Title: Other Moments
Author: Dee
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2411
Pairings: Gil/Nick
Characters: Gil Grissom, Nick Stokes, the usual gang and some OCs
Warnings: Fluff and AU
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 them all. Any errors are mine.
A/N: Just a little fluff with guys!


Jim moved; he'd been living in Las Vegas for many years - on his own - and had lived in a small apartment and then a small house. Neither property had any outstanding feature, other that being on the cheapish end of the market.

So when he bought a very well looked after house in a pleasant and quiet neighbourhood it was a surprise - this was a settling down to stay forever sort of house. It was in good condition and it was small - there was only him. But what had struck him the moment he'd viewed the property was the yard. He wasn't big on gardening, but that didn't matter too much because this seemed low maintenance.

No, the yard was different because it had a huge tree in it the situated towards the back and to the right of the deck - it shaded the whole yard and one of the branches had an old wooden swing on a rope hanging there - begging to be sat upon!

Jim had never owned a tree before.

Nor had he ever thrown a party before - sure he'd had 'guys' over for beers and had even been known to invite a lady around once or twice, but something organised, with food drinks and 'guests' - well, he had no idea - but he was going to have a house warming party.

He sought advice and Sofia was soon drafted in to organise the event. She took charge and threw herself into the planning and execution with abandon.

It was a huge success; the guests, virtually all fellow LVPD officers and the CSIs he worked with - okay they were the people he saw every day at work but in truth - they were his only friends and for most of them, they were each other's only fiends. People in their line of work usually kept themselves to themselves - for self preservation really.

Sofia was smug; Jim was very pleased and all of the guests relaxed, well fed and watered and just plain happy.

Well almost all........

Couples abounded; no-one had come alone except Sofia and Jim. EVEN Sara had a date, a nerdish guy, Kevin, a neighbour of hers who turned out to be a chemistry professor at WLVU. Greg had a new girlfriend, her name was Candy and she was hot, but the general consensus amongst the team was that she was, how does one say this without offence - intellectually challenged.

Warrick was dating yet another nurse - Angie, and she seemed a real catch - not that Warrick would be able to hold on to her, his track record was poor to say the least. Catherine was with an old friend, Barry, she would say a dear friend, but everyone else called him a 'walker'! And Hodges? He'd had to cancel at the last moment - some sort of 'family crisis' - that in itself was strange because the thought that Hodges was genetically linked to other humans caused a collective shudder to emanate from his fellow lab rats.

Nick, naturally, was with Gil. Of all of the CSIs only Ecklie (not invited) had a longer standing relationship than these two. It was an accepted pairing; though some found it hard to believe that either Gil Grissom or Nick Stokes were homosexual. Most chose to think that Grissom was asexual more than anything - or that he had a thing going on with his bugs. With Nick, the women could hardly credit that such a 'stud' batted for the other team. The men worried that if such a 'manly' man was gay - could they be? However, they were both so well liked that their relationship was accepted as the norm.

But, the party was in full swing and (nearly) everyone was having a good time. Candy was seen to be devouring Greg, Sofia noted that Greg was in danger of undergoing a tonsillectomy. Warrick and Angie were indoors sort of dancing (making out actually) to some slow bluesy music that was playing. Sara and Kevin were sitting on a garden seat ascloseasthis discussing the merits of the chemical testing of compounds found in natural poisons.

Catherine and Barry were sort of smooching to the same music as Warrick and Angie - under interrogation Catherine would categorically deny she was keeping an eye on Warrick.

Gil was talking to Jim and Vega about work, though not anything particularly gruesome, just shifts and personalities - that sort of thing. Sofia was watching everybody else and gloating at the success of her venture - sure it was Jim's party - but hell she'd done all the ground work. And. it was obvious that everyone was having a great time and was happy........except Nick.

Nick was scowling and looking pissed off. Sofia saw him walk, rather dejectedly, across the yard to the majestic tree - so beautifully decked out, what a splendid idea that was - and sulkily sit down on the swing and start to gently rock backwards and forwards. Was there trouble in paradise? They'd seemed perfectly fine when they'd arrived and when they'd been eating together - so this was something that had happened at this party.

Sofia looked over to Jim who was chatting with Gil; Vega was no longer with them, so Sofia ambled over and sat in the vacant chair. She listened awhile and then asked if Jim would get her a beer, she was dead on her feet, having arranged HIS party. Jim laughed since he knew he would be paying for this for a long time - even Gil caught the drift.

When they were alone Sofia dived straight in - what's wrong with Nick, why's he so forlorn, has something happened?

Gil was taken completely by surprise and of course denied all the accusations that had been put to him by the cop, there was nothing wrong with Nick he assured her.

Then why, Sofia pointed out, was he all alone and looking sad and sort of lost on the tree swing?

Gil swivelled around to follow Sofia's gaze and there was Nick, exactly as she'd said - on the swing, gently rocking backwards and forwards. Gil didn't respond to Sofia, he got up from his seat and completely ignoring her, made his way over to Nick.

He was absolutely focussed on Nick, he saw no one as he walked towards him; some of the CSIs had noticed him as he moved across the yard.

"Hey Nick, what wrong?" he asked quietly as he arrived in front of Nick. His years with Nick had taught him to be direct, their initial miscommunications had been a source of arguments and problems for both of them, as they learned to live, and be, together.

"'M'okay." Was the response and in 'Nickspeak', which Gil had had to study, meant that Nick was anything but 'okay'.

"Now that is plainly not true my love, is it? You were fine a little while ago and now you look as if you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. Please tell me - let me help." Gil thought he was getting good at this, he knew that Nicky couldn't refuse a plaintive request to him couched in loving terms. Then Gil had a twinge of guilt. 'Am I manipulating him?' he thought. 'No' was his immediate response to himself, 'I am expediting the whole matter to be able to reach a satisfactory conclusion.'

To salve his now stricken conscience Gil crouched down in front of Nick stopping the swinging to and fro by placing his hands on Nick's, on the rope. He looked into the darkest brown eyes he'd ever known and could see sadness there. For no other reason than that Gil was now sad.

"Come on Nicky, what gives?" He spoke softly and gently to Nick.

Nick caved, but Gil was shocked because his lover became petulant and whiny - not exactly usual traits, but not exactly unknown either. "I'm just 'bout fed up babe. D'ya know we've been together now longer than most people here tonight - ya' know as a couple? An' yet we behave with restraint all the time in front of our friends, hell they know we're together - d'they think we sleep in separate bedrooms, d'they think we don't kiss and touch an', lets be frank here Gil - fuck like bunnies? Yeah, I know we're gay an' all but we've still got feelings an all!"

Gil was sure now that Nick was properly upset since he very rarely used profanities in his speech and had castigated Gil for doing so in the past. "What is it that has you so riled Nicky?" Gil, despite his work and usual keen observations, had entirely missed their colleagues' more intimate behaviour.

"Oh Gil, you can be so dense, babe, I love you though." Nick had calmed down after his petulant outburst. "Haven't you seen 'em all tonight? All of 'em, Gil, have all been over each other like a rash. D'you think Sofia's spiked the drink, well everyone's but ours? Greg has had Candy diving down his throat hoping to perform fellatio from the inside by the looks of it. 'Rick has been with Angie for what, six weeks, and that's a longstanding relationship for him and they're grinding together in a mutually masturbatory fashion, as indeed are Catherine and that wimp Barry - he's got more oil on his hair than they got in the 'wells in Texas, Gil." Nick had completely morphed into his caustic comic mode, and Gil loved his observations and was listening to him with a growing smile and dancing eyes.

"And Gil what's with Sara, I was under the impression that she was still suffering from unrequited love for you, have you seen her squeezing her thighs together and squirming on that seat, ugh Gil, that girl's odd, y'know, real odd!"

"I love you Nicky, so much, and I understand exactly what you're saying, I have a plan."

Before Nick could comment Gil had executed said plan. He moved from the crouching position onto his knees before Nick and pulled the swing and Nick towards him and connected their mouths.

It was a passionate kiss.

Gil's mouth was open as he took Nick's mouth and he pressed his tongue against Nick's lips. They immediately opened allowing access to his mouth and Gil plundered his prize. He licked Nick's tongue and then his teeth and then his tongue again. Their mouths were pressed together; there wasn't a lot of pressure but the connection was intense, it was hot and wet and Gil eased back to nip at Nick's lips, suckling the bottom lip and gently tugging at it with his teeth.

Nick's hands left their position beneath Gil's and made their way to Gil's neck and face and the tips of his fingers gently kneaded Gil's skin. His thumbs massaged Gil's cheeks, either side of his lips. Gil pulled back slightly to take in some air. Their eyes opened simultaneously and showed quite plainly their love for each other. It mattered, not a jot to either man, that there were bystanders, they were completely wrapped up in each other.

By this stage it didn't occur to either of them that this was the very first time that ANY of the others had seen them kiss, they rarely even touched in public let alone anything else.

They rested their foreheads together and recovered their breath.

"Seemed like a plan to me Gil, well thought out and executed, man."

"I thought so Nick."

"I'm stupid, man, it doesn't matter one iota what anyone else does, does it? We know what we got and it's probably better than all of 'em put together, ain't that the truth."

"You're not stupid Nicky. I'm sorry to say that honour has to go to Candy and I'm afraid 'inside out fellatio' or not, her days with Greg are numbered, unless of course her sexual prowess does indeed outweigh her conversational abilities. As to the others, they're grasping at straws Nick; they can only hope that they can one day find what we have."

He finished off with another kiss, gently brushing their lips together.

"Now I'm afraid you're going to have support your old lover as he attempts to return to a standing position!"

Nick laughed and hugged his 'old' lover. "Use the ropes for leverage babe."

As Gil pulled on the rope to haul himself up, Nick held Gil underneath his arms almost in a hug and as he stood up from the swing he helped pull Gil to a standing position with him. It was an act of perfect symmetry to those who were watching.

There were people watching; not Candy or Greg - they were too busy. But Greg was only engaged in his kiss fest with Candy because her chatter was driving him crazy, he'd have to dump her, sex or no sex.

Warrick didn't see as he danced with Angie - he so wanted this to work - he wanted someone to be with, to sleep with, to live with. Not the sex, just to be with someone and not be alone.

Catherine saw, as Barry pawed at her - it was the last time she'd invite him anywhere - that Gil and Nick were kissing and how they had excluded the whole wide world from those few moments together.

Sara saw of course, she never missed a trick where Gil was concerned. Kevin was a nice guy, but he was just a neighbour, she had no intention of him ever being anything else. As far as she was concerned there was still a good chance that Gil would realise that it was with Sara that his destiny lay. He wasn't gay for God's sake, he was just misguided. In the meantime she had to get this cystitis sorted out.

Sofia noticed and smiled, she'd had a crush on Gil Grissom before she'd found out about Nick. But she was totally magnanimous about it - 'each to their own' was her motto and she counted them both as very good friends.

Jim noticed too, he was worried the ropes would give way under Nick's and Gil's weight as they stood up. So when he saw Nick stand up and pull Gil with him he was relieved - the fact that his best friends had just been making out completely passed him by....except.......

"Sofe, how d'ya feel about joining me for dinner one evening when we're off?"

"You know Jim, I'd love that, I really would."

The End