Title: Animal Planet - Nick and Greg chapter 2
By: Serenity
Rating: PG13
Summary: Greg's POV of anmanis fic Animal Planet - Chapter 2.

Greg hid behind Nick's back legs as the large dog circled them. He was scared until he looked up at the greying muzzle and noticed that the dog was staring back at him with that patented ‘Grissom' look where he gazed down at his subject, usually over a pair of reading glasses. He breathed a sigh of relief that came out as a soft whine, and bounced after the supervisor. He turned and noticed that Nick wasn't following. He walked back to him.

"It's OK, it's Grissom." he barked. Nick stared deeply into his eyes, so he tried to look as reassuring as possible. Nick relented and followed him out into the corridor. Greg sniffed the other animals, trying to work out who everyone was. He recognised the panther as Warrick straight away, he'd know those green eyes anywhere. The small black cat stared down at him. Sara he decided. She'd looked at him that way many times when she was in her human form, so that and the fact that she was sticking close to Grissom was all the proof he needed. He swept his gaze over the other animals, mentally trying to give them their human names.

He didn't know what had happened to them. All he remembered was waking up and seeing his puppy reflection in the shiny toolbox they had been using, then finding Nick, who he‘d recognised straight away. Had he accidentally ingested some sort of hallucinogen? Perhaps there had been a gas leak and he was unconscious and dreaming. One thing he was sure of, they weren't going to reach a resolution by sitting and worrying about it. He was sure that Grissom was doing that for him. He was a dog, by whatever means, so he might as well have some fun.

The group was moving towards ballistics, so he padded after them. A large fat tabby jumped off the table and walked over to Grissom, nuzzling him. He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw his Supervisor give himself a quick lick ‘down there' before walking back to the group. He laughed, but it came out as a very high pitched yelp. Nick shot him a look. He'd never realised it was possible for a dog to roll it's eyes, but Nick made a pretty good attempt at it. He stopped laughing.

The cat trotted over to Nick, rubbing it's face against him. Greg leaned over and sniffed the cat, his hackles rising slightly in jealousy until he realised it was only Bobby.

Grissom seemed to be inspecting each animal in turn. He watched as Nick hunched down under the authoritative gaze, the black furry tail tucked under his legs. He was watching Nick, and hadn't realised that Grissom was standing in front of him until two sharp barks caught his attention. He stared at Grissom, trying to work out what the dog wanted from him. He heard Nick let out a small yelp so he turned to him. The collie's eyes were dark and warning.

He trotted over to Nick and nuzzled him. He felt a freedom as a canine to be affectionate with his lover in front of his co-workers that he'd never be able to have as a human. That thought saddened him slightly.

Suddenly everyone turned to see the most beautiful cat strut down the hallway. Greg watched the sultry creature as it came towards them, and hadn't noticed as the horse made a movement forward. A piecing yowl filled the air, something as close to a human scream as an animal could make. He spun round and saw Nick tangled up in the horses hooves, and the panther stalking over to help the collie. "Oh my God, Nick, are you OK? I‘m here, baby." he soothed, but it came out as high pitched yelps. It was the first time that he'd felt frustration at not being able to communicate. However, his sentiments seemed to be understood, and Nick visibly relaxed. Greg wished that he could hug him, but his front legs didn't want to bend that way.

The blue/grey cat slinked over to Nick and licked him softly on the paw. Catherine. Greg realised. Being the group's mother as always.

He hadn't noticed Grissom and Brass disappearing to the reception desk. His nostrils had begun twitching with a strong scent, different to the animals around him. The urge to follow the scent was too overwhelming, and he trotted towards the source, sniffing the air as he went. He saw Grissom ahead of him, and running past Brass and a Yorkshire Terrier he turned and sped into Hodges lab, dodging his boss and skidding to a halt beside a wheeled bench, where a rabbit was cowering. "Hey, I recognise you!" he shouted, it coming out as a series of high pitched barks. "Hodges! It's me, Greg! Hey! Come out of there!"

The rabbit didn't seem to recognise Greg, and made to bite at him. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled, the barks becoming louder. Suddenly he felt teeth nipping at the scruff of his neck and he was lifted off the floor by Grissom and dumped in front of all the other animals. He could have sworn that Nick was blushing underneath that black fur. Oh yeah, I had to end up a tiny puppy. he grumbled to himself. Great, I can get tossed about as Grissom pleases.

Suddenly a commotion behind him startled everyone. He turned to see Catherine and Sara facing off in the hallway. Nick and Warrick were pacing uneasily around them, but it didn't seem to stop the staring competition that was going on between the two cats. Greg knew that Cath and Sara often had their disagreements, but throw the feline instincts into the mix and there was sure to be trouble.

Tiny puppy, hey? he thought to himself. This is my chance to show everyone that I'm not so small and helpless. He launched himself and landed between the two cats, facing Sara. He opened his mouth to try and tell her to calm down, but was surprised when Sara jumped on him, all claws and teeth. She shrieked at Greg as he tried to protect himself, curling into a ball to escape the claws, fur flying. He could hear Nick whimpering as the attack continued. He knew that Sara had issues, often resulting in a hair trigger temper, but feline Sara was much worse. It was as if she was a loaded gun and the safety was off.

Grissom finally broke them apart by knocking them over. He barked loudly, and Greg was sure that he was very angry at them both. He dreaded to think what the barks translated to in human language.