Title: Watching the News
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3270
Pairings: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom and Nick Stokes and mention of others.
Warnings: Fluff
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: In my dreams they are like, totally mine!
Beta: jayceepat and podga for their invaluable help in the Americanisation of the fic and their insightful comments. I thank high_striker for his wonderful icons. I am indebted to the three of them. Any errors are mine.
A/N: A little fic about how they got together and how they are together…nothing too consequential!


Gil sat on their couch, leaning back against the cushions, one arm draped across his body, the other resting on the arm of the couch. He felt, he was, completely relaxed. His hair was still damp from the shower he'd taken recently and he was wearing a ratty old robe that had seen (much) better days. He was watching the news, local and national - but, if asked, he would have had great difficulty in recalling what he'd seen and heard.

He was thinking about his life; to be more accurate, his life with Nick. Nicky. Nicholas Stokes. He had decided, some months ago, that his life could be divided into two parts - 'Before Nick' and 'After Nick'. He'd also started to refer to them as BN and AN, but only in his own mind, he wasn't going to share that titbit yet...but he would, he knew, he'd taken to telling Nick everything. Secrets, hopes and fears, all the things you told the most important person in your life. Of course, his real hope was that he would be with Nick until his dying day and his worst fear, that Nick would find a new love, a younger love. Nick had been as adamant as he could have been in assuring Gil that 'yes' he would be with him forever and then some......and that 'no' he would never leave - not voluntarily anyway.

Nick was still asleep in their bed upstairs, he was the best 'sleeper' Gil had ever known. A nuclear war could be under way and he would still lie blissfully oblivious of his fate. As far as Gil knew only two things woke him instantly, the nasty little buzz of his alarm clock and Gil's voice. And, when he awoke he was instantly fully awake - that was a trait they both shared - about the only one that Gil could bring to mind. Gil did not think that they were alike in any other way and yet they seemed to perfectly compliment each other - the old adage, 'opposites attract' was certainly true in their case.

Gil remembered the first time he'd ever set eyes on Nick - eleven years ago. He had been instantly smitten. His bi-sexuality had been his secret, he was sure that no one at the lab had even suspected that the seemingly straightforward Gil Grissom had more strings to his bow than they could possibly know. In fact Gil's true nature was far removed from the 'Gris' that was known at the lab. Catherine, who purported to know him so well, would have been rendered speechless to have really known the man behind his self induced facade.

Gil chuckled to himself - that little description of himself, by himself - painted a far more 'sinister' picture than the truth. He was just a very private man, that was all, but that privacy that had been well and truly breached by Nick. That day at the lab when the earnest young Texan had walked in, Gil had taken in a sharp breath. Nick was absolutely gorgeous - all over. Gil could not remember a time before then that a man, or woman, had had such an instant effect on him. He was usually more inclined to get to know people and be interested in their intellect, and he couldn’t remember a time before then, that a man, or woman, had had such an instant effect on him.

Over the years he'd got to know Nick and had been both impressed and infuriated by the man. He was undoubtedly an excellent investigator in the making, or Gil would not have tolerated him on his team, but his hero worship of him and his impatience and impetuous nature had led to some head to head encounters between them. Eventually the gorgeous man that Gil had first only lusted over had become the man that he loved and fantasized about and in the end, nearly left the lab for.

Gil had become so infatuated with Nick, man that he could hardly breathe when he was in close proximity, going to a crime scene with him was impossible. Gil had felt so overwhelmed by his emotions in respect to Nick he had (almost) decided to leave - the lecture circuit, freelance consultancy, anything in fact, to get away from the young man he thought was straight. It had never occurred to Gil - except in his lurid fantasies - that Nick was anything other than straight. The ladies’ man image, mostly perpetuated by Warrick, as Nick would later point out, turned out to be a fallacy and Nick was hardly even bi-sexual, dead prostitutes notwithstanding, thought Gil. In the end their first kiss had been the result of a huge argument between boss and employee. Because Gil was ignoring him and Nick wanted to know why.

Nick had started out being perfectly reasonable but as Gil was unable to provide a 'reasonable' excuse for distancing himself from Nick, the row had escalated until Gil had shouted, 'You want to know why - well I'll show you why!' and had grabbed the shoulders of the man staring at him eyeball to eyeball and kissed him. He had kissed him hard and furiously and it had taken him several moments to realise that he was being kissed back just as furiously and just as hard. When he had realised he'd pulled back and looked into the almost black, lust filled, eyes and said, 'Not here.' They were, after all, in Gil's fishbowl office. Nick said, 'Follow me home'.

Gil had followed Nick to his condo and when they were standing, facing each other, in the living room, Nick had asked for an explanation. And Gil had given an account of the one sided relationship that he'd been having with Nick for several years. Nick had groaned and admitted that he'd felt exactly the same for about the same amount of time. They'd ended up laughing about their combined stupidity, and strangely, as they both thought much later, had not fallen into bed or even each other's arms, but had spent hours, talking, drinking beer and then coffee, ordering in a pizza and then, when tiredness threatened to overcome them, separated with the sweetest kiss that Gil had ever given or received.

The bond between them was immediate and as Gil had driven home, his eyes watering in the blazing Las Vegas sun, he'd known that this was IT. For the first time in his adult life he loved someone - not a job, not an insect, not an interesting puzzle, but Nick Stokes. He remembers thinking, 'his Nicky'.

They dated properly a couple of times and had made out on respective couches until Nick, on their third such encounter, had dragged Gil into his bedroom, into his bed and that very first time, into his body. Gil was happier than he'd ever been in his adult life - well for about two months - then the doubts started to invade his mind. Insidious little thoughts when he saw Nick talking to another man. It was not jealousy, he was certain of that, because he understood and accepted that Nick would be faithful. No, these were thoughts of the gorgeous Nick realising that Gil was just a little too old, a little too set in his ways and, with a kind voice and many thanks he would leave. Gil did not think he would be able to survive such an occurrence.

When Nick had noticed Gil's quietness and seeming withdrawal from him, he'd questioned and nagged at Gil until Gil had given in and told him. It was the first time that Gil had seen Nick really cry. He had sobbed and sobbed and Gil could not understand why until he put two and two together and made about a million. Nick was going to leave him and Gil had just pre-empted him. Gil had given Nick the opening he needed to leave him, only for Nick to become even more distraught. Nick had been having the same thoughts about Gil, especially as he became quiet and withdrawn. Nick had thought that maybe Gil had thought him an intellectual lightweight, not sexy enough, not funny enough, not serious enough - just not 'enough' for him.

As Gil thought about 'that' night now, he smiled at their complete misinterpretation of each other's behaviour - it showed how inexperienced the pair of them were at this personal interaction. Gil had cried with Nick that night and it was that night when he dared hope that maybe Nick would indeed stay with him. He'd actually said that if he could, would Nick marry him. Through hiccoughs and more tears Nick had said, he would and that once married, divorce would be out of the question.

It was also that night that Gil had begun to understand what insecurities Nick had hidden, what troubles he had endured. Even thinking about them now Gil tensed. Nick had been sexually assaulted and abused by a babysitter when he was nine years old. To compound this terrible issue he had been further abused by his parents - in Gil's opinion at least - as they disbelieved their son, who was punished for lying and forbidden to speak about it. Nick had undergone therapy as an adult, without his parent's knowledge, before he'd come to Las Vegas. He felt he had come to terms with it, sometimes Gil thought he had and then something would trigger an 'episode' of anger followed by despair, and then Gil was convinced he hadn't. Gil had persuaded Nick to have more therapy and he had and endlessly thanked Gil, not only for his support but for believing him. The first time Nick had said this Gil had sobbed his own heart out in the shower and, for the first time ever, had planned a perfect murder, for Judge and Mrs Stokes.

But they say, 'every cloud has a silver lining', and but for this childhood trauma, Nick might never have come to Las Vegas. The weather was on TV now, looked like another hot day ahead - no change there then.

The day of their first anniversary they had decided to tell work and their friends. Gil had remembered the storms that day, the sky as foreboding as he'd ever seen it over the city. Neither man was superstitious, but it transpired later when they'd talked about the 'day they told the truth', that they'd both seen the storm clouds as harbingers of...while not exactly 'doom'....at least trouble. It had been trouble but not as much as they'd expected. Gil had been roasted by the sheriff for conducting a relationship with a subordinate. Gil had given him two choices - examine case files and interview staff and if just one instance of impropriety was discovered he would resign. And secondly, he would resign anyway and if they needed his services they could pay a consultancy fee for him, if he was available, that is, because offers of work were always flooding in. Gil laughed a little laugh as he remembered the look on the sheriff's face. He did have job offers, still did, but rather than 'flooding' in, they 'trickled' in.

But the ruse had worked, the dollar signs nearly visible in the sheriff's eyes, he'd ordered an examination of the work records of all Nick's cases and all cases where Gil had been the primary investigator with Nick evidence chasing for him.

The fly in this ointment had been Ecklie doing the investigation. But try as Ecklie had, and how he'd tried, Gil and Nick were able to rebut every charge laid against them. In truth Gil had been harder on Nick than anyone else; he’d been afraid his feelings would otherwise become known to Nick, to everyone. He was glad of his pathetic reasoning now.

Their case had been also been helped by the newly introduced legislation regarding discrimination - they hadn't had to play that hand - but it was a useful card to have up their sleeve.

Telling their shift and the lab staff had been tricky; mostly it was utter disbelief from the staff who had no idea about their sexual proclivities. Hurt feelings from Catherine, who liked to think she had her finger on the pulse, and Warrick who was Nick's best friend. They recovered fairly quickly and were magnanimous in their acceptance of apologies from Gil and Nick. But Sara; she had been horrible to Gil, Nick, the sheriff, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Thank goodness Gil had confessed all to Nick after the second time they'd made love.

They'd been talking about Kristy, the dead prostitute, and Nick was apologising for the whole fiasco when, in an epiphany of things to come, (thank god), Gil had told Nick about the convention in San Francisco, the too much to drink, not that that was an excuse, and the sleeping with Sara. It had been an unmitigated disaster, not just the drink, but her inexperience, her imitation of a plank of wood, and worst of all, a declaration of undying love, not for his sexual prowess, (he was a guy, he didn't mind having his ego stroked), but for his forensic and entomological skills.

Gil had been disgusted with himself, had excused himself and just made it to his own room before vomiting. He could taste the sour taste as he thought about it now. But, she’d never mentioned it again so he hadn’t hesitated to call on her skills when he’d needed her considerable skills.

But then she’d been tireless in her pursuit of Gil and he'd lost count of every time she'd asked him out, made a suggestive remark, called him at home, she'd even turned up at his house when Nick was in his bed......how he'd managed to keep her out of his house, he didn't know. She had no self respect; he'd told her on numerous occasions that they were work colleagues and that was it but she still came on to him. Apart from anything else, she was not even the type of woman he might have normally found attractive, she was gauche and despite a fierce intellect, inept and girlish. But it was his fault in the first place, he'd accepted that.

Nick had been wonderful about it. Said it explained a lot about Sara and why she thought Gil was her personal property and Gil was okay because everyone in the lab, from the Director to the janitor knew she was going nowhere with Gil Grissom and that Gil had tried his hardest to let her down gently but had had to resort, they all knew, to downright 'No, Sara.' more than once.

So when their news was spilled she went 'ballistic'. She told Nick that Gil had slept with her. Nick knew. She accused Gil of showing favouritism to Nick. Ecklie disproved that and even he was happy to do so, having no time at all for Sara. Her last resort was to imply that Gil had raped her. Jim and Catherine had taken her aside and when they'd deliberately pressed her to relate the details so that the matter could be pursued, she'd had the good sense, for once, to backtrack and withdraw the allegation. Both Jim and Catherine had remained disgusted at her behaviour. Within the week she had voluntarily moved to swing and within six months had left, to return to San Francisco. Only Greg missed her, he'd carried a crush for years.

Gil sighed at the thoughts he'd had about Sara, she was an exceptional investigator but had even less interpersonal skills than Gil. Gil smiled as he recalled Nick's attempts to clue him up on the political know how and diplomacy that he thought Gil sadly lacked - but Gil couldn't be bothered - he was an investigator not a politician or diplomat. It exasperated Nick but he was always forgiven.

They’d had their ups and downs, especially in their first year together – mostly, Gil had to admit, from his lack of communication with Nick. For so long Gil only had himself and his bugs to think of, so adding another living breathing human to the equation took some getting used to. He remembered Nick's exasperated calls to his cell saying he was in a restaurant, a diner, at home, wherever, waiting for Gil, and 'oh, Gil wasn't there.' Every single time this had happened Gil had been immersed in a puzzle of some sort and time had ceased to be relevant. Okay, so it still happened occasionally, but he had his wily ways to atone for his sins!

And how! The major discovery for Gil about Nick had been Nick's complete and utter hedonism in relation to their relationship. He curled and purred like a cat on heat under Gil's ministrations. Stroking him, his hair, his back, his stomach, well just about anywhere could reduce him to the aforementioned cat. If Gil then added kissing, nibbling, licking to the equation, then Nick was his, absolutely.

When Gil had first discovered this Nick, he'd been sad that Nick himself had no idea that he was so responsive to touch. It then transpired that Nick had been very poorly treated by the few men and woman in his life. He could not properly satisfy, or be satisfied by, women, since he had no interest in them. The men who had him, had treated him as a fuck, but at least Nick had the good sense to dump them. He had been searching for ‘the man’. In the last years before they’d come together, Nick had been obsessing over Gil, as, of course, Gil had been over Nick.

Their sex life was, Gil believed, the stuff of legends. Neither man had ever been as satisfied as they were now, together. Gil hadn't been with anyone between Sara and Nick and the only time he'd had any gratification was with his own hand and an imaginary Nick. And those experiences paled into insignificance as he'd encountered the real thing. Even as he thought these thoughts, Gil could feel the familiar heat in the pit of his belly and the twitching of his penis. He chuckled, who'd have imagined that he could have discovered teenage hormones in his late forties and now fifties.

It had been a revelation when he realised that he - always a top - wanted Nick inside him he'd been jealous of Nick's enjoyment of him and wanted his Nick in him. Nick - always a bottom - had reciprocated and now they shared the honours and the pleasure they gave and received. They were complete, without a doubt, they were a couple and even Gil could admit that Nick wasn't going anywhere, he only had eyes for Gil and Gil could revel in the looks Nick often received from men and women and know, irrefutably, that Nick was his, body and soul, as indeed he was Nick's.

Just then he heard sounds of movement upstairs and moments later Nick, in an old pair of sweatpants and tee, came into view. Looking sleep mussed - his Nick. His married partner - they'd decided to go to Canada and marry, because that's what they wanted - ambled over to the couch and in a practised manoeuvre, threw himself down on the couch, drew his legs up, turned sideways and flopped down laying his head in Gil's lap.

"What y’doin', babe?"

"Watching the news, sweetheart, watching the news."

The End