the other side. When he reached Greg he leaned in, dropping his voice to just above a whisper. "You about done here?"

He felt more than heard the shudder that escaped Greg's mouth, and his grin shifted into something a little more dangerous as he reached out and brushed his fingers against Greg's sleeve.

"That is so not fair," Greg ground out through clenched teeth, but he leaned into Nick's touch just a little before he remembered himself and straightened up.

"Just asking a question," Nick answered as innocently as he could manage. "If you're gonna be awhile I'll just go home and unpack."

Greg shot a glare in his direction as he swept a pile of lab reports into a drawer; Nick was pretty sure that wasn't where they were supposed to go, but he could tell that Greg was just as anxious to get home as he was. He'd only been in Texas for a few days, but the longer they lived together the harder he found it to go on vacation and leave Greg behind. They both knew that their schedules would only conflict more once Greg started training to be a CSI, but as long as they both stayed on the night shift Nick was pretty sure they could make it work.

"Done," Greg answered as he slammed the door shut. Nick raised an eyebrow at the mess Greg was planning to leave for the next tech to clean up, but he wasn't about to argue. All he really wanted to do was get them both home where they could actually touch without starting a whole bunch of unwanted rumors. A few of the staff already knew about them, but if it got back to Grissom that they were making out in the lab…well, Nick liked his job, and he knew Greg wasn't in any hurry to get fired either.

They managed to make it out to the parking lot without running into anyone, and Nick sent up a silent prayer of thanks that he hadn't been forced to stop and make small talk about his vacation. The truth was that he'd spent his entire trip home thinking about what was going on back in Vegas, and the only thing that had stopped him from calling Greg every night was knowing that the other man was probably busy in the lab.


When they reached Greg's car Nick reached out and caught his arm, dropping the duffel bag he'd been carrying on the ground next to the car as he pushed Greg up against the warm metal. "You missed me."

Greg laughed and Nick couldn't help laughing along with him, but they both knew what he was saying. He'd missed Greg a lot more than he wanted to admit, and he needed to hear that Greg had missed him too.

"Yeah," Greg answered, shifting just enough to brush their groins together. "And when we get home you can show me how much you missed me."

Nick grinned and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on the other man's lips. He pulled away long before either of them was ready, but they were still in the parking lot of the crime lab and he wasn't sure how Grissom would feel about even that. Besides, it was just a short ride back to their place, and Nick had missed their bed almost as much as he'd missed Greg.