Title: The Little Cat
By: jayceepat
Rating: NC-17 for explicit language and sexual descriptions.
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Warnings: None.
Summary: How to turn a house into a home.
Spoilers: None

Greg had a death grip on his steering wheel. He knew the idea of keeping his little Jetta on the road by hanging on to the steering wheel was ridiculous but then, so was the freaking weather. He remembered how they had all laughed when Todd the weather guy on their CBS affiliate KLAS, had warned of a winter storm heading for Clark County. He remembered Warrick saying they must be desperate for news if they were opening with that for a lead-in.

Well no one was laughing now. The front page of the Las Vegas SUN (now that was a real irony) had huge headlines about the freezing cold that had slammed into them late last night. According to the SUN, this was going to make the 9 inches they got on Jan 4th and 5th in 1974 seem like a nice spring day. They had already exceeded the 9 inches and it was snowing even harder if that was possible.

Greg had finished up his last crime scene thanking his lucky stars that it wasn't a crime. He'd been at one of the better motels off the strip with Cath and Grissom, helping them take evidence from an orgy gone very bad when the manager had burst into the room yelling at them that guests on the 3rd floor were reporting cries for help. Both Grissom and Cath were up to their elbows in evidence and Brass had told them he would take an officer and Greg and make sure it was OK before they let him in.

When they finally got into the room, it should have and would have been anti-climactic if it hadn't been so damn funny. Well it was funny to them; the poor schumck writhing in pain on the bed wasn't laughing. It seems he and his secretary had taken a few hours off work for a little slap and tickle. She wanted more than he could provide so she grabbed one of the shower rings and forced it down over his penis; sort of an impromptu cock ring/performance enhancer. It worked! Oh boy did it work. The poor guy's dick was purple and swollen and he was in agony. Greg rose to the occasion. Well actually, he was the only one there with latex gloves and no one wanted to touch the guy's tally-wacker no matter how much pain he was in.

Greg told the guy, it was going to get a lot worse before it got better and handed him a folded up towel. When the guy stopped moaning and crying long enough to ask what he was supposed to do with the towel, Greg said simply, "Bite it."

He then reached in his kit, pulled out some Teflon tape, (you heard me, Teflon tape like plumbers use) and proceeded to start wrapping the poor guys dick as tight as he could. After the first line of tape went on, the guy let out a strangled scream, probably bit the towel into and fainted. Greg quickly finished wrapping and squeezing the already purple dick as tight as he could. When he finished, he grabbed the bottle of liquid shampoo from the bathroom, liberally doused the mummified member and started working the shower ring up; finally getting it off before the poor guy came to. Trying to get the tape off was hell because of the gooey, slippery shampoo but the secretary came up with a pair of eye brow tweezers she had in her make-up bag and that helped give him a grip to get a pair of tiny manicure scissors (also from the make-up bag) under the edge of the tape and all he needed was a little slit and he had the tape off about the time the para-medics got there. The guy was going to have one hell of a story to tell someone because now his dick was not only swollen, it was black.

When he went back down to his original crime scene, the story had preceded him and he stepped off the elevator to applause, hoots and laughter from the cops lining the halls. Grissom told him he and Catherine had everything under control there and since he'd ‘risen' so nobly to the occasion on the third floor (HOLY SHIT, STOP THE PRESSES, GRISSOM MADE A JOKE) he was to take off early. The storm was getting nasty and they knew he was in his little Jetta. He hadn't argued.

Now he was at last turning into his street; at least he hoped it was his street. Everything was covered in snow and the snow falling harder than ever obscured familiar details until it was like driving on a frozen planet somewhere in the outer rings.

Their driveway was a little steep. When he and Nick had bought the house, they both sort of regarded that as a plus; rain would drain away from the foundation. Now, he knew he could not get up that driveway so he carefully turned around and backed up the incline. He pushed the button and the garage door silently rose and allowed him to back into his normal spot. He almost parked on the other side of the garage, right next to the back door. His car was loaded with groceries and supplies for the coming white-out but he was afraid if he did, Nick would just run right over his car; sort of like he ran right over Greg everyday.

Greg punched the door fob and got out into a garage that was only marginally warmer than a cold storage locker. He started hauling the stuff into the kitchen. Thank God they had a gas stove so even if the electricity went out, there would still be hot food and drinks. He'd loaded up on soups, crackers, cheese; anything that wouldn't need an electric can opener. He'd tried to buy a hand opener but the store was all out. He finally got everything sorted and put away. He took the two big packages of candles and the two boxes of long fire-wood matches and put one right inside the pantry door where they could easily be reached if the lights went out and put the other on the hearth next to the fire place.

He remembered how thrilled he and Nick had been when they found out the handsome stone fireplace in their new house not only worked BUT there was a whole bunch of firewood out in the storage area beside the French doors that opened out to the patio. He shook his head when he thought about how it hadn't taken long to realize that they had not been on the same page about the fireplace. Greg had been thinking of long romantic nights lying naked together on a thick rug in front of the blazing coals but Nick, well Nick had been thinking about how much money they were going to save during those unusual cold, Las Vegas nights. Greg thought about many things they didn't agree on any more. He shook himself out of his sad thoughts, picked up the DVD's he'd bought and headed for the bedroom. He stopped in the hall to turn up the thermostat. God damn it!! No wonder he was almost as cold inside as out. Nick had turned the damn thing down to 60 before he'd left last night. Greg was not an idiot, he knew for energy conservation and savings on your heating bills you should turn the thing down when there was no one home but Keerist, 60 degrees. The furnace would run forever trying to get the house warm. He went back to the garage and grabbed the small, electric heater he'd bought and took it to the bathroom. By the time he'd stripped his cold, wet work clothes off, the heater had the bathroom warm and toasty.

Greg went back to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. He was wearing multiple layers of clothes starting with a pair of silk, thermal long johns he and Nick had bought when they went on a skiing trip for their first anniversary. He'd remember the underwear while he was in the shower and wrapped himself in a thick bath sheet and dug through the cedar closet in the third bedroom until he'd found them. They were in a plastic storage container with Nick's. He started to grab Nick's and lay them out on the bed for him but then he'd just put the lid back on the container and went to dress.

Now he was standing at the kitchen window watching it snow. His thoughts were as cold as the storm outside and just as chaotic. When had the blazing hot passion and love turn into lectures and criticism on Nick's part and sarcasm and cutting insults on his? Was it the first time Nick had turned away from him in bed saying he was ‘too tired for this right now'? Was it the first time he'd pretended to be sound asleep when Nick had slipped into bed with him and whispered softly in his ear, "Are you awake, G?" When ever it had happened, the truth was the inside of the house they shared was as cold as the storm outside and no amount of heat was going to melt this cold.

Greg thought about their first time together. It had all started with so much promise. They'd been in the locker room getting ready to leave after a particularly nasty case involving dumpster diving taken to new heights or should I say lows? Nick had seemed a little quiet but Greg was just too tired to try and find out why. Just as he closed his locker and started to say good-bye, Nick asked him to breakfast. Greg looked around; there was just the two of them in the room. "Do you want me to go see if the rest of the team wants to go?"

"No, I just want you to go."

Greg had looked at Nick. They had flirted with each other for years. They had taken care of each other through explosions, a stalking, burials and beatings. Greg was pretty sure he knew everything there was to know about Nick. Evidently not…unless, he was reading more into this than there actually was.

"Uh…Nick. Normally my razor sharp wit would have cataloged that request and filed it in the appropriate slot in my brain, BUT I think my razor sharp wit is somewhere on the bottom of that last garbage container we crawled through so you're going to have to help me out here. Did you just ask me out on a date?'

Nick smiled at his friend, hopefully his more than friend. "You know damn well that's exactly what I did, Greg. What's your answer?"

"Yes; my answer is yes."

That was the start. It was funny; you'd think as long as it took to get to that point, they would have become intimate like by the time they got to the car but instead it had taken a couple of weeks; weeks of kisses and caresses and hand-holding. Moments in movies when they both reached for the popcorn at the same time and their fingers lingered and rubbed together. Stolen moments in their cars going to crime scenes or back to the lab. One totally insane groping in the evidence room at work. Thank God they were both CSI's and at least had enough sense to move to the one blind spot in the room. And Thank God it was just a video feed with no audio because the moans and gasps and pantings would have given them away instantly.

When they finally did move to a physical coupling it was so hot and sweet, Greg felt a burning in his eyes. He would not cry. He would NOT cry. But he couldn't help remember. He had reached out and grabbed double handful's of Nick's thick, black hair and used it to pull him to him. They had kissed until they were dizzy. Nick's arms had enclosed Greg; one hand going up to cup the back of his head and hold him still so he could make love to his mouth while the other hand slipped down to his waist and then lower. When Greg felt the strong, slightly rough hand slip inside his loose sweats and cup his bare ass, he'd torn his mouth loose from Nick's and cried out. Nick had just fastened his teeth gently in his lower lip and suckled it like a new born suckles a breast. They had made it down the hall and into his bedroom. He never knew how they did it or when their clothes disappeared but he did know when they came together on his bed. Their naked bodies pressed together, their cock's hard and leaking as they rubbed together. Nick kept kissing him as he slipped one hand down between them and wrapped it around both of them. His fingers rubbed their cum over their hard erections and as Greg began to thrust into Nick's hand he felt their bodies move together as their voices talked around and over and through each other. It was a song of seduction as old as time that set the rhythm for a dance of desire that drove them until their bodies were stuck together with their joined fluids. They had fallen asleep wrapped in each other.

Greg heard a noise outside. It was Nick's truck pulling into the driveway. He realized he not only had tears on his cheeks, he was disappointed. He'd hoped Nick would be snowed in at the lab. He didn't want to be here in this cold, empty house with his cold empty partner.

He waited for Nick to come in but after a while, when he hadn't, he went to the garage to see what was keeping him. He wasn't even sure why he did it. He really didn't care and he was pretty sure, Nick would just have some sarcastic remark to make but what the hell.

Nick was suiting up. He'd already gotten into his heavy one-piece survival suit he'd dug out yesterday to clean the snow off the drive way and he was sitting on the steps pulling on a pair of insulated boots.

"What are you doing Nick? Do you have to go back to work?"

"No, Greg. Just after I turned onto the street, I hit something. I hit it hard enough to make a sound in the cab with the radio and the heater going. Thank God it can't be a child; not in weather like this but I'm afraid it may be an animal and I can't leave it out in this mess. Shut the door behind me will you?"

Nick walked outside and began a careful descent of the slippery driveway. Greg pushed the button and went back to the kitchen. By the time he got there, the snow was so thick he couldn't see Nick anymore. After a few minutes, his conscience began to hurt. He was an animal lover and he did not want to think of some poor dog or cat, hurt and bleeding out in this crap. He sighed, went to the garage and got into his ski suit he'd used yesterday. He fastened the heavy boots, grabbed the closer fob and headed out to look for the casualty.

Nick was halfway down the block when he caught up with him. It was really slow going and the only reason he made it as fast as he did was because Nick had broken the trail for him. Nick turned around in surprise when he heard Greg call to ask him if he'd found anything yet.

"No I haven't. I'm pretty sure it has to be on this side because I felt the thump on the driver's side. If I hit it as hard as it sounded, it would have flown over here."

"Do you want me to go to the end and start working back to you?'

"No, why don't you check the other side just in case. It's possible I just hit it a glancing blow and it crawled over there."

Greg nodded and crossed over to the other side of the street. At the fifth lump he checked, hoping it was indeed a car, he noticed a disturbance in the snow. He got down on his knees, brushed away the snow and saw two glowing eyes. He recoiled and felt a shiver of fear down his spine. It was not unheard of for coyotes or foxes or even bobcats to wander down into the division but a loud, plaintive ‘MOWR', reassured him. He leaned back and hollered to Nick that he'd found the animal. Nick rushed across the street to him and dropped down beside him.

"My God, it's just a little kitten. How the hell could something that small have made the sound I heard? Jesus Greg, It must be badly injured. Do you think you can get under there and get it out?"

Greg tried but there just was not enough room for him to wriggle under the car and get to the little cat. He sat up looking around and spotted a garbage can, or what he thought might be a garbage can on the curb. Sticking up out of the can was a long handle like a broom or a rake. He went over and pulled a really beat up broom out of the can and brought it back. Between the two of them they were able to use the broom to gently sweep the kitten toward Nick. When he finally got his hands on the small animal, he and Greg were frozen and shaking; almost as hard as the little feline.

They got back to the house and inside as quickly as possible. Greg grabbed a clean towel off the folding table in the laundry and told Nick to bring the little one into the living room. He pulled the lamp he used when he was working on his stamp collection over to the coffee table. He put the towel down on the table and turned the light on the little cat. There was a magnifying arm on the lamp and he pulled it over so they could examine the cat for injuries. They found no broken bones but the cat was so filthy with hair matted in so many places there could easily be cuts or wounds under the fur. Greg told Nick they were going to have to bathe the cat and sent him to the bathroom to find his bottle of baby shampoo. For once, Greg's fixation with his hair was going to come in handy.

When Nick got back, Greg was in the kitchen filling one side of their double sink with warm water. Nick looked at him strangely and Greg looked up at him when he reached for the shampoo. "What, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Greg, have you ever bathed a cat?"

"No but I can't think of any other way to see if it's hurt; why?"

"They have teeth and claws and they mostly don't like water."

"Well I think this one is so scared and hurt, it may not have much fight left in it so here goes nothing."

Greg gently lowered the small animal into the warm water. Nick stood by with a towel ready to catch it when it clawed Greg to pieces and jumped out of the sink.

The little thing just laid in Greg's hands and did nothing. Greg began to cautiously rub the shampoo into the dirty matted hair. Within seconds the water was cloudy and dark. He told Nick to fill the other side. He moved the kitten to the other sink and continued washing. It took 4 changes of water before they had a really strange, clean little drowned rat or rather mouse because now you could clearly see how small the kitten really was.

Greg lifted it out of it's last rinse and handed it to Nick who promptly enfolded it in the towel he'd been holding and took it back into the living room to dry off under the lamp. Greg cleaned out the sinks and went in to see how Nick was doing. "I wonder what it is?"

"What do you mean Greg?"

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl. I hate to keep calling it, ‘it'. At least if I knew it's sex I could call it him or her."

Nick casually turned the little mite over, pulled the tail to one side and spread the hind legs. "It's a little girl cat."

"How did you know that?" Greg was amazed at the casual way Nick had handled the cat and the complete assurance in his voice.

"G, I grew up on my Grandpa's farm. There was a litter of barn cats every time I came over and I learned how to sex them when I was just six."

After a complete examination, they could find nothing wrong with the little girl cat which was amazing in itself. Greg went back to the kitchen and started fixing a box for her to use as a litter pan and then tried to figure out what they could feed her. She was very young; her little teeth were sharp but so obviously just baby teeth. Finally he made some oatmeal using milk instead of water. He told Nick to bring her out to the kitchen. When Nick set her down in front of the bowl of warm oatmeal she stuck her little face in the bowl and began eating like it was fresh, broiled trout. They both started laughing at the greedy little thing and then they both looked up at each other with startled eyes. That was the first time in longer than either of them could remember they had laughed together. Just then the lights went out. "Damn it. That means the heat is gone too." Nick growled in frustration.

"Well, there are candles and matches in on the hearth. Why don't you use those special Boy Scout skills of yours and build us a fire? It will mean we have to stay in the living room but we can turn on the oven and leave the door open for some warmth here in the kitchen and at least we'll have two area's where we won't freeze to death."

If there had been lights and Greg could see the amazed look on Nick's face at the pure common sense in Greg's suggestion, he might have been insulted. As it was, Nick found the candles and stuck them in holders all over the living room and then went about building a fire.

An hour later, things were almost cozy. Greg had gone out to their storage unit on the back of the garage to get their deck furniture pads to use as mattresses. For some reason, the only thing he could find was the big pad for their double lounger. That was really strange because they hadn't even taken it out this last summer. They bought the double lounger when they were still so blazing hot for each other and spent hours together on the soft cushion, naked in their back yard, laughing softly about the show their neighbors would get if they looked over the fence. Greg shook it off. That was another time and another couple. He grabbed the pad and brought it inside.

Now they were sitting side by side on the pad, sipping scalding hot chicken noodle soup and eating cheese and crackers. They were individually wrapped up in blankets and comforters. The little cat was sleeping on a cushion on the hearth so close to the fire; Nick kept checking her to make sure her fur wasn't going to burst into flame. The heat and the soup and the hours in the cold were making them sleepy. They tried to lay down but with all the layers of blankets, they could not get comfortable. They both came to the same conclusion at the same time; they had to combine their wrappings and lay down together. Greg wasn't sure he wanted to. It was the first time in months they hadn't been at each others throat and he was too tired to fight. Nick seemed to be in agreement but practicality won out. They spread Greg's wrappings under them and pulled Nick's over them. They lay there side by side and worlds apart.

Nick kept turning and twisting. Greg raised his head after the 4th rearrangement and asked him what was wrong. Nick sighed and told him his back was aching so badly from the cold he couldn't get comfortable. Greg knew it was more than the cold. It was not something Nick liked to talk about but the hours in the plexi-glass box lying cramped and still had caused some nerve damage and he often had muscle spasms that were excruciatingly painful. Greg got up, scurried into the bedroom and grabbed the aloe and eucalyptus massage oil he used to use back when they still touched each other. He came back and almost dove into the warm cocoon of blankets. He waited until the bottle had warmed a little then told Nick to turn over. He worked his hands underneath Nick's layers of shirts and began to massage the oil into his tense, cramped muscles. It was strange touching the body he used to spend hours loving. When Nick started to try to let Greg out of doing the massage for him, Greg told him neither of them was going to get any sleep if he got one of his cramps, just be quiet and let the oil and the massage do its work. Within seconds, Nick was sound asleep. Greg rubbed him for a few more minutes working on a particularly nasty knot just under his left shoulder blade. When he felt it finally let go, he capped the oil, set it outside the blankets and followed Nick into blissful sleep.

Greg was on fire. His body responding to the loving touches of his partner. God, Nick had magic hands. He knew every single erogenous spot on Greg's body. He moved closer to the man he'd loved and desired for so long and felt Nick reach down again and begin to stroke their dicks together. He mumbled against his lips telling him he wanted him inside him. He rolled over on his stomach and pulled one of his pillows under him so his ass was elevated without him having to wake up enough to get up on his hands and knees. He felt Nick's hands work the massage oil into his tight opening. He felt the slight burn from the eucalyptus and then the stretch as Nick's fingers slowly opened him up. He felt the kisses on his back and the gentle tongue licking at his old scars. Then Nick's fingers found his pleasure spot and all he could feel was pure, hot passion. He begged Nick to stop teasing him, to fill him, to make him warm. It had been so long, so very long. When Nick slid inside his body he had to tell him to stop for a second. It had been a long time since he'd been filled with Nick's larger than average dick. He felt so full; he felt so warm; the huge empty cold spot inside was no longer empty. He felt full of love and Nick. Nick was love; he always had been. What had happened to them? Nick began to move so very slowly and Greg stopped thinking.

Greg opened his eyes. He was laying on his stomach and there was a pleasant warmth against his bare back and either he had to go to the bathroom or there was something in his butt....OH MY GOD. HE WAS NAKED, NICK WAS NAKED. NICK WAS LAYING ON HIS BACK AND NICK…NICK WAS IN HIS BUTT. What the hell had happened? Suddenly he knew; his dream had not been a dream. They had joined in their sleep the way they used to. He also suddenly knew Nick was awake.

"Do you want me to move?"

"Do you want to move?"

"I asked you first."

Greg let out a sigh and said, "No I don't want you to move. I want to stay like this forever."

Nick let his breath ghost across Greg's back and said, "That suits me just fine."

"Nick, you know we need to talk about us, about this."

"I know we do sweetheart and we will, but could we for now, just enjoy it and each other. I have so much to make up to you. I guess I thought the sex was enough and it was fantastic but we need more than that to make a life together."

The little cat sat up on her cushion and let out a loud 'MROW'. They turned their heads and watched her stretch and then sit up like pictures of the temple cats of ancient Egypt. She curled her long fluffy tail around her tiny toes and then raised one paw towards them almost like a blessing.

Greg smiled at the little beauty. "My Great Grandma Hojem used to say that a house was just four walls and a roof. You had to have a fire in the fireplace, love under the roof and a cat purring on the hearth before it became a home. We are going to keep her aren't we?"

Nick settled more comfortably against Greg. "I'd like to but you know, if we're going to become parents, even cat parents, it's our duty to provide the proper environment for our baby."

"And what pray tell is your idea of a proper environment, Mr. Stokes?"

"Why that's simple Mr. Sanders; two parents who love each other and let it spill over onto their children."

"Hummmm, then according to you and Great Grandma Hojem we have 2 thirds of the equation. We have the fire in the fireplace, I'd say we definitely have love under the roof and we have the cat but she's not purring."

"What do you say we concentrate on the love right now and we'll worry about the rest later?" Nick gently pulled out of Greg and turned him over. He pulled the soiled pillow out of their little cave and threw it to one side. He pulled Greg into his arms and began to kiss his willing mouth and nibble on his ears.

On the hearth, the little cat turned three circles and lay down in a tight little ball. She drew her long, fluffy tail around her and brought it over her nose. She slept, dreaming of a strange land and time where everything was bright, hot sand and sun. There were huge triangular shaped forms off in the distance. She slept on a silken pillow and was worshiped as a God and the great mother Bast ruled the land and all was well. Then her dreams changed and now she was in a land of green; emerald green like her eyes. There were rings worn in the grassy glades in the forests and little people with gossamer wings danced in and around the rings. There were bowls of milk on the steps of the cottages left there for the brownies and leprechauns and all the other wonderful creatures.

But most exciting of all, there were places in this beautiful land, where there were secret doors; portals to other worlds, other places…perhaps even a place as strange as Las Vegas, Nevada. Portals where a little cat could slip through to fulfill a mission from her mother, her goddess Bast.

The little cat felt a soft hand stroke her fur from her ears all the way down to the end of her fluffy tail. She heard a low, sweet voice say, "Well done my beloved daughter, we are well pleased with you. You are worthy of the name CAT." There was one final stroke to her fur and she fell into a deep, sound sleep.

Outside the snow fell. Inside, the only sounds were the logs crackling in the fireplace, the soft gentle words of love exchanged between the two men entwined together in front of the fireplace and finally the loud, rumbling purr of the little cat on the pillow, on the hearth.