Title: Drawing A Line

By: Cathleen18

Pairing: Nick/Greg

Rating: PG

A/N: This is the extended version of the story. I know, I'm weird. Thomas is another lab tech, but you can guess that, right?

Disclaimer: As much I would love to own CSI, I don't.

Summary: Nick meets the Crime Lab's new lab rat; Greg Sanders.

 

***

"Hey Nick," Warrick said to his friend as he walked into the break room. He quickly went back to his newspaper.

"Hey man," Nick replied, filling a mug of coffee from the coffee machine and taking a sip. "How's the case going?"

"It's going, just very, very slowly." In response to Nick's raised eyebrows, Warrick said, "DNA's backed-up pretty bad. New tech's having a hard time sorting out the evidence that Jeremy had left a mess. And Thomas isn't making things easy for him."

"What's Thomas doing?" Nick asked, secretly wondering if the new tech was cute or not, even if it was a guy.

"Gloating, staring, annoying; doing the things Thomas does. I'm telling you though, the rate he's going, I'm sure the newbie is gonna hit him before the end of shift." Warrick stood up and emptied his mug in the sink, rinsing it quickly and leaving it to dry. "See you later man. Wanna catch breakfast after shift?" Warrick asked, clipping his friend on the shoulder.

Nick nodded and heard Warrick leave the room. Nick took another mug out of the cupboard and filled it. "May as well get it over with." Nick left the break room with two cups of coffee and made his way to the DNA lab. As he neared the lab, he heard Thomas' voice and a voice he assumed was the new techs.

"Greg, you're not ordering it right. You have to do it like this," Thomas said, taking the evidence bag out of Greg's hand and placing it in a box on the counter.

"Right that's it!" the tech, Greg, yelled, "Get the hell outta my lab." Greg pointed to the door and Thomas backed off, raising his hands as if to ward Greg's menacing glare off.

As Thomas was passing Nick in the corridor, he said, "Watch your back with that one. He's a ticking time bomb. I give him till end of shift."

"Shut it Thomas," Nick said. A thought struck him and he turned to look at Thomas' retreating back, "Oh and if I hear you're harassing the new tech again for the rest of the week, I'll report you, got it?" Nick spun on his heel as best he could with two full cups of coffee and pushed open the door to the lab.

"God, if he comes near me again tonight…" Nick heard Greg mutter to himself. He chuckled lightly. Greg spun around, obviously not realising he had company. "Can I help you?"

"Here," Nick handed him a cup. "I think you need this." Nick smiled at Greg's nervous demeanour.

"Thanks." Greg took the cup and took a sip before putting it on the counter.

Neither knew what to say, but it was Nick who broke the silence first, "Sorry, where are my manners? I'm Nick Stokes. I'm a CSI at this lab." He extended his hand which Greg shook warily.

"Greg Sanders."

"How are you settling in?" Nick asked, moving to stand by Greg's side. He put his coffee cup next to Greg's and turned to face the tech.

"Just fine. Great even, but if that guy, Thomas, comes near me again, I'll hit him," Greg said, joining with Nick's laughter at his words.

"Thomas is okay," at Greg's sceptical look, he corrected himself, "Okay, Thomas is a pest, but you've just got to know how to handle him."

"I'm still going to hit him." Greg turned to face Nick so they were face-to-face.

Nick thought Greg was cute. He had dark blonde hair with even blonder highlights. It was spiked up in this organised chaos manner. Greg had brown eyes and…Nick quickly shook his thoughts away. He was heading into dangerous territory. None of his fellow co-workers knew about his not-so-friendly feelings towards other guys; he wasn't about to come on to the new lab tech. There was nothing to stop him, but Nick had to draw the line somewhere.

"I'll help you," Nick said, earning a full-blown grin from Greg.

And draw a line indeed.

Nick left the DNA lab two hours before the end of shift, going to check in on the bullets with Bobby Dawson.

"Match," Bobby said as soon as Nick stepped in the room.

"Woo," Nick cheered. He pulled out his phone and called Brass, who agreed that they could pull the suspect in for questioning next shift. "Thanks Bobby." Nick left the Ballistics lab and decided to go check in on Greg again. He was trying to convince himself it was because the guy was new to the lab, but even he was fighting a losing battle with himself.

When he got to the corner of the DNA lab, he saw Thomas in there again, hovering over Greg's shoulder. If the look on Greg's face was anything to go by, Thomas was going to be nursing at black eye by next shift.

Nick was starting to get angry. Hadn't he warned Thomas against harassing Greg again! Either Thomas was brave or very, very stupid.

He opened the lab door just as Greg was standing up and ready to take a swing. Nick ran over and pulled Greg back by the back of his pale blue lab coat. "Greg, don't bother." Nick put himself between a fuming Greg and a smug Thomas. Nick turned to Thomas and said, "Thomas, I warned you. Get the hell outta here before I report you."

"Already protecting people lower than you Nick…" Thomas let the silent question hang as he left the room.

"Pathetic," Nick muttered before turning to Greg. "Are you okay?" Nick asked, putting his hands on Greg's shoulders and looking him in the eyes.

"You should have let me hit him." Greg shrugged Nick's hands of his shoulders and turned back to his work.

"And what? Let you get suspended on your first night. Greg, you can't let him get to you. He'll have won then." When Nick got no reply from him, he put his hand on Greg's shoulder and squeezed gently. "Greg?"

"Okay," Greg replied, spinning to face Nick quickly. Big mistake.

Nick felt the spark and took note of the small gap between them. He still had his hand on Greg's shoulder. All it would take was a step by either party and they would be nose-to-nose. Greg took a step…backwards.

Nick cleared his throat. "I'd…better get going. Shift finishes in twenty minutes and I still have work to do."

"Yeah," Greg agreed, blushing furiously and turning back to the blood sample on his counter. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah, definitely." Nick left the room grinning from ear-to-ear. Next shift couldn't come any quicker.

Nick walked into the locker room at the beginning of next shift still smiling. He hadn't stopped since previous shift. Nick had fallen asleep smiling, and woken up smiling; nothing could get rid of it.

"Hi Nicky," Grissom said from the doorway.

"Hey Griss," Nick replied turning back to his locker, putting his ID over his head and his gun in its holster. "Are there any cases?"

"Not tonight, but that's not what I wanted to speak to you about."

"Grissom?"

"Thomas came to talk to me after shift this morning. He says you threatened him, twice." Grissom stepped further into the room and shut the door behind him. "And as you know, neither myself, nor Brass, stand for bullying within the lab."

"I wasn't threatening him; I warned him that if he didn't stop harassing Greg, I'd report him. If he took it as a threat, that's his problem." Nick turned back to his locker and shut it, putting the lock on and spinning the combination.

"Even so. You know the department doesn't take threats lightly. Brass agrees with me when I say you're on suspension as of now." Grissom walked back to the door.

"Grissom, this isn't right."

"I'll see you back here, bright and not-so-early on Monday."

Nick slammed his locker back open and replaced his ID and gun. "Better go tell Warrick."

Nick walked to the break room and caught the end of Grissom's announcement. He opened the door and everyone went quiet. "Nick, I told you to go home."

"I'm here for a cup of coffee. Then I'm gone." He filled up a paper cup and went to the DNA lab, hoping to catch Greg between samples. "Hey," he said from the door.

Greg turned and smiled when he saw who was there. "Hey!"

"How's your day been?" Nick asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Okay. Did a bit of sightseeing, hit all the tacky tourist spots." Greg caught Nick's distant look and asked, "What's up with you?"

"Oh erm…nothing." Nick threw his full coffee cup in the bin on the way out.

He reached his Tahoe, anger bubbling under the surface. Nick went to put the key in the lock and changed his mind. He ran back into the building and sprinted up to the labs. Nick ran along the corridor, straight past the break room, straight past Greg and the DNA lab, and straight into Thomas' lab.

"Why'd you do it?" Nick said as he flung the door open. "Huh. Why'd you get me suspended for nothing?"

"You threatened me and company policy stats that bullying of any kind isn't taken kindly." Thomas smug grin made Nick even anger.

"There's a clear difference between a threat and a warning." Nick's voice had raised quite a few decibels and was starting to attract onlookers.

Greg came into the Trace lab and said, "Guys, what's going on?"

"Nicky here has gotten himself suspended," Thomas replied, smugly.

"Nick?" Greg said, not wanting to believe Thomas.

Nick turned to Greg and nodded. "I'm outta here till Monday." He was still obviously angry.

"Damn," Greg muttered. He saw Nick take a step towards Thomas and went to intervene. "Nick, that's not such a good idea. You're already suspended. Want to be fired too?"

"You're lucky," Nick said, just as Grissom walked into the lab.

"Nick…Greg, what the hell is going on here?" Grissom demanded.

"Nothing," Greg said, cutting off Nick's reply of "I'm gonna hurt Thomas." "Come on Nick," Greg said, pulling on Nick's arm and leading him out of the lab. "We're going to get some fresh air." That was aimed at Grissom who nodded.

Greg pushed a still fuming Nick through the open doorway that led to the roof. Nick started pacing as soon as he straightened himself out. He clenched and unclenched his fists by his side.

"Why did you do that?" Nick said, "He deserved everything that was coming to him."

"Nick, do you like your job?" Greg said calmly, placing his hands on Nick's shoulders. Nick didn't shrug them away, just stared into Greg's searching eyes. Nick nodded. "Well, don't let Thomas be the reason why you lose it."

Nick looked passed Greg's head to stare at the setting sun. Greg squeezed Nick's shoulders before letting go. Nick missed the contact almost immediately. He watched Greg wander over to the edge of the building and look over the side then back up at the sky.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Greg said, more to himself than Nick.

"Yeah…yeah it is."

Greg turned to smile at Nick's distracted attitude but found he was looking into Nick's eyes. Greg blushed slightly and turned away. "I was talking about the sunset Nick."

Nick turned to look out. "Yeah…that too."

Greg was about to make a witty comment but wasn't able to when Nick spun him around and kissed him soundly. Greg was stunned for a moment, but when he felt Nick's tongue probing his lips, seeking entrance, Greg quickly responded.

Nick walked into work the following Monday, whistling happily. He and Greg had spent most of Greg's free time, since Nick had all the time in the world whilst he was suspended, at one of their apartments 'getting to know each other better'.

He was told to report to Grissom at the beginning of shift so walked along the corridor, waving 'hello' to Thomas, who replied with his fingers, on the way. He knocked when he reached the door and when Grissom called him in; Nick entered and took a seat on one of the chairs opposite Grissom.

"I suppose you've had time to think since you've been away?" Grissom said.

"No, actually, I've been pretty busy. Haven't had a moment's rest." Nick smiled at the memory of what he and Greg had been getting up to.

Grissom didn't miss the spark in his eye. "Are you going to apologise to Thomas?"

Nick shook his head. "I've already took the liberty of sending him a card." Nick stood up. "I've learnt my lesson; but I wouldn't say no to being suspended in the future." Nick left the office, where Grissom was shaking his head in amusement. He took the same route back to the locker room and laughed whole-heartedly when he got inside.

When he opened his locker, his smile grew further; inside was the card Nick had sent Thomas. A reply was scrawled on the envelope: 'Screw you Nick Stokes'.

END