Title: Longer Ways to Go
By: Caroline Crane
Fandom: CSI: Vegas
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG13, I guess? Sort of R-ish, depending on your POV
Summary: Nick, Greg, and a surfing trip in Rincon. For rabidfan, since she thought of it in the first place. ~1300 words.

On their first day out, they're both a little rusty. Nick hasn't had much practice at all, and it's been a few years since Greg was on a board. It doesn't even register with him how long it's been until he's out there again, his body fighting him a little as he reaches for the perfect balance. It comes back pretty quickly, but he has to think about it for the first time in a long time. Since high school, probably, when he first picked up a board and started working on breaking out of the 'science geek' image the high school hierarchy more or less forced on him. Not that he had a problem with being a science geek, but he'd always been more than that, and even back then it was important to him that people saw it.

It worked out about as well as those kinds of things ever do, because high school never really changes, not even when faced with someone as determined as Greg Sanders. He discovered along the way that he was a pretty good surfer, though, and he enjoyed it, so he kept it up until his career took him to the middle of the desert. He gave up the ocean, but he eventually talked his way into his dream job and Nick Stokes' life, so as far as he's concerned, it was a pretty even trade.

On the second day they wake up sore, and Greg makes jokes about how old they're getting until Nick makes him stop. He's always going to have a few years on Greg, but Greg thinks it looks pretty good on him, so he lets it go. Even when Nick has to swallow a groan when he bends over to pick up his board, Greg manages not to laugh at him. It's tough, but the key to spending five uninterrupted days together is keeping Nick in a good mood, so it's worth it. It's even more worth it once Nick loosens up enough to catch a few good waves, and when Greg teases him about how hot he looks in his wet suit, Nick doesn't complain at all.

On the third day the swells are a little too big even for Greg, so he talks Nick into staying in bed all day. It's not a hard sell, because he's not as sore as he was on the second day, but he's still moving a little slow. They get dressed long enough for a late breakfast in the hotel restaurant, but mostly they spend the day locked in their room. There's talking and laughing and long, slow kisses, 'making love' in that sense that Greg always thought was kind of corny until it happened to him the first time. With Nick, of course, who's practical and sometimes so clueless Greg wants to scream, but he can be pretty romantic when he wants to be. It's nice, and it doesn't happen all that often, given their schedules, so Greg makes sure to enjoy it whenever he gets the chance.

At some point in the afternoon one of them suggests they go get some lunch, but before they even make it out of bed they get distracted by an argument about whose fault it is that Lucky's favorite toy got packed in their suitcase instead of dropped off at the kennel with the dog. A slobber-covered stuffed carrot, and Greg hopes they don't get hassled about it at security on the way home, because Lucky really loves that damn thing. He picked it out himself, which no one ever believes when Greg says it, but it's true.

Right after they adopted him they took him to Petsmart, mostly for the novelty of being able to bring their dog to the store. As soon as they got near the toy aisle he made a beeline for the bins of stuffed toys, which Greg recognized immediately as the marketing scam it was, but Nick just thought was cute. He didn't think it was quite so cute when Lucky dove nose-first into a bin of stuffed vegetables, but when he resurfaced with the carrot clenched in his mouth, they couldn't do anything but buy it. Nick grumbled at the time about the fact that there was a bin full of stuffed footballs right next to the vegetables, but once Greg pointed out that at least Lucky hadn't gone for the stuffed bananas, Nick stopped complaining.

Finally Greg ends the argument by pointing out that Lucky probably dropped the carrot in their suitcase himself. He's found it in the ready bag they keep for work more than once, so it makes sense. Nick buys that explanation, anyway, and when Greg grins and suggests that this calls for a little makeup sex, he doesn't even argue about whether or not they've been arguing. Instead he pulls Greg close and kisses him slow, starting at his mouth and working his way down. When Greg's panting and sweaty, melting into the pillows to stare up at the ceiling, Nick appears in his line of vision with a smug grin and one last kiss to the corner of his mouth. Then he reaches for the phone and orders what sounds like one of everything on the room service menu, but Greg gets it when the food arrives and he realizes just how hungry he is.

"We have burned a lot of calories," Nick says when Greg comments on the banquet laid out in front of them, fingers brushing absently across the back of Greg's neck as he sits down at the table and reaches for the pot of coffee.

"All that surfing," Greg answers, laughing when Nick smirks at him. It takes years off him, and just for a minute he looks exactly the same as the day Greg met him. His heart skips a beat and he clears his throat around a sudden lump, but when Nick asks if he's okay, he just nods and holds out his cup for Nick to fill.

They hit the waves again on the fourth day, but they don't stay out quite as long as they did the first two days. The fifth day is the same; a couple hours of surfing just after dawn, and once the sun starts to get a little hot they head inside. It's...perfect, pretty much, and when day six rolls around Greg's a little sorry to go. There are things he misses about Vegas when they're not there, like Lucky and his own, perfectly brewed coffee, and even his job, most days. He doesn't get Nick all to himself like this all that much when they're home, though, with nowhere to be and nothing to think about except whatever they feel like doing at any given moment. So he's going to miss that, but once they board the plane and find their seats, Nick reaches for his hand and doesn't let go until they're in the air.

"We should come back next year," Nick says, thumb tracing an absent pattern on the back of Greg's hand.

The likelihood of them getting a week off together again next year is pretty slim, especially if the county still won't let Catherine hire another CSI. He's already sold their holidays to Catherine for the past two years, and even if they do manage to get more time off, both their mothers are going to start complaining even louder if they don't use some of it to visit family. Still, he can't think of anything better than another week of just Nick, the surf, and a big bed, so he doesn't say any of that. Instead he lifts their hands to his mouth and presses a kiss against Nick's knuckles, grinning when the tips of Nick's ears turn a little pink.

"Yeah," he answers. "We should."